Martin Scorsese is urging filmmakers to save cinema, by doubling down on his call to fight comic book movie culture.
The storied filmmaker is revisiting the topic of comic book movies in a new profile for GQ. Despite facing intense blowback from filmmakers, actors and the public for the 2019 comments he made slamming the Marvel Cinematic Universe films — he called them theme parks rather than actual cinema — Scorsese isn’t shying away from the topic.
“The danger there is what it’s doing to our culture,” he told GQ. “Because there are going to be generations now that think … that’s what movies are.”
GQ’s Zach Baron posited that what Scorsese was saying might already be true, and the “Killers of the Flower Moon” filmmaker agreed.
“They already think that. 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,” Scorsese continued to the outlet. “And you’ll have, you know, the Safdie brothers, and you’ll have Chris Nolan, you know what I mean? And hit ’em from all sides. Hit ’em from all sides, and don’t give up. … Go reinvent. Don’t complain about it. But it’s true, because we’ve got to save cinema.”
Scorsese referred to movies inspired by comic books as “manufactured content” rather than cinema.
“It’s almost like AI making a film,” he said. “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?”
His forthcoming film, “Killers of the Flower Moon,” had been on Scorsese’s wish list for several years; it’s based on David Grann’s 2017 nonfiction book of the same name. He called the story “a sober look at who we are as a culture.”
The film tells the true story of the murders of Osage Nation members by white settlers in the 1920s. DiCaprio originally was attached to play FBI investigator Tom White, who was sent to the Osage Nation within Oklahoma to probe the killings. The script, however, underwent a significant rewrite.
“After a certain point,” the filmmaker told Time, “I realized I was making a movie about all the white guys.”
The dramatic focus shifted from White’s investigation to the Osage and the circumstances that led to them being systematically killed with no consequences.
The character of White now is played by Jesse Plemons in a supporting role. DiCaprio stars as the husband of a Native American woman, Mollie Kyle (Lily Gladstone), an oil-rich Osage woman, and member of a conspiracy to kill her loved ones in an effort to steal her family fortune.
Scorsese worked closely with Osage Principal Chief Geoffrey Standing Bear and his office from the beginning of production, consulting producer Chad Renfro told Time. On the first day of shooting, the Oscar-winning filmmaker had an elder of the nation come to set to say a prayer for the cast and crew.
Remember before Marvel movies, when we had such hits as Encino Man, Problem Child, Speed 2: Cruise Control, and and Cocktail? I’ve got news for you, Marty, cinema has been killing cinema since the dawn of cinema, and yet cinema survives. There will always be movies that someone doesn’t like that make a FUCK ton of money. Then there will be the passion projects that gain a cult following decades after the fact. If you are lucky, you get a little of both sides of the coin, but most aren’t. Get off your high-art horse and enjoy some escapism, not everyone has a 9 figure net worth, some of us need to forget how much life sucks and watch a guy with a hammer beat alien skulls into paste.
Hey now, let’s leave Encino Man out of this.
No wheezing the juice!
That just sounds like immature drivel from someone angry they’re being called out for not thinking about anything.
The existence of low-quality garbage does not justify its existence and the fact is that post-endgame Marvel movies SUCK. And they suck because they do not follow basic rules of plot, building up suspense, meaningful stakes and other important shit the rabble either forgot about or never knew.
And the fact remains that Americans are suffering because they’re not being exposed to high-level ideas in movies, one of the kinds of entertainment they consume the most, and being actively discouraged from thinking by and large through arguments of your own intended to justify their ignorance to avoid emotional hurt. It’s hurting us as a people. Art isn’t there solely to entertain, it’s there to teach you things and make you think, and one of the things Americans badly need to learn is that life isn’t all about being entertained and having fun. You have to be willing to put on your big boy pants and actually think.
The fact that there is even a dichotomy between enjoyable movies and movies that make audiences think is what should be upsetting people right now, not Martin Scorsese pointing out truths that make you feel bad.
Grow up.
Dude. You need to lay off the caffeine or whatever it is. That was actually insane.
Yep. As immature as expected.
Whoa. I think you’re late for your shrink. Don’t forget to take your meds. My life doesn’t suck or at least not that bad.
I’ll save you a trip to your shrink and armchair-diagnose you with NPD.