Kevin Feige — President of Marvel Studios and recently-appointed Chief Creative Officer of Marvel Entertainment — has broken his silence regarding the disparaging remarks made by Martin Scorsese, in which the esteemed director declared Marvel films were “not cinema.”
Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter for the first time on the subject of Scorsese’s criticisms, Marvel Studios’ President Kevin Feige says he see things somewhat differently. “It’s not true,” he says, defending his company’s passion. “Everyone that works on these movies loves cinema.” Feige goes on to speak about how important a communal experience in a movie theater full of people is, saying “Everyone has a different idea of cinema.”
These comments are but some of many featured in a 40+ minute interview with Feige, one which details the history of Marvel’s Cinematic Universe starting at 2008’s Iron Man and going all the way to the present day. Speaking about the success of his company’s films, Feige said “I think it’s fun for us to take our success and use it to take risks and go in different places… Everybody has a different definition of art.” Although he contends everyone is entitled to their own opinion, it’s easy to see Scorsese’s comments got under Feige’s skin slightly, as he adds, “Everyone is entitled to write op-eds about that opinion. And I look forward to what will happen next. But in the meantime, we’re going to keep making movies.”
Following Scorsese’s original comments — in which he compared Marvel Studios’ films to theme parks, rather than actual cinema — numerous people associated with the Marvel Cinematic Universe (as well as others) have chimed in on the matter. Scorsese later doubled down on his stance, with Godfather director Francis Ford Coppola evidently sharing the sentiment. Scorsese eventually walked back his comments slightly, before further elaborating on them in a New York Times op-ed, which Feige references.
Scorsese’s criticisms are obviously diametrically opposed to Feige’s thoughts on the matter, given that he has been the architect of the MCU since its beginning in 2008, producing all of the franchise’s 23 films. What’s more, Feige’s name has been associated with big screen adaptations of Marvel comic books for even longer than that, going back to when he was an associate producer on 2000’s X-Men.
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