Just look at Joe Russo, coming off co-directing with brother Anthony, one of the worst films of the decade, the $320M ‘Electric State’ and he has the gall to talk about what movies deserve Oscars.
Russo is being mocked for complaining about mainstream movies not winning at the Oscars and blaming Harvey Weinstein. He claims that the “trend” of separating mainstream and art films was started by Weinstein.
“This trend was started by Harvey Weinstein,” Russo told The Times. “He vilified mainstream movies to champion the art films he pushed for Oscar campaigns. Popular films were winning Oscars before the mid-Nineties, then Weinstein started mudslinging campaigns.”
“It affected how audiences view the Oscars because they’ve not seen most of the movies. We’re in a complicated place. Things we should all enjoy collectively we instead punch each other in the face over.”
Russo seems to omit the fact that plenty of popular movies in the 1990s and 2000s won Oscars (“The Lord of the Rings,” “Gladiator,” Titanic,” “The King’s Speech”). Hell, even “Green Book” ended up grossing $321M worldwide.
Yes, the last few years have seen the Best Picture Oscar go to low-budget indies (“Anora,” “Nomadland,” “CODA”) but then you get a year where Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer” sweeps, and that film made close to $1 billion worldwide.
I sense some resentfulness on the part of Russo. Maybe Joe should make a good movie before complaining that his blockbusters don't win Oscars. Ever since “Avengers: Endgame,” it’s been a rough ride for The Russo bros with three straight losers (“Cherry,” “The Gray Man,” and “The Electric State”). It’s come to the point where they’ve decided to go back to directing more ‘Avengers’ movies.
It was less than two years ago that Joe mocked Martin Scorsese for the disappointing box office performance of “Killers of the Flower Moon.” It was a clear swipe at Scorsese’s criticisms of Marvel movies and a touting of “Avengers: Endgame” earning $2.8 billion at the box office.
The ‘Smile’ franchise has a new director. David Bruckner, who made “The Night House” and the 2022 “Hellraiser” reboot, has been hired to direct “Smile 3” for Paramount.