There’s no denying the popularity of superhero movies among modern audiences, as Marvel Studios and others continue to dominate the box office. But one popular actor thinks there’s a bad side effect because of the genre, and “big business” is hurting smaller movies.
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Ethan Hawke was speaking with the Film Stage about his career when he lamented the popularity of superhero movies and how they are being considered “great.”
“Now we have the problem that they tell us Logan is a great movie. Well, it’s a great superhero movie,” Hawke elaborated. “It still involves people in tights with metal coming out of their hands. It’s not Bresson. It’s not Bergman. But they talk about it like it is.
“I went to see Logan cause everyone was like, ‘This is a great movie’ and I was like, ‘Really? No, this is a fine superhero movie.’ There’s a difference but big business doesn’t think there’s a difference. Big business wants you to think that this is a great film because they wanna make money off of it.”
It sounds like Hawke was not a big fan of Logan, which was nominated for an Academy Award. While the film did not take home the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay, it did open the door for more superhero films to get recognition beyond the typical categories of visual effects and editing.
Disney will make a major push for Black Panther for next year’s ceremony, and they’re hopeful it will get recognized for Best Picture honors with their campaign. Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige previously praised Ryan Coogler’s job as director of the successful film.
“I would like to see the hard work and the effort and the vision and the belief of the talented filmmaker Ryan Coogler, who sat across the table from us a few years ago and said, ‘I have been wrestling with questions about my past and my heritage and I think I really want to tell a story within this movie,’” Feige said. “And that he did it so unbelievably well and with so much impact … seeing that potentially being recognized is what excites me the most.”
But with the Oscars’ recently announced “Popular Film” category, Black Panther might not get Best Picture nomination Disney is hoping for.
And while that might be okay with Ethan Hawke, it’s clear that he wants modern audiences to recognize smaller films alongside the big superhero spectacles.
