Francis Ford Coppola Says Marvel Movies Are "Despicable"

"Martin [Scorsese] was kind when he said it's not cinema. He didn't say it's despicable, which I just say it is"

BY Sarah MurphyPublished Oct 21, 2019

Francis Ford Coppola is the latest director to speak out against the Marvel franchise of superhero movies, calling them "despicable."
 
While speaking to journalists in Lyon, where he received the Prix Lumière, Coppola echoed Martin Scorsese's recent comments about films like The Avengers.
 
"When Martin Scorsese says that the Marvel pictures are not cinema, he's right because we expect to learn something from cinema, we expect to gain something, some enlightenment, some knowledge, some inspiration," Coppola said [via The Guardian].
 
"I don't know that anyone gets anything out of seeing the same movie over and over again," Coppola continued. "Martin was kind when he said it's not cinema. He didn't say it's despicable, which I just say it is."
 
The comments followed Scorsese's scathing comparison of Marvel movies to "theme parks," declaring that they are "not cinema."
 
James Gunn, director of Guardians of the Galaxy and the upcoming Suicide Squad sequel, has once again responded to the criticism.
 
In an Instagram post, he wrote, "Many of our grandfathers thought all gangster movies were the same, often calling them 'despicable'" — a clear dig at the bodies of work of Coppola and Scorsese.
 
He ended, however, by recognizing that "not everyone will be able to appreciate them, even some geniuses" and declared, "that's okay."
 
See Gunn's response below.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Many of our grandfathers thought all gangster movies were the same, often calling them "despicable". Some of our great grandfathers thought the same of westerns, and believed the films of John Ford, Sam Peckinpah, and Sergio Leone were all exactly the same. I remember a great uncle to whom I was raving about Star Wars. He responded by saying, "I saw that when it was called 2001, and, boy, was it boring!" Superheroes are simply today's gangsters/cowboys/outer space adventurers. Some superhero films are awful, some are beautiful. Like westerns and gangster movies (and before that, just MOVIES), not everyone will be able to appreciate them, even some geniuses. And that's okay. ❤️

A post shared by James Gunn (@jamesgunn) on

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