The furore teed off by The Irishman director (and cinematic icon) Martin Scorsese's comments about blockbuster cinema in general and Marvel movies in particular to Empire (in response to a question not directly about either) has been well documented across the 'net. Now Kevin Feige, the chief architect of the Marvel cinematic paradigm has weighed in, calling the situation "unfortunate".
Talking to The Hollywood Reporter's Awards Chatter podcast, Feige was asked directly about the direct'r comments that Marvel isn't "cinema" and more akin to theme parks. "I think that's not true. I think it's unfortunate," Feige says. "I think myself and everyone who works on these movies loves cinema, loves movies, loves going to the movies, loves to watch a communal experience in a movie theater full of people."
He also elaborates on the fact that the Marvel output has run the gamut of genres, and put its characters in very dramatic, very human situations. "We did Civil War. We had our two most popular characters get into a very serious theological and physical altercation," Feige continues. "We killed half of our characters at the end of a movie. I think it's fun for us to take our success and use it to take risks and go in different places."
Despite Scorsese's lack of love for most superhero filmmaking, Feige also understands that a love of cinema is subjective, and harbours no ill will towards the man. "Everybody has a different definition of cinema. Everybody has a different definition of art. Everybody has a different definition of risk," Feige explains. "Some people don't think it's cinema. Everybody is entitled to their opinion. Everyone is entitled to repeat that opinion. Everyone is entitled to write op-eds about that opinion, and I look forward to what will happen next. But in the meantime, we're going to keep making movies." For more, head to The Hollywood Reporter's site.
And finally, talking about risky ideas and directorial visions, Feige drops some info about The Eternals, which Chloe Zhao is busy making now in the Canary Islands. "It is a very big movie. It is a very expensive movie. And we are making it because we believe in Chloe Zhao's vision and we believe in what those characters can do and we believe we need to continue to grow and evolve and change and push our genre forward," says Feige. "That's a risk if I've ever heard one."