Martin Scorsese’s recent anti-Marvel comments have already irked “Guardians of the Galaxy” writer-director James Gunn to no ends. However, now Samuel L. Jackson, who plays Nick Fury in the MCU movies, has doubled-down and criticized not only Scorsese’s comments but, off-handedly, the maestro’s movies as well:
“I mean that’s like saying Bugs Bunny ain’t funny,” the veteran actor said. “Films are films. Everybody doesn’t like his stuff either. There are a lot of Italian-Americans that don’t think he should be making films about them like that. Everybody’s got an opinion, so I mean it’s okay. Ain’t going to stop nobody from making movies.”
The “everybody doesn’t like his stuff” line is actually quite interesting, all things considered, that, yes, Scorsese has released a few duds in his career, but Jackson hitting back at Scorsese by saying “everybody” doesn’t like his stuff is quite disingenuous, especially given the fact that Scorsese is the man behind such bonafide classics as Goodfellas, Raging Bull, Casino, Mean Streets, Taxi Driver etc.. Scorsese still remains one of the most beloved and legendary American filmmakers of the last 40 or so years. It is not surprising that a director of his power and reputation, who has championed the cinema of yore, has decided to criticize the superhero genre, I never thought he was a fan, I mean, who seriously thought that Scorsese was drooling in anticipation for “Avengers: Endgame” to come out?
Paul Greengrass’ "The Uprising," starring Andrew Garfield, opened to $3.2M from 2,068 theaters this weekend. Yikes. The budget hasn’t been disclosed, but is said to be in the $20-$30M range.