James Gunn says Martin Scorsese bashed Marvel movies to get press

Last Updated on August 10, 2021

Martin Scorsese's comments about Marvel movies are back in the spotlight courtesy of The Suicide Squad director, James Gunn. The filmmaker was a guest on MTV's Happy Sad Confused podcast and he gave his rather blunt answer as to why the prolific director came after Marvel.

During his appearance, Gunn says he believes that Scorsese kept slamming Marvel movies in 2019 in order to get press for his own movie. At the time, the Netflix gangster drama The Irishman was Scorsese's latest effort and Gunn believes it was all about drawing attention to his new film:

"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 film, and so he uses that to get attention for something he wasn't getting as much attention as he wanted for it."

Despite Gunn's pointed comment on the matter, it's very clear that he respects Scorsese as a filmmaker and he went as far as to say that Scorsese is "one of the greatest filmmakers who's ever existed." Gunn also said that a lot of what the director had to say about franchise films, he actually agreed with:

"There are a lot of things that are true about what he said. There are a lot of heartless, soulless spectacle films out there that don't reflect what should be happening. I can't tell you the amount of times I've talked to film directors before they went and made a big movie, and said, 'Hey, we're in this together, let's do something different with these big movies. Let's make them something different than everything that has come before them.' And then see them cater to every single studio whim and be grossed out, frankly."

Scorsese first criticized Marvel movies back in October of 2019 which was about a month before Netflix began its release for The Irishman. The director did an interview with "Empire Magazine"  and instantly went viral when he said "I tried, you know? But that's not cinema. 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." The director elaborated on his stance in a November 2019 essay for "The New York Times" when he said he was critical of Marvel and other franchise films for creating only one kind of blockbuster that the exhibition prefers. He believes that these films drown out smaller independent movies and that he wasn't trying to be critical of the movies themselves. Scorsese said, "Many franchise films are made by people of considerable talent and artistry. You can see it on the screen. The fact that the films themselves don't interest me is a matter of personal taste and temperament."

Maybe realizing that his comments on the podcast were about to reignite the Scorsese vs. Marvel feud of film Twitter, James Gunn took to his page to point out, even more, that he respects Scorsese as a filmmaker and he meant no ill-will with his comments. You can check out his tweet below!

Do YOU agree with James Gunn's latest comments?