"He just seems awful cynical"
James Gunn has offered a retort to Martin Scorsese's comments about superhero movies from back in 2019.
At the time, Scorsese said that Marvel movies "aren't cinema", comparing them to theme parks.
He said: "It isn’t the cinema of human beings trying to convey emotional, psychological experiences to another human being."
The director went so far as to pen an op ed essay for the New York Times about his take on superhero movies, writing that they lack "revelation, mystery or genuine emotional danger."
He was also frustrated by the corporate production of Marvel movies, saying "there's worldwide audio-visual entertainment, and there's cinema.
"That’s the nature of modern film franchises: market-researched, audience-tested, vetted, modified, revetted and remodified until they’re ready for consumption."
James Gunn, who is responsible for the 'Guardians of the Galaxy' movies and directed the recent 'The Suicide Squad', offered a response to Scorsese's scathing remarks.
Speaking on the Happy Sad Confused podcast with Josh Horowitz, Gunn said: "I just think, you know… he just seems awful cynical — that he, you know, he would keep coming out against Marvel and then that's the only thing that would get him press for his movie.
"So then he just kept coming out against Marvel so that he could get press for his movie.
"So he's creating his movie in the shadow of the Marvel films, and so he uses that to get attention for something that he wasn't getting as much attention as he wanted for it."
James Gunn also had high praise for Scorsese, saying he's "one of the greatest filmmakers who's ever existed."
"I love his movies. I can watch his movies no problem. And he said a lot of things I agree with," Gunn continued. "There [are] a lot of things that are true about what he's said.
"There are a lot of heartless, soulless, you know, spectacle films out there that don't reflect what should be happening. I mean, I can't tell you the amount of times I've talked to film directors before they went in and made a big movie, and said 'Hey, we're in this together. Let's do something different with these big movies. Let's make them something different than everything that's come before 'em.'
"And then see them just go and just cater to every single studio whim or what's thought of, and just be grossed out, frankly."
James Gunn concluded saying: "He doesn't know what my movie is, so you know it was… it was irritating."
You can watch the director speak out below.