Someone should make a list of all the A-list directors who have dunked on Marvel movies these past few years. Off the top of my head: Martin Scorsese, David Cronenberg, Bong Joon-ho, Alejandro G. Iñárritu, Steven Spielberg, David Fincher, James Mangold, Francis Ford Coppola, Ridley Scott, Lucrecia Martel, Tim Burton … Am I missing anybody?
You can now add “Dune” helmer, and ultra-popular French-Canadian director, Denis Villeneuve to that list of names. He’s been making the press rounds over the last couple of weeks to promote the upcoming sci-fi film. In an interview with French Premiere, he didn’t hold back when it came to Marvel:
“The problem today… Well, if we’re talking about Marvel, the thing is, all these films are made from the same mold. Some filmmakers can add a little color to it, but they’re all cast in the same factory. It doesn’t take anything away from the movies, but they are formatted.”
There’s also a Villeneuve interview with Spanish outlet El Mundo, which could be deemed a little bit harsher. “There are too many Marvel movies that are nothing more than a cut and paste of others,” Villeneuve said. “Perhaps these types of movies have turned us into zombies a bit… But big and expensive movies of great value there are many today. I don’t feel capable of being pessimistic at all.”
Villeneuve will maybe retract and claim his words were taken out of context. Fact of the matter is that a large swath of the people anticipating “Dune” are likely to also be Marvel fans. You just can’t isolate that demographic a few weeks away from release.