George Miller is the latest filmmaker to share his thoughts on Martin Scorsese’s criticisms of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
In an interview with Deadline, Oscar winner George Miller was asked about legendary filmmaker Martin Scorsese’s comments labeling Marvel movies as “not cinema” to him. George Miller came out of to express his disagreement with Martin Scorsese and explain why he thinks Marvel films are in fact cinema.
You can read George Miller’s response to Martin Scorsese’s Marvel movie criticisms down below:
“I watch all of them. To be honest, in terms of this debate, cinema is cinema and it’s a very broad church. The test, ultimately, is what it means to the audience. There’s a great quote I saw that applies to all we do. It was from the Swahili storytellers. Each time they finished a story they would say, ‘The story has been told. If it was bad, it was my fault because I am the storyteller. And if it was good, it belongs to everybody.’ It’s a mistake and a kind of hubris if a film does well at the box office to dismiss it as clever marketing or something else. There’s more happening there, and it’s our obligation as storytellers to really try and understand it. To me, it’s all cinema. I don’t think you can ghettoize it and say, oh this is cinema or that is cinema. It applies to all the arts, to literature, the performing arts, painting and music, in all its form. It’s such a broad spectrum, a wide range and to say that anyone is more significant or more important than the other, is missing the point. It’s one big mosaic and each bit of work fits into it.”
George Miller is no stranger to the superhero genre, having come pretty close to directing Justice League: Mortal for Warner Bros. Pictures and DC. The project was ultimately scrapped, and George Miller moved on to new projects including the critically-acclaimed Mad Max: Fury Road.
George Miller’s comments in defense of Marvel here are pretty interesting given that he’s also an acclaimed filmmaker and has won an Academy Award, similar to Martin Scorsese. In particular, George Miller is acclaimed for his eclectic filmography that includes the likes of his four Mad Max films, the two Babe films and the two Happy Feet films.
Interestingly enough, George Miller and Martin Scorsese both won their first (and so far, only) Oscars in the same year. George Miller was awarded Best Animated Feature for Happy Feet while Martin Scorsese was awarded Best Director for his work on The Departed.
What do you make of George Miller’s response to Martin Scorsese’s comments on Marvel movies? Sound off in the comments below, and be sure to continue following Heroic Hollywood for all the latest news on George Miller, Martin Scorsese and the future of Marvel on the big and small screens.
Source: Deadline
