In a new magazine profile, legendary director Martin Scorsese criticized rating obsessed cinema and slammed franchise films.
Speaking with GQ ahead of the release of his latest film Killers of the Flower and Moon, the 80-year-old award winning director discussed his life, career and how comic book movies have changed the industry.
Danger of comic book movies in Hollywood
‘The danger there is what it’s doing to our culture, because there are going to be generations now that think movies are only those—that’s what movies are,’ said Scorsese.
‘Which means that we have to then fight back stronger. And it’s got to come from the grassroots level.
‘It’s gotta come from the filmmakers themselves. And you’ll have, you know, the Safdie brothers, and you’ll have Chris Nolan, you know what I mean?’
This is not the first time Scorsese has attacked Marvel, in 2019 he said the comic book movies are not cinema but are more like theme parks.
‘I do think that the manufactured content isn’t really cinema,’ said Scorsese.
‘It’s almost like AI making a film. And that doesn’t mean that you don’t have incredible directors and special effects people doing beautiful artwork.’
‘But what does it mean? What do these films, what will it give you? Aside from a kind of consummation of something and then eliminating it from your mind, your whole body, you know? So what is it giving you?’
The new changes in film industry
Scorsese said the film industry is not the same as it was near seven decades ago when he started his career.
He said studios are not, ‘interested any longer in supporting individual voices that express their personal feelings or their personal thoughts and personal ideas and feelings on a big budget.
‘And what’s happened now is that they’ve pigeonholed it to what they call indies.’
He is an advocate for film preservation, and this summer attended a meeting with other famed directors and Warner Bros.
Discovery boss David Zaslav following recent layoffs at Turner Classic Movies.
Last October, Scorsese slammed the film industry’s ‘repulsive’ obsession with ratings for ‘demeaning’ cinema.
