When news broke that Francis Ford Coppola called Marvel films “despicable,” social media went crazy. More than when Scorsese had his original Marvel comments, the word used by Coppola seemed to be much more definitive and harsh. But according to a new Deadline interview, which also includes the full translation of Coppola’s comments from the recent French event, it appears that, much like Scorsese, the filmmaker’s thoughts on the subject are a bit more complicated than the black and white sentiments that were reported days ago.
“Personally I don’t like the idea of franchises, the notion that you can keep repeating what is essentially the same movie for financial gain — in other words, what is a formulaic approach,” he clarified. “I feel that approach is taken to reduce the economic risk of movies, and I feel the ‘risk factor’ is an element that makes movies sometimes be great. Also, the formulaic film draws most available resources to them, leaving little for more daring productions, reducing diversity.”
He went on to talk about Scorsese’s comments and how he feels about the idea of Marvel films being “cinema.” As you might expect, his response to that is a bit more nuanced than a simple yes or no question.
You can read the full interaction over at Deadline, which includes the full translation of the comments from France that caused such a stir. However, just from the answer above, it does seem as if the original comments made by Coppola were definitely not his only thoughts on the subject, but the intent is still there. The filmmaker doesn’t think Marvel films are terrible, but he clearly doesn’t see the value in them, either.
Again, as we’ve said before since this whole issue came up, people are entitled to their opinions. And especially if your name is Francis Ford Coppola and you have an opinion about films.