One of the first directors to speak out in support of Martin Scorsese’s “not cinema” comments regarding Marvel Studios was that of fellow filmmaking legend Francis Ford Coppola, with the The Godfather and Apocalypse Now helmer going as far as to describe superhero movies as “despicable” back in 2019.
Well, it seems that the likes of Black Widow, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Eternals and Spider-Man: No Way Home hasn’t done much to change his mind, as Coppola has once again been speaking about the repetitive nature of not only Marvel Studios movies, but modern blockbuster movies in general, including the latest Bond movie No Time to Die and the Best Picture-nominated Dune.
“There used to be studio films,” said Coppola in a profile piece over at GQ. “Now there are Marvel pictures. And what is a Marvel picture? A Marvel picture is one prototype movie that is made over and over and over and over and over again to look different. Even the talented people — you could take Dune, made by Denis Villeneuve, an extremely talented, gifted artist, and you could take No Time to Die, directed by Cary Fukunaga, extremely gifted, talented, beautiful artists – and you could take both those movies, and you and I could go and pull the same sequence out of both of them and put them together. The same sequence where the cars all crash into each other. They all have that stuff in it, and they almost have to have it, if they’re going to justify their budget. And that’s the good films and the talented filmmakers.”
Coppola isn’t really saying anything new here, and his comments echo sentiments expressed recently by the likes of Ridley Scott, Christopher Nolan, and – ironically – Denis Villeneuve, who himself described Marvel’s movies as been “made from the same mold” and “formatted”. Even Independence Day and Moonfall director Roland Emmerich got in on the act recently, accusing Marvel, DC and Star Wars of “ruining our industry a little bit”.
What do you make of Coppola’s comments on Marvel, and modern blockbuster filmmaking in general? Is the MCU essentially the same movie over and over and over and over and over again, or is Coppola unfairly tarring them all with the same brush? Let us know on our social channels @FlickeringMyth…
