Simu Liu criticized comments renowned directors Martin Scorsese and Quentin Tarantino’s have made about Marvel movies.
In 2019, Scorsese praised the production value of Marvel movies but said he didn’t consider them to be cinema.
“I don’t see them,” he said in an interview with Empire. “I tried, you know? But that’s not cinema. Honestly, the closest I can think of them, as well-made as they are, with actors doing the best they can under the circumstances, is theme parks. It isn’t the cinema of human beings trying to convey emotional, psychological experiences to another human being.”
In a 2 Bears 1 Cave podcast episode posted on November 21, Tarantino also spoke about Marvel’s impact on cinema. He felt the “Marvel-ization of Hollywood” had ruined cinema and reminisced about old Hollywood.
“My only axe to grind against them is they’re the only things that seem to be made,” he said, according to Entertainment Weekly. “There’s not really much room for anything else. That’s my problem.”
Liu took to Twitter to criticize the comments.
“If the only gatekeepers to movie stardom came from Tarantino and Scorsese, I would never have had the opportunity to lead a $400 million plus movie,” he wrote, while also praising their “filmmaking genius.”
Liu also praised the Marvel Cinematic Universe for its “sustained efforts to improve diversity onscreen by creating heroes that empower and inspire people of all communities everywhere.”
“I loved the ‘Golden age’ too.. but it was white as hell,” he wrote.
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