Robert Downey Jr. 'Appreciates' Martin Scorsese's Marvel Diss But Says It 'Doesn't Make Sense'
Robert Downey Jr. is respectfully disagreeing with Martin Scorsese.
Days after the Oscar-winning director, 76, said he doesn’t consider Marvel superhero movies to be “cinema,” the Iron Man star, 54, appeared on SiriusXM’s The Howard Stern Show where he responded to the slam.
“I appreciate his opinion because I think, it’s like anything, we need all of the different perspectives so we can come to centre and move on.”
Still, though the actor said he wasn’t offended by the remarks, he did say that Scorsese’s statement “makes no sense.”
RELATED: Martin Scorsese Says Marvel Films Are ‘Not Cinema’ as Joss Whedon and James Gunn Respond
“I’ll tell you the truth, I didn’t expect [the Marvel Cinematic Universe] to become what it became and it is this very large, multi-headed Hydra at this point,” Downey told host Howard Stern earlier in the interview. “I’ve always had other interests, and according to Scorsese, it’s not cinema so I have to take a look at that, you know?”
The controversy started when Scorsese gave his honest opinion of Marvel movies in an interview with Empire via The Guardian.
“I tried, you know?” Scorsese said of attempting to watch a superhero film released by the studio. “But that’s not cinema.”
The Irishman director continued, “Honestly, the closest I can think of them, as well made as they are, with actors doing the best they can under the circumstances, is theme parks.”
“It isn’t the cinema of human beings trying to convey emotional, psychological experiences to another human being,” Scorsese said.
His opinion on the blockbuster studio and its films drew the ire of some well-known Marvel filmmakers like Joss Whedon, who directed 2012’s The Avengers and 2015’s Avengers: Age of Ultron.
“It isn’t the cinema of human beings trying to convey emotional, psychological experiences to another human being.” I first think of @JamesGunn,” Whedon tweeted. “How his heart & guts are packed into GOTG. I revere Marty, & I do see his point, but… Well there’s a reason why “I’m always angry”.”
