At this point, it’s pretty well-known that Martin Scorsese isn’t a fan of comic book movies. It’s been about four years since his comments that Marvel films “aren’t cinema” first caused a stir, and since then, he’s offered a fairly extensive detailing of how the film industry has been eroded by money-minded power-players. Now, though, he’s identified an antidote to the poison: the works of directors like Chrstopher Nolan and the Safdie Brothers.
In a new interview with GQ, Scorsese once again called on movie theaters to “step up” and show films that can “move” audiences emotionally, adding that he’s fearful of younger generations thinking the world of cinema is limited to just franchise and comic book entertainment. When pressed by the interviewer about the limited options that movie theaters have, Scorsese replied that there are, in fact, some titles that have the potential to “save cinema,” and Nolan and the Safdies are both in a position to lead the charge.
“We have to, then, fight back stronger,” Scorsese said, before offering a brief outline of the battle plan. “It’s got to come from the grassroots level. It’s gotta come from the filmmakers themselves. And you’ll have, you know, the Safdie brothers, and you’ll have Chris Nolan, you know what I mean? And hit ‘em from all sides. Hit ’em from all sides, and don’t give up. Let’s see what you got. Go out there and do it. Go reinvent. Don’t complain about it. But it’s true, because we’ve got to save cinema.”
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Scorsese seems to have forgotten about that whole Batman trilogy that helped cement Nolan as one of the most influential filmmakers of the century, but nevertheless, a lot of Nolan’s more recent work falls in line with Scorsese’s vision. His July historical epic, Oppenheimer, earned $82.4 million its opening weekend alone in partial thanks to the Wikipedia-certified cultural phenomenon it spawned with its sister-film-by-fate, Barbie. The Safdies, meanwhile, are executive producing for Nathan Fielder’s new HGTV-spoof show, The Curse, with Benny Safdie set to appear with an on-screen role as well.
As for Scorsese, he’s about to provide theaters with another “moving” film of his own: The Killers of the Flower Moon. Starring Leonardo DiCaprio, the historical drama recounts Oklahoma’s Reign of Terror of the 1920s, in which native Osage peoples were murdered after oil deposits were discovered on their land.
