Oh, Marty. Why did you have to go and say all those dumb things? As is having his friend Francis Ford Coppola backing up his criticism of Marvel movies somehow fired him up to double down on the comments, Martin Scorsese keeps criticizing what we think of as cinema, criticizes movie theaters, yet doesn’t think he should add female characters to his films, calling it “a waste of everybody’s time” if the story doesn’t call for it.
READ MORE: James Gunn Defends Marvel Against Scorsese And Coppola
Let’s recap, shall we? First, the legendary director said he wasn’t a fan of Marvel movies (which is fair) then proceeded to call them “theme park movies” and “not cinema.” That’s slightly less ok, since it sparked an online fight that has since brought in James Gunn, Francis Ford Coppola, Kevin Smith, and others to chime in. Now, during a press conference at the Rome Film Fest, Scorsese doubled down on his comments. As The Hollywood Reporter calls it, while talking about his upcoming “The Irishman”, Scorsese first called on theaters to support more than superhero movies (which, again, it’s fine), “The key that I’m hoping for is for theaters to continue to support narrative cinema of this kind. But right now the theaters seem to be mainly supporting the theme park, amusement park, comic book films. They’re taking over the theaters.”
This is not entirely untrue, as he has lamented before how long it took him to get financing for his epic drama film, “The Irishman” due to budget concerns, which is a result of most big-budget films being just big franchises, including superhero films. But then he goes after the fans of superhero movies. “It’s just that that shouldn’t become what our young people believe is cinema. It just shouldn’t.”
Adding even more fuel to the fire, and not exactly winning any new friends here, Scorsese then goes and answers to a question about why his film’s protagonists are mainly men. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Scorsese immediately shot down the journalist’s question. “If the story doesn’t call for it,” Scorsese said. “It’s a waste of everybody’s time. If the story calls for a female character lead, why not? Sure, I’d like to do, but you know what, I’m 76 now. How am I going to have the time? I don’t know what’s going to happen. We don’t know. I don’t have time anymore.”