In a recent interview on the Happy Sad Podcast with Josh Horowitz, The Suicide Squad director James Gunn was asked by Horowitz about Martin Scorsese's famous criticism of superheroes from back in 2019, as Gunn has a unique insight into superhero films having now directed a superhero film for Marvel, DC and as an independent production, as well (it is worth noting that this discussion about Scorsese took up less than a minute of a nearly hour long interview).
Gunn noted that he felt Scorsese's criticisms came across as cynical, considering that his comments coincided with the promotion of a new film, but beyond that, Gunn agreed with a lot of Scorsese's feelings about blockbuster films.
Scorsese's now-infamous comments were made back in 2019 while the Academy Award-winning director was promoting his then-new project, The Irishman. When asked about superhero films, Scorsese replied, "I don’t see them. I tried, you know? But that’s not cinema. Honestly, the closest I can think of them, as well made as they are, with actors doing the best they can under the circumstances, is theme parks. It isn’t the cinema of human beings trying to convey emotional, psychological experiences to another human being."
Gunn believed that the comments were mostly just a way to get attention, telling Horowitz, “I just think it seems awful cynical that he would keep coming out against Marvel and then that is the only thing that would get him press for his movie. So he just kept coming out against Marvel so that he could get press for his movie. He’s creating his movie in the shadow of the Marvel films, and so he uses that to get attention for something he wasn’t getting as much attention as he wanted for it.”
However, Gunn did agree with some of Scorsese's criticisms, explaining, "He’s one of the greatest filmmakers who’s ever existed. I love his movies. I can watch his movies with no problem. And he said a lot of things I agree with. There are a lot of things that are true about what he said. There are a lot of heartless, soulless, spectacle films out there that don’t reflect what should be happening. I can’t tell you the amount of times I’ve talked to film directors before they went and made a big movie, and said, ‘Hey, we’re in this together, let’s do something different with these big movies. Let’s make them something different than everything that has come before them.’ And then see them cater to every single studio whim and be grossed out, frankly."
Gunn's biggest problem was Scorsese labeling all superhero films under the same umbrella, which was naturally a bit "irritating" for a guy who has directed a number of superhero films. Maybe Scorsese will make an exception for The Suicide Squad some day!
Source: The Playlist