After directing the likes of “The Wolverine, “Logan,” and “Indiana Jones And The Dial of Destiny,” James Mangold has to set something straight: he’s not a fan “multi-movie universe-building.” In fact, he declares such a thing as the “death” and “enemy of storytelling.” Easy for someone to say that kind of IP launched their career, but here we are, in Hollywood’s dismal age of multiversal redundancy.
Mangold (who, let’s be clear, is kind of a hypocrite for these comments, but he also made the likes of “Ford v Ferrari,” “Walk The Line,” and “Girl, Interrupted,” all enjoyable, original films) made his comments in a recent Rolling Stone interview, stressing that he looks at his work in franchises as standalone entries. “I don’t do multiverses,” Mangold said when asked about whether Johnny Cash would show up in his upcoming Bob Dylan biopic “A Complete Unknown.” Of course, what Mangold means is his original Cash, Joaquin Phoenix, won’t show up as the iconic blues man in his new film. Instead, Boyd Holbrook plays the role this time, after playing a villain for Mangold in “Dial Of Destiny” last year.
But back to the matter at hand: Mangold and his directorial work in IP. “It’s weird that I’ve even worked in the world of IP entertainment because I don’t like multi-movie universe-building,” Mangold continued. “It’s the enemy of storytelling. The death of storytelling. It’s more interesting to people the way the Legos connect than the way the story works in front of us.” Instead, Mangold prefers movies with more …emotional stakes. “For me, the goal becomes, always, ‘What is unique about this film, and these characters?’” Mangold went on. “Not making you think about some other movie or some Easter egg or something else, which is all an intellectual act, not an emotional act. You want the movie to work on an emotional level.”
Mangold’s comments echo previous ones he made on the “Dial Of Destiny” press tour last year, when he told Variety flatly that he’s “not interested” in doing an “Indy” spinoff. “I refuse. I just can’t do it,” the director said at the time. “The amount of lore and Easter eggs and fan service starts to become antithetical to any of this stuff at a certain point. It isn’t storytelling anymore. It’s large-scale advertising.”
Not that another biopic about an American music legend isn’t also large-scale advertising on a certain level; or at least adjacent to the stuff done in the “X-Men” and “Indiana Jones” franchise. And it also doesn’t help matters that, y’know, Mangold is also attached to two franchise IPs for upcoming films: one in the “Star Wars” universe about the birth or the Jedi order, and a “Swamp Thing” film in James Gunn‘s new DCU. So how are those two films not fan-service-y, Easter egg-laden, and Lego-block-esque like the movies Mangold criticizes? In short, they’re not, so long as Mangold puts a personal touch on them and refuses to participate in the schtick he wants to avoid.
And it’s possible for him to do that. Mangold “Star Wars” film will take place several millennia before any other film in the franchise, while the “Swamp Thing” movies from the ’80s are IP no one remembers. Mangold should be able to put his own spin on the hero that doesn’t connect with the recent 2019 TV series either; Swamp Thing’s back story also has enough emotional depth to stand on its own, too (part of what attracted Mangold to the character in his youth).
So, no, maybe Mangold isn’t a total hypocrite for his words to Rolling Stone. But let’s see if he abides by them post-“A Complete Unknown” or he has to do another feature interview to walk these comments back. Whatever the case, Mangold has the ability to make his upcoming franchise films less of an IP-connecting piece and more of a personal statement. Whether he follows through on that is another story.