Guillermo del Toro says he'd give his life for Martin Scorsese after essay criticizes director

Mess with the director of Raging Bull, you get Guillermo del Toro's horns.

The Oscar-winning Shape of Water director took to Twitter on Friday to defend Martin Scorsese after an essay in the U.K.-based outlet The Critic slammed much of the legendary helmer's filmography, claiming that he "has debased his talent" due to "rinse and repeat self-indulgence."

"I very, very seldom post anything contradictory here," del Toro began his defense. "But the amount of misconceptions, sloppy inaccuracies and hostile adjectives not backed by an actual rationale is offensive, cruel and ill-intentioned. This article baited them traffic, but at what cost?"

He added, "To be clear: If God offered to shorten my life to lengthen Scorsese's — I'd take the deal. This man understands Cinema. Defends Cinema. Embodies Cinema. He has always fought for the art of it and against the industry of it. He has never been tamed and has a firm place in history."

Del Toro also took issue with the essay's assertions that Scorsese's The Wolf of Wall Street is "achingly slow, and that Raging Bull is "quite simply across-the-board bad filmmaking," suggesting that "film language discussions, history lessons and research may be needed" for the critic.

In the essay, critic Sean Egan allows that "Scorsese's career is speckled with genuine greatness," but he writes, "the truth, though, is that his directorial talent has never been as great as occasional masterpieces like Goodfellas (1990) tricked us into believing it was."

Michael Tullberg/Getty Images; Amy Sussman/Getty Images Guillermo del Toro and Martin Scorsese

In his defense on Friday, del Toro likens the article to "faulting Picasso for 'not getting perspective right' or Gaugin for being 'garish.'" He concludes: "If you assail these cornerstones, you should lay it out — you disassemble the work and build your position — not just hand an opinion with 'slamming' adjectives. When I read pieces like this one. Aimed at one of the most benign forces and one of the wisest, I do feel the tremors of an impending culture collapse — and I do wonder: 'To what end?' ...and find myself at a loss."

Scorsese — who has won one Oscar and been nominated for 13 others — is hard at work on several upcoming projects, including the buzzy Killers of the Flower Moon. Del toro meanwhile is gearing up for the release of his stop-motion Pinocchio on Netflix on Dec. 9.

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• The assorted works of Guillermo del Toro, ranked

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