Marvel? Cinema? Not in this universe, according to David Harbour.
The “Stranger Things” star and “Black Widow” MCU alum told The Independent that the concept of Marvel ruining cinema is laughable…truly.
“I don’t see it as anything but entertaining, fun stuff,” Harbour said, after letting out a laugh per the interview. But that doesn’t mean that the film landscape doesn’t need a “broader scope” of creativity.
“When I was growing up, ‘Goodfellas’ came out in the cinema, and it was like the ‘Captain America’ of its day,” Harbour explained. “We all rushed out to see it. And I don’t know if those movies really can exist in this climate anymore.”
The dominance of the MCU at the box office is “a smaller piece in a much larger cultural puzzle,” according to Harbour.
And let’s just say that “Goodfellas” director Martin Scorsese would certainly agree: The Oscar-winning auteur slammed Marvel movies in 2019, likening them to amusement parks.
“I don’t see them. I tried, you know? But that’s not cinema,” Scorsese told Empire at the time. “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.”
Francis Ford Coppola agreed, saying soon thereafter, “When Martin Scorsese says that the Marvel pictures are not cinema, he’s right because we expect to learn something from cinema, we expect to gain something, some enlightenment, some knowledge, some inspiration…I don’t know that anyone gets anything out of seeing the same movie over and over again.”
The “Godfather” director added, “Martin was kind when he said it’s not cinema. He didn’t say it’s despicable, which I just say it is.”
MCU staple Elizabeth Olsen, who most recently starred in “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness,” told The Independent that actors are very aware that the caliber of Marvel movies is not on the same level as “indie art films” but that doesn’t diminish the films as a “lesser type of art.”
“I just think it takes away from our crew, which bugs me,” Olsen explained about MCU criticisms over artistic merit. “These are some of the most amazing set designers, costume designers, camera operators — I feel diminishing them with that kind of criticism takes away from all the people who do award-winning films, that also work on these projects.”
The “WandaVision” alum added, “From an actor’s point of view, whatever, I get it; I totally understand that there’s a different kind of performance that’s happening. But I do think throwing Marvel under the bus takes away from the hundreds of very talented crew people.”
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