English

Francis Ford Coppola calls Marvel movies 'despicable'

From our online archive

Francis Ford Coppola has defended Martin Scorsese’s criticism of Marvel movies, calling his fellow director “right” and calling the wildly successful film franchise “despicable.”

“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,” the 80-year-old director of the Godfather series said Friday.

“I don’t know that anyone gets anything out of seeing the same movie over and over again,” Coppola added.  Coppola’s comments come a week after Scorsese, director of classics such as Taxi Driver and Goodfellas, called the blockbusters in the Marvel Cinematic Universe “not cinema” and said “theaters have become amusement parks.”

Coppola added a bit of his own criticism of MCU movies in support of his fellow director. “Martin was kind when he said it’s not cinema,” Coppola said. “He didn’t say it’s despicable, which I just say it is.”

SCROLL FOR NEXT