James Gunn the controversial director of The Suicide Squad, Guardians of the Galaxy and Super has once again made waves in the Comicbook community and media at large by stating that iconic and Oscar-winning Director Martin Scorsese Is In “The Shadow Of Marvel cinematic universe films.
James Gunn has been doing the publicity tour for his latest comic book film The Suicide Squad, and was asked about Martin Scorsese’s comments on comic-book films in general. For those who don’t remember Martin Scorsese once told Empire magazine that Marvel movies are “not cinema” but are more akin to theme parks.
James Gunn was a guest on the “Happy.Sad.Confused” podcast and was asked about the comments, to which he said
“I just think it seems awful cynical that he would keep coming out against marvel and then that is the only thing that would get him press for his movie, so he just kept coming out against marvel so that he could get press for his movie. He’s creating his movie in the shadow of the Marvel films, and so he uses that to get attention for something he wasn’t getting as much attention as he wanted to for it”
This is definitely a “shots fired” moment as anyone who knows anything about filmmaking knows that Martin Scorsese is not in the shadow of anyone or anything. We are all entitled to our opinions, and Gunn is most certainly allowed to say whatever he wishes, but his comments do come off as somewhat petty and meanspirited.
Compared to Zack Snyder who was asked the same thing about Martin Scorsese’s commenters and replied
“Oh, it’s fair, Martin Scorsese is a genius. If you’re really good at something, commenting on that world is completely within your rights. And it doesn’t diminish my respect for him. I’m certain he wasn’t talking about my movies. He might’ve been, but I like to think he wasn’t. He meant the other ones.”
Zack Snyder’s response is playful and humorous and does not bash anyone and instead deflects away tension. Overall I think James Gunn is a very good filmmaker, but I am disappointed to see him resort to tearing down a legend in Hollywood to bring more press to The Suicide Squad, ironically he is doing exactly what he accuses Martin Scorsese of.