Avengers directors ramp up their attacks on ‘ill-informed’ Martin Scorsese

Avengers directors Anthony and Joe Russo ramp up their attacks on ‘ill-informed’ Martin Scorsese accusing him of elitism after the legendary filmmaker claimed the Marvel superhero movies ‘aren’t cinema’

  • Cleveland filmmakers Anthony and Joe Russo responded to Scorsese’s critiques of their blockbuster Marvel movies in an interview with The Daily Beast 
  • The pair implied that Scorsese was being classist with his claims that the popular franchise ‘isn’t cinema’
  • The Russo brothers further asserted that Scorsese was ‘ill-informed’ after he admitted that he hadn’t seen all the Marvel movies    
  • The pair defended the Marvel franchise in a separate interview last week, noting that the films made billions at the box office 
  • The Russos have directed four of the 23 films from the Marvel Cinematic Universe

Avengers directors Joe and Anthony Russo have ramped up their attack on Martin Scorcese after he recently claimed that their superhero movies ‘aren’t cinema’.

Speaking with The Daily Beast on Thursday, the brothers described the legendary filmmaker as ‘ill-informed’ and implied that his opinion of their movies was classist. 

‘We’re just two guys from Cleveland, Ohio. I think ‘cinema’ is a New York word. In Cleveland, we just call them ‘movies”, Joe, 48, told the publication.

The comments come after Scorcese penned an op-ed for the New York Times earlier this month, in which he stated that the Marvel movies featured no ‘revelation, mystery or genuine emotional danger’. 

‘Cinema [in the past] was about revelation — aesthetic, emotional and spiritual revelation… it was an art form,’ he wrote before listing films he admired by Alfred Hitchcock, Ingmar Bergman and Jean-Luc Godard. 

Avengers directors Anthony (left) and Joe Russo (right) ramped up their attack on Martin Scorcese in an interview with The Daily Beast on Thursday after he recently claimed that their superhero movies ‘aren’t cinema’

Scorcese lashed out at the Marvel movies in comments to Empire magazine and a subsequent op-ed in The New York Times

Scorcese lashed out at the Marvel movies in comments to Empire magazine and a subsequent op-ed in The New York Times

Scorcese’s op-ed came after an earlier comment he made to Empire magazine, during which he said that he doesn’t watch the blockbuster Avengers movies. 

‘I don’t see them; I tried, you know?’ Scorsese said. ‘But that’s not cinema.’ 

During Thursday’s interview with The Daily Beast, the Russo brothers further took aim at Scorcese for criticizing content he had not bothered to watch.   

‘Ultimately it’s tough to have any kind of dialogue about this because the perception is that, I don’t think Scorsese’s actually seen the films,’ Joe stated. 

‘It seems almost absurd to dialogue about it with somebody who’s so ill-informed,’ Anthony added. 

The Russos’ remarks come after they defended their Marvel film franchise in The Hollywood Reporter last week. 

The pair have directed four films from the Marvel Universe – Captain America: Winter Soldier, Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War, and Avengers: Endgame. 

d Avengers: Endgame grossed $2.78 billion at the international box office this year

d Avengers: Endgame grossed $2.78 billion at the international box office this year

The pair claimed that it was the audience’s emotional ties to their material that helped Avengers: Endgame soar to $2.78 billion in international box office revenue earlier this year.

‘When we look at the box office [of] Avengers: Endgame, we don’t see that as a signifier of financial success, we see it as a signifier of emotional success,’ Joe was quoted as saying. 

‘It’s a movie that had an unprecedented impact on audiences around the world in the way that they shared that narrative and the way that they experienced it. And the emotions they felt watching it.’

Scorcese is back in the spotlight, with his new film The Irishman opening in cinemas to rave reviews

Scorcese is back in the spotlight, with his new film The Irishman opening in cinemas to rave reviews

‘The other way to think about it, too, is nobody owns cinema,’ he said. ‘We don’t own cinema. You don’t own cinema. Scorsese doesn’t own cinema.’

Scorcese is back in the spotlight, with his new film The Irishman opening in cinemas to rave reviews. 

The Oscar-winning director of The Departed is best known for his films Taxi Driver, Goodfellas and Raging Bull. 

Joe (left) and Anthony Russo (right) are pictured at the global premiere of Avengers: Infinity War in 2018

Joe (left) and Anthony Russo (right) are pictured at the global premiere of Avengers: Infinity War in 2018

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