Pre-eminent director Martin Scorsese's harsh comments about the Marvel cinematic universe are still ringing in Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn's ears. He's now accused Scorsese of taking cheap shots at the franchise — he called the films "not cinema" — as a ploy to promote his 2019 Netflix film The Irishman.
"I don't see them. I tried, you know? But that's not cinema," Scorsese told Empire Magazine at the time. "Honestly, the closest [thing] I can think of them [in comparison to] — 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."
This expectedly caused an uproar among MCU fans at the time, but the controversy recently made its Saturn return. While doing press this week for The Suicide Squad, Gunn addressed the situation on an episode of the Happy. Sad. Confused. podcast.
He said [via IndieWire]:
It just seems awfully cynical that he kept coming out against Marvel. And that's the only thing that would get him press for his movie, so then he just kept coming out against Marvel so that he could get press for his movie. He's creating his movie in the shadow of the Marvel films and so he uses that to get attention for something he wasn't getting as much attention as he wanted for.
And thus the MCU diehards and cinemaphiles went head-to-head again, forcing Gunn to publish a tweet yesterday (August 4) to clarify his comments.
"I don't see them. I tried, you know? But that's not cinema," Scorsese told Empire Magazine at the time. "Honestly, the closest [thing] I can think of them [in comparison to] — 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."
This expectedly caused an uproar among MCU fans at the time, but the controversy recently made its Saturn return. While doing press this week for The Suicide Squad, Gunn addressed the situation on an episode of the Happy. Sad. Confused. podcast.
He said [via IndieWire]:
It just seems awfully cynical that he kept coming out against Marvel. And that's the only thing that would get him press for his movie, so then he just kept coming out against Marvel so that he could get press for his movie. He's creating his movie in the shadow of the Marvel films and so he uses that to get attention for something he wasn't getting as much attention as he wanted for.
And thus the MCU diehards and cinemaphiles went head-to-head again, forcing Gunn to publish a tweet yesterday (August 4) to clarify his comments.
This isn't the first time the director has lashed out at Scorsese over the Marvel diss. Previously, Gunn compared his actions to that of "people [who] picketed The Last Temptation of Christ without having seen the film."
More recently, however, Gunn flipped on his initial stance, seemingly agreeing with Scorsese's take on modern superhero movies, calling them "really dumb" and "mostly boring" in an interview with the Irish Times.
Can't we all just get along, guys?
In related news, Scorcese recently recruited Brendan Fraser for Killers of the Flower Moon, his forthcoming true-crime drama. Meanwhile, Gunn has lent his support to the "Nathan Fillion Civilian Pavilion" movement and shared that he's entertaining the idea of a Groot and Harley Quinn crossover for some reason.
