It is unfortunate: Kevin Feige on Martin Scorsese’s comments on Marvel movies

Earlier in October, Scorsese had told Empire in an interview, “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.”

Martin Scorsese’s comments have evoked both outcry and support, the latter mostly from veteran filmmakers.

While Scorsese was more measured, The Godfather director Francis Ford Coppola was more direct. He told Yahoo News, “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.”

He added, “Martin was kind when he said it’s not cinema. He didn’t say it’s despicable, which I just say it is.”

Samuel L Jackson’s reaction to Martin Scorsese was one of the more eloquent ones from the Marvel side. “I didn’t pay much attention to it. I mean that’s like saying Bugs Bunny ain’t funny. Films are films. Everybody doesn’t like his stuff either. We do..but not everybody…Everybody’s got an opinion, so I mean it’s okay. Ain’t going to stop nobody from making movies,” Jackson, who plays Nick Fury in the Marvel movies, told Variety.