Leave it to “Blade” star Stephen Dorff to torch superhero movies and how far he feels they’ve fallen. At the Sundance Film Festival to support the premiere of his latest movie, Eddie Alcazar‘s gonzo sci-fi odyssey “Divinity,” Dorff talked with The Daily Beast about how he feels about the present Hollywood climate, in particular Marvel movies. His diagnosis? Not just not good, but “worthless garbage,” as a whole.
Dorff left a series of bodies in his wake in his takedown of the industry’s present big-budget output. “I mean, mainstream movies—the few movies that are coming out in theaters that are doing well, like “Avatar” and “Top Gun”—I don’t even know what it all is,” Dorff said. “It’s all stupid to me.” And the actor doesn’t have high hopes for festivals, either. “I think film festivals are, in a way, kind of silly,” Dorff continued, “with the exception of, it brings filmmakers and people together and gets an audience to see your movie and you can launch it and sell it there. But in general, most of the movies are selling to streamers anyway, so it’s not really about cinema.”
If Dorff had his way, studios would bring in young directors like Alcazar and give them loads of money to make more movies like “Divinity.” “I think “Divinity” should be bought by the majors, and if the majors were smart—if DC or any of these companies were doing cool things—they would look for the next Eddie Alcazar, because that’s the future,” Dorff said. “Not making “Black Adam” and worthless garbage over and over again.”
Set in a black-and-white alternate human existence where the fertility rate sits at a measly 3%, “Divinity” follows two brothers who attempt to keep Dorff’s deranged scientist from achieving his goal of immortal life. A prostitute helps the pair in the plans, but they need to fend off a group of women from another dimension led by Bella Thorne. So, yeah, “Divinity” definitely isn’t your usual Marvel or DC Fare. The film also stars Scott Pakula, Moises Arias, Jason Genao, and Karrueche Tran.
DC and Marvel may not like Dorff trashing their new movies, but the actor thinks they can handle it. “Marvel is used to me trashing them anyway,” laughed Dorff. “How’s that PG “Blade” movie going for you, that can’t get a director? Because anybody who goes there is going to be laughed at by everyone, because we already did it and made it the best. There’s no Steve Norrington out there.” Droff does have a point: it’s hard to envision the upcoming pic with Mahersala Ali as the titular vampire hunter besting the earlier trio with Wesley Snipes. But fans will have to see what Kevin Feige and Marvel Studios cook up.
Dorff wishes for those superhero days of old, though. “My life is pretty weird, but look, I love all kinds of movies,” the actor continued. “If comic-book movies were more like when I started when we made “Blade,” or the few that have been decent over the years, like when [Christopher] Nolan did “The Dark Knight” and reinvented Batman from Tim Burton, who’s obviously a genius…when they were interesting, like when Norrington did “Blade,” and Guillermo [del Toro] was fucking around in it. But all this other garbage is just embarrassing, you know what I mean? I mean, God bless them, they’re making a bunch of money, but their movies suck. And nobody’s going to remember them. Nobody’s remembering “Black Adam” at the end of the day. I didn’t even see that movie, it looked so bad.”
This writer can’t fault you for that choice, Mr. Dorff. And is Dorff really that off-base with his commentary here? If anything, “Divinity” sounds so definitively different from the last few batches of Marvel and DC content that, even if it’s ultimately not a crowd-pleaser, at least it’s more interesting than “Black Adam.” No word on when “Divinity” hits theaters, though, if it does. But theatrical release or, don’t expect Stephen Dorff to tone down his criticism about the current state of superhero cinema. And he shouldn’t: his critique isn’t just valid, it’s on point, and there are lots of movie fans out there ready for the MCU age to reach its twilight.
Check out a teaser trailer for “Divinity” below.