discussion Tarantino: MCU Directors Are Hired Hands

[GraceRandolph]

Tarantino writes that today’s filmmakers “can’t wait for the day” superhero movies fall out of favor in the same way 1960s directors rejoiced when popularity for studio musicals waned. The director told the L.A. Times 

[JBJT2786]

The way he contradicts himself in what he's saying:

 

Quote

Now, that’s not necessarily my favorite exact type of film,” Tarantino continued. “At the end of the day, I’m more of a ‘Close Encounters [of the Third Kind]’ guy, just the bigger idea and Spielberg setting out to make an epic for regular people, not just cinephiles. Few films had the kind of climax that ‘Close Encounters’ had. It blew audiences away.”

Is he saying the MCU is just for cinephiles or....?

 

 

Look I get these directors frustration. But Spielberg started the age of the Blockbuster. Add that the streaming wars are cannibalizing the mid budget films now and you can see why mid budget films are dying a slow death at the box office.

 

Interconnected Universes are the thing now and his soon to be retired ass needs to understand that. The MCU is just a byproduct of it.

[Mr. Mendes]

He is not entirely wrong for many films, however it would be incorrect to say that Marvel has not given pedigreed directors the freedom to use their own voices before. Guardians are definitely James Gunn’s films. Eternals is definitely Chloe Zhao’s film. MoM is definitely Sam Raimi’s film. Black Panther is definitelt Ryan Coogler’s film. There is no doubt in my mind that if they ever for some reason wanted to hire Tarintino, they’d allow him space to stick to his conventions, or else why would they approach him to begin with? 

[Danny789]

Big action blockbusters and Horror films are the only films worth going to the theater for. I’m fine with watching everything else at home. 
 

Scorsese, Ridley Scott, James Cameron, and now Tarantino all sound bitter. 

[kandicha]

Lucrecia Martel was approached to be the director for Black Widow and said the same thing - they weren’t going to give her any creative freedom and they especially weren’t going to give her any say in the action scenes, so she turned them down.

[fridayteenage]

generally, though they have been getting more freedom lately.

 

and how has the public and critics responded to feige not having an iron grip on things?

 

cries of "FLOP" and "PANNED"

[fauxtography]

IDK, the MCU is in a weird spot being the gaurentee'd biggest blockbuster of whatever is being released, but something feels cheep anytime an article comes out like "(blank actor) joining the MCU!"

 

I'm not interested in any of them. Avengers kind of ruined super hero movies for me.

[Contessa]

Me too. Can't wait for these films to die off.

[Katy V.!]

Yeah, shocking that Marvel wouldn’t let him display his foot fetish on a +$200m movie. 

[JBJT2786]

33 minutes ago, Katy V.! said:

Yeah, shocking that Marvel wouldn’t let him display his foot fetish on a +$200m movie. 

Or having the n-word said (insert number greater than 10 here) times.

[JonginBey]

40 minutes ago, Katy V.! said:

Yeah, shocking that Marvel wouldn’t let him display his foot fetish on a +$200m movie. 

 

6 minutes ago, JBJT2786 said:

Or having the n-word said (insert number greater than 10 here) times.

[GraceRandolph]

47 minutes ago, Katy V.! said:

Yeah, shocking that Marvel wouldn’t let him display his foot fetish on a +$200m movie. 

What’s wrong with a foot fetish being in a movie? 

[Danny789]

47 minutes ago, GraceRandolph said:

What’s wrong with a foot fetish being in a movie? 

He purposely writes in foot scenes so he can look at actresses feet it’s kind of gross. Even though I love his movies the way it’s become his signature….. 

[GraceRandolph]

39 minutes ago, Danny789 said:

He purposely writes in foot scenes so he can look at actresses feet it’s kind of gross. Even though I love his movies the way it’s become his signature….. 

ATRLers would be fine with someone writing scenes of shirtless men for them though in an MCU movie let’s be honest. 

