The determination to spin Martin Scorsese’s personal disinterest in Marvel movies into unyielding war on superhero films has ensnared another of cinema’s heavyweights. Francis Ford Coppola, revered director of The Godfather and Apocalypse Now and, like Scorsese, an influential “movie brat” of the 1970s, has added his voice to the small but vocal chorus of filmmakers decrying the state of modern cinema.
“When Martin Scorsese says that the Marvel pictures are not cinema, he’s right,” Coppola said at the Lumière Festival in Lyon, France, according to Yahoo News. “Because we expect to learn something from cinema, we expect to gain something, some enlightenment, some knowledge, some inspiration. I don’t know that anyone gets anything out of seeing the same movie over and over again. Martin was kind when he said it’s not cinema. He didn’t say it’s despicable, which I just say it is.”
The cinematic auteurs’ “war” on Marvel began in earnest with Scorsese, who told Empire he’d had difficulty getting into Marvel’s spate of superhero movies, likening them more to amusement parks. “I tried, you know? But that’s not cinema,” he said at the time. “Honestly, the closest I can think of them, as well made as they are, with actors doing the best they can under the circumstances, is theme parks. It isn’t the cinema of human beings trying to convey emotional, psychological experiences to another human being.”
As Coppola himself noted, Scorsese had kinder words for the effort involved in creating superhero films. “That is fine and good for those who enjoy that type of film and, by the way, knowing what goes into them now, I admire what they do,” Scorsese said at the BFI London Film Festival last weekend, according to CNET. “It’s not my kind of thing; it simply is not.” Scorsese also likened superhero movies to an “invasion” that dominates the box office and cultural conversation, pushing less IP-driven and more “narrative films” out of the spotlight.
Scorsese’s initial comment has drawn significant pushback from the superhero sector as well. Marvel directors James Gunn, Joss Whedon and stars Samuel L. Jackson and Robert Downey Jr. naturally defended their livelihood, with Jackson telling Variety “I mean that’s like saying Bugs Bunny ain’t funny. Films are films. Everybody doesn’t like his stuff either. Everybody’s got an opinion, so I mean it’s okay. Ain’t going to stop nobody from making movies.”
Coppola didn’t specify what he finds “despicable” about Marvel, but don’t worry, the next phase in this battle surely isn’t far.