Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse Director Says Francis Ford Coppola Was Complimentary Toward the Film

This weekend, Francis Ford Coppola joined Martin Scorsese in decrying Marvel films. Coppola took [...]

By Jamie Lovett

This weekend, Francis Ford Coppola joined Martin Scorsese in decrying Marvel films. Coppola took his criticisms even further than Scorsese did, calling Marvel movies "despicable." This inspired reactions Marvel fans, who took to social media to fire back at Coppola. But it turns out Coppola doesn't hate all Marvel movies. One fan on Twitter suggested that Coppola may change his perspective if he watched Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. The animated film's director Peter Ramsey replied to that tweet. Ramsay says, "Actually, Francis HAS seen it and was very complimentary and really appreciated the innovation and animated performances. So, not everything is so cut and dried."

The context of Coppola's comments suggests he was speaking about the live-action films produced by Marvel Studios. Those films that take place in the Marvel Cinematic universe have dominated the box office for a decade. Coppola told journalists in Lyon, France that "When Martin Scorsese says that the Marvel pictures are not cinema, he's right because we expect to learn something from cinema, we expect to gain something, some enlightenment, some knowledge, some inspiration. I don't know that anyone gets anything out of seeing the same movie over and over again. Martin was kind when he said it's not cinema. He didn't say it's despicable, which I just say it is."

Scorsese's comments about the success of Marvel films during an interview set off this conversation. "I don't see them. I tried, you know? But that's not cinema," he said. "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."

Scorsese doubled down on those comments during an event tied to the release of his latest film, The Irishman. "The value of a film that's like a theme park film, for example, the Marvel type pictures where the theaters become amusement parks, that's a different experience," he said. "As I was saying earlier, it's not cinema, it's something else. Whether you go for that or not, it is something else and we shouldn't be invaded by it. And so that's a big issue, and we need the theater owners to step up for that to allow theaters to show films that are narrative films."

What do you think of Coppola's comments? Let us know in the comments section.

Image via Corbis via Getty Images

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