Auteurist Martin Scorsese has already expressed his contempt for superhero movies—at least those big-budget, soul-sucking Marvel and DC blockbusters made to sell merch, comprised primarily of CGI, convoluted storylines, and A-list actors phoning it in.
Now, the director has commented on Todd Phillips’ divisive 2019 flick Joker, a pseudo-profound film that was influenced in part by Scorsese’s own Taxi Driver. In an interview with the New York Times about his recent crime family Netflix drama The Irishman, Marty admitted he has no intention of even watching Phillips’ latest.
“I saw clips of it,” he said. “I know it. So it’s like, why do I need to? I get it. It’s fine.”
Ironically, Scorsese was originally made an offer to direct Joker himself, but he passed on the project because he didn’t have time. He did read the script, however. Of Joaquin Phoenix’s Arthur Fleck (a.k.a. The Joker) and his character development, Scorsese said, “For me, ultimately, I don’t know if I make the next step into this character developing into a comic book character. You follow? He develops into an abstraction. It doesn’t mean it’s bad art, it’s just not for me.”
The balls on this guy! He’s already faced vitriol from masses of angry comic book fans who have no sense of Scorsese’s revered place in film history, and now he’s doubling down by saying he won’t even deign to give the movie a try.
And quite frankly, this is precisely the attitude we should all take into 2020. If we don’t feel like watching something, we shouldn’t. No need to keep up with the endless discourse. Life is short. See what you’re interested in and screw the rest. “It doesn’t mean it’s bad art, it’s just not for me” is my new rallying cry.
