At the end of 2019, Martin Scorsese had tackled the productions of Marvel Studios. It is now the turn of the filmmaker James Gunn, director of “Guardians of the Galaxy”, to react to the words of his eminent colleague.
Martin Scorsese vs Marvel Studios
This case goes back a few weeks now. There was a time when the filmmaker Martin Scorsese got the head of Marvel Studios. And more broadly, superhero films. The director of The wolf of Wall Street has thus harshly qualified this type of production and not “Real cinema”. Also admitting that he does not really watch this type of feature films, he compared them to amusement parks, arguing that it was not about art. Recently the filmmaker James Gunn was brought in to react to Martin Scorsese’s comments.
James Gunn to the rescue of Marvel
During podcast Talking to the Happy. Sad. Confused, James Gunn asked about Martin Scorsese’s comments. James Gunn is a specialist in superhero films since he notably directed the two opus Guardians of the Galaxy, Great and more recently The Suicide Squad. Unsurprisingly, James Gunn is therefore not really in agreement with his colleague. Here is what he had to say on the matter:
I just think he’s terribly cynical if he continues to oppose Marvel. He kept opposing Marvel to talk about his movie (The irishman). He creates his film in the shadow of the Marvel films, and so he used this fame to draw attention to his own production.
James Gunn does not go with the back of the spoon, and therefore argues that Martin Scorsese deliberately created a bad buzz to get the press to talk about him and The irishman. It is difficult to know if the filmmaker has really calculated all this to do some publicity for the release of his latest production. It’s not impossible, so all shots are allowed in Hollywood. A well-placed little sentence, and the press talks about you and consequently of your work for several days. Whether it worked or not, The irishman was in any case nine Oscar nominees.
Martin Scorsese: the undisputed master!
But James Gunn did not stop on these remarks, almost offensive. He then recalled the talent and know-how of Martin Scorsese:
He is one of the greatest filmmakers who ever existed. I love his movies. And he said a lot of things that I agree with. There are a lot of heartless, soulless show movies that don’t reflect what should be happening. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve talked to directors before they make a big movie and say, “Hey, we’re in the same boat, let’s do something different with these movies. Let’s make them something different from anything that came before them. ” And I’m disgusted to see them cater to all the whims of the studios …
At present, James Gunn is showing with his film The Suicide Squad. A superhero movie that tries to take risks, in the midst of an often formatted and standardized genre. As for Martin Scorsese, he is currently working on Killers of the Flower Moon, a thriller inspired by a true story notably carried by Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert De Niro and Jesse Plemons.