Paramount Pictures/Marvel StudiosFrancis Ford Coppola has backed Martin Scorsese’s scathing views on the Marvel Cinematic Universe films.
It comes after Scorsese compared Marvel movies to theme parks in the debate over whether they should be classed as cinema or not.
In recent weeks Robert Downey Jr., James Gunn, Joss Whedon and Samuel L. Jackson have all responded to his comments, as well as Kevin Smith and Damon Lindelof, but now Coppola has weighed in on the subject.
Much like Scorsese, Coppola is widely believed to be one of the best filmmakers in the business, which means when he throws his two cents in, people are likely to listen to what he has to say.
PA ImagesSo it comes as no surprise that when asked to wade in on the ongoing debate over MCU films, he had some fairly strong opinions on it.
Speaking to Yahoo!, Coppola went one step further than backing his fellow Italian American award-winning director, by branding the franchise movies as ‘despicable’.
He told the news outlet:
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.
I don’t know that anyone gets anything out of seeing the same movie over and over again, Martin was kind when he said it’s not cinema. He didn’t say it’s despicable, which I just say it is.
PA ImagesSince his initial comments, Scorsese has clarified his criticisms of the MCU, explaining he wants more films that are singular theatre experiences, which are driven by their established narrative and nothing else.
He went on to admit there are many different ways to create films these days, including how Marvel does crossovers, however he made it clear he doesn’t regard them as cinema.
Essentially, what he was doing was sticking by his opinion that the MCU is not cinema.
So that’s that then.
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Emma Rosemurgey is an NCTJ trained Journalist who started her career by producing The Royal Rosemurgey newspaper in 2004, which kept her family up to date with the goings on of her sleepy north east village. She graduated from the University of Central Lancashire in Preston and started her career in regional newspapers before joining Tyla (formerly Pretty 52) in 2017, and progressing onto UNILAD in 2019.