Ridley Scott loves to try out a genre or two. This year alone saw the arrival of his historical epic The Last Duel and his biopic drama House of Gucci. Don’t expect him to be making a superhero blockbuster anytime soon though.
Scott has become the latest big-name director to trash superhero movies, calling them “fucking boring as shit” in a new interview with Deadline.
While discussing his upcoming film about Napoleon Bonaparte for Apple TV+, Kitbag, talk then turned to superhero movies. “I feel you can’t do Napoleon in one battle,” he said. “So, I narrowed it down to this (narrowed-down script).
Almost always, the best films are driven by the characters, and we’ll come to superheroes after this if you want, because I’ll crush it. I’ll fucking crush it. They’re fucking boring as shit… Their scripts are not any fucking good.”
Scott did offer an intriguingly broad definition of what entails a “superhero” movie, including his sci-fi classic Alien and swords and sandals epic Gladiator in the genre. “I think I’ve done three great scripted superhero movies,” he insisted.
“So, why don’t the superhero movies have better stories? Sorry. I got off the rail, but I mean, c’mon. They’re mostly saved by special effects, and that’s becoming boring for everyone who works with special effects, if you’ve got the money.”
First it was Martin Scorsese, then it was Denis Villeneuve, and now it’s Ridley Scott. Which big-name filmmaker will trash superhero movies next? Wes Anderson? Spike Lee? A hologram of Alfred Hitchcock?
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The initial reviews for Scott’s House of Gucci recently came out online, with a very mixed reaction indeed. It’s set for release in U.S. cinemas on November 24th before it then arrives on Paramount+.
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Check out the trailer for House of Gucci:
