The Russos Believe Quentin Tarantino Just Wasn’t “Born to Make A Marvel Movie”

The Russo Brothers have an answer as to why Quentin Tarantino dislikes Marvel movies so much, going as far as to call the filmmakers who make these movies “hired hands.”

Joe and Anthony Russo responded to Tarantino’s panning of the superhero franchise, telling The New Yorker that Tarantino’s “relationship to the source material” is likely the reason for his ire.

“I don’t know if Quentin feels like he was born to make a Marvel movie, which is maybe why he would feel like a hired hand doing it. It depends on your relationship to the source material.”

The Russos ended up directing some of the more acclaimed Marvel movies including “Captain America: The Winter Soldier,” “Captain America: Civil War” and “Avengers: Endgame.”

Since their MCU exit, they’ve directed “Cherry” for Apple and “The Gray Man” for Netflix.

The Russos added that part of the joy of directing these Marvel movies comes in the “sense of community” that comes in making them.

You mean the same “sense of community” now-fired Marvel exec Victoria Alonso alluded to? If you remember, Alonso admitted, off-mic, that we (Marvel) direct the movies and not the filmmakers.

Are Marvel directors hired hands? You bet they are. They don’t have carte blanche to make the movie they truly envision. Their hands are guided by the higher-ups such as Kevin Feige who himself is guided by his superior. It’s a commercial product, a brand that needs to base its “creativity” on algorithms to make the big bucks.

It’s no secret that, in every Marvel movie, the bigwigs take control of the creative process, but you still need a director to direct the various crews, units, cinematographers to do their jobs. Alonso is probably not lying here.

Sure, there’s the post-production VFX people. It's a “collaborative” effort, but the director doesn’t really “direct” in the purest sense of the term. He or she just overlooks and hopes for the best.

It is known that Marvel has a tendency to tell the directors what needs to happen in the movie. I guess there’s a bit of wiggle room for the director to add a few things here and there. The CGI fight/battle scenes are ALWAYS pre-planned ahead of the time, even before principle photography begins. The Previs team also sets up all of the shots that Marvel wants.

You’re basically adhering to the Marvel brand, that’s why all these films look so much alike, at least in terms of photography, framing, shot-selection. It’s a brand and it is run as such.