Quentin Tarantino, in a very on-brand way, ruffled quite a few feathers last year by saying that not only he’d never helm an MCU or DC film, but that those filmmakers who do are more akin to “hired hands” than actual creative directors.
Tarantino’s scathing comments were delivered with an air of unconcern that only a true master craftsman would’ve been able to manage. In his case, that craft is cinema, and what he leans upon is a portfolio of classics that have all stood the test of time.
It goes without saying that not everyone would agree with those sentiments coming on the heels of other critiques like Martin Scorsese’s infamous “theme parks” analogy, least of all MCU directors themselves.
Now, in a recent extensive profile run by The New Yorker, the Russo brothers have addressed Tarantino’s remarks with a perfectly civil argument. In it, Anthony Russo offers,
“I don’t know if Quentin feels like he was born to make a Marvel movie, which is maybe why he would feel like a hired hand doing it.”
Fair enough. Not everyone needs to be a comic book geek to direct a Marvel movie, but perhaps feeling a connection to these sorts of stories is paramount. Joe further explained this point by adding:
“It depends on your relationship to the source material. What fulfills us the most is building a sense of community around our work.”
Now that Marvel has hit a rough patch with all of these underwhelming releases — barring Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, of course — what these legendary filmmakers bring up feels more relevant than ever. Perhaps it would serve the cinematic universe better if directors were given free rein over the projects, but if that is ultimately going to lead to more experimentation, I believe we all know how that turned out for the shambles of incoherency that was the MCU Phase 4.
Published: Jun 5, 2023 02:02 pm