[Dula Peep]

He is not wrong as usual 

[Danny789]

1 hour ago, GraceRandolph said:

ATRLers would be fine with someone writing scenes of shirtless men for them though in an MCU movie let’s be honest. 

But they are not written into the script so the director can get off on his kink. 

[Dark Miracles]

9 hours ago, JBJT2786 said:

The way he contradicts himself in what he's saying:

 

Is he saying the MCU is just for cinephiles or....?

 

 

Look I get these directors frustration. But Spielberg started the age of the Blockbuster. Add that the streaming wars are cannibalizing the mid budget films now and you can see why mid budget films are dying a slow death at the box office.

 

Interconnected Universes are the thing now and his soon to be retired ass needs to understand that. The MCU is just a byproduct of it.

Spielberg (and Lucas) started the age of concept films entering the cultural zeitgeist and becoming incredibly lucrative through word of mouth, but movies like Jaws and Star Wars were made on relatively tiny budgets and became blockbusters through the support of the moviegoing public. That’s something completely different.
 

MCU films, like Scorsese has said, are the cinematic equivalent of fast-food consumption and theme parks. They are blockbusters before even starting principal photography with hundreds of millions dollars of production budget thrown at them, with the single intention of being a blockbuster and making a fast billion dollars at the box office. They don’t seek to further any genre, they don’t seek to innovate the craft. The art of moviemaking is completely lost on these ‘films.’ It’s the same old beige and vanilla cinematography, choppily edited action set pieces, wooden and uninspiring acting, scripts with the dramatic implications of a wet mop over and over again.
 

At least the X-Men movies still had some visionaries in front of and behind the cameras, the difference is so stark even between those 00s movies and the big ticket MCU titles.

 

Tarantino is right in saying the MCU employs hired hands to direct them, as they need to fully control how it will look because these ‘movies’ are only an asset to the greater good; their wider business plan.

Edited November 5, 2022 by Dark Miracles

[Arcadius]

He's trash but technically speaking he's not wrong. Directors for the MCU essentially are hired hands since Kevin Feige tells them what story to tell and how to tell it. It's just the directors jobs to put their own unique touch to the films. 

[akoaytao1234]

I'm shocked people being shocked by his comments. It has always been like that. Marvel is a product and they want competence that could repeat their products.

[Johnny Jacobs]

I mean.. You can tell he secretly wants to be one but afraid to "stoop" into superhero films

[Life Savers]

He didn't lie 

[qurl]

y’all are just saying “he sounds bitter” and not … trying to understand what he’s saying ??? i mean he IS a storyteller first and foremost and the MCU stories are all kinda predetermined by the guy running the whole thing and the directors are indeed hired hands to facilitate the vision of the guy overseeing the MCU and Tarantino is saying he makes movies on his own terms and expresses his own vision

 

i will say that it is possible for these things to exist side by side like we can have the prestige cinema and the blockbusters but he’s speaking from his experience that he finds it annoying that these superhero franchises / big fantasy media franchise entities get to eat up the lion share of studio $$$ and attention these days and *I* agree with that sentiment tho i do think people like him and Scorsese … after a while it’s like “okay we get ur point u don’t have to keep bemoaning it”

 

all that to say, they’re right but they need to focus on actually making the movies that make people want to watch things other than the pretty colors and explosions of superhero media. OUATIH , for instance , sucked and as for Scorsese he’s coming up on 10 years without a movie that has truly WOWed me so … tick tock ya know

[Stan.killah]

He sounds bitter he wasn't selected to direct the next Ant-man movie or the next Captain Marvel film...   

[Valentine]

Why are these tired expired retired directors so mad. 
 

MCU is queen 

[Gesamtkunstwerk]

3 hours ago, Stan.killah said:

He sounds bitter he wasn't selected to direct the next Ant-man movie or the next Captain Marvel film...   

Yes, I am sure that Quentin Tarantino is screaming and crying every night because he didn't get to direct a Captain Marvel film