Director Francis Ford Coppola recently added Dune and the latest installment in the James Bond franchise to his list of films he doesn’t consider to be art while doubling down on his criticism of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
“There used to be studio films. Now there are Marvel pictures. And what is a Marvel picture? A Marvel picture is one prototype movie that is made over and over and over and over and over again to look different,” the director told GQ. “Even the talented people — you could take Dune, made by Denis Villeneuve, an extremely talented, gifted artist, and you could take No Time to Die, directed by… [Cary Fukunaga].”
While Coppola further praised Villeneuve and Fukunaga as “extremely gifted, talented, beautiful artists,” he also suggested their latest projects are essentially the same film, claiming, “…You could take both those movies, and you and I could go and pull the same sequence out of both of them and put them together. The same sequence where the cars all crash into each other. They all have that stuff in it, and they almost have to have it, if they’re going to justify their budget. And that’s the good films and the talented filmmakers.”
The director’s latest comments build on similar opinions he shared in 2019 when he defended fellow filmmaker Martin Scorsese’s assessment that MCU films are more similar to “theme parks” than cinema. “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,” Coppola said at the time. “I don’t know that anyone gets anything out of seeing the same movie over and over again. Martin was kind when he said it’s not cinema. He didn’t say it’s despicable, which I just say it is.”
Former Disney CEO Bob Iger ultimately shot back at both Scorcese and Coppola, saying in part, “If they want to bitch about movies, it’s certainly their right. It seems so disrespectful to all the people that work on those [Marvel] films who are working just as hard as the people who work on their films.”
While Scorcese didn’t respond, Coppola eventually walked back his comments and claimed he wasn’t talking specifically about Marvel Studios, but large franchises in general. Specifically, he explained, “Personally I don’t like the idea of franchises, the notion that you can keep repeating what is essentially the same movie for financial gain — in other words, what is a formulaic approach.”
While Coppola may not be a fan of Dune, it’s worth noting that the film is nominated for 10 Oscars at the 94th Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Original Score and Best Adapted Screenplay. While Fukunaga’s No Time to Die missed out on the Best Picture nomination, it did earn nods in both the sound and visual effects categories.
Both Dune and No Time to Die are available digitally on-demand now.
Source: GQ
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