Published 19:44 IST, October 16th 2019
Kevin Smith backs Marvel movies after criticism from Martin Scorsese
Kevin Smith has defended Marvel movies after Martin Scorsese's comments criticizing them, saying that he feels the director never had a connection with comics.
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American filmmaker-actor Kevin Smith has defended Marvel movies after Martin Scorsese's comments criticising them. He reacted in support of the superhero franchise after they received negative statements from the acclaimed director, reported a foreign publication. The actor attended a screening of his latest Hollywood film Jay and Silent Bob Reboot wearing a T-shirt bearing an image of comic book writer Stan Lee. Smith, who himself is a comic book fan, told the reporters that he is aware of Scorsese's statement and defended MCU movies, but at the same time, praised the legendary director's work.
He thinks Scorsese made the biggest superhero movie ever
The actor while talking about the comments on Marvel films said, "Martin Scorsese is a genius. But to be fair, my entire film career, even prior to my film career, he's been pretty much saying the same thing about action movies". He praised the filmmaker by saying that he is like the founder of cinema so he respects his view, but at the same time, he disagreed with his opinion on Marvel. "For my money, I think Martin Scorsese made the biggest superhero movie ever, which was The Last Temptation of Christ," Smith said. "Don't get much bigger of a superhero than Jesus. He beats Superman and [Robert] Downey [Jr.] every time, so maybe Martin is bending on that territory," he added.
He feels Scorsese never had an emotional connection with comics
The 49-year-old actor said that he has a feeling that Scorsese did not have any emotional connection with comics so he doesn't feel for them. "My feeling is, Martin Scorsese never sat in a movie theatre with his dad and watched the movies of Steven Spielberg in the early '80s or George Lucas in the late '70s. He didn't feel that sense of magic and wonder," he said. Smith is among the fans for whom the comic books have been more than just a story. "I can still step into one of those comic book movies, divorce myself of that fact that I do this for a living, release, and my dead dad is back for a minute, for two hours. And it's personal for a lot of the audience. You know, and we're not arguing whether or not it counts as cinema," Smith explained. He then went on to say that he can bet that there must be something which the ace filmmaker enjoyed with his parents, perhaps a musical. He said that he can bet that they might mean a lot for Scorsese even though they are not proper cinema. He finished talking about it by saying that Marvel movies are proper cinema.
Scorsese criticized Marvel movies recently
Recently, the American-Italian filmmaker Martin Scorsese criticised the Marvel Cinematic Universe again during a press conference for his upcoming Netflix flick The Irishman. He said that such films do not capture the actual essence of cinema. He further added to his comments saying that Marvel films are not the real cinema and asked the theatres to show films that have more of narrative, as reported by foreign media. In the past too, the director has criticised the superhero films which make it big at the box-office. The legendary filmmaker is under attack by supporters for comparing Marvel films to 'theme parks'.
(With inputs from ANI)
14:58 IST, October 16th 2019