Black Widow director candidate Lucrecia Martel revealed what aspect of Marvel movies she strongly dislikes.
Black Widow was released in 2021 in theaters and on Disney+ simultaneously after Disney delayed it multiple times due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The story followed Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow (played by Scarlett Johansson) as she deals with the darker parts of her ledger when a conspiracy with ties to her past arises. Florence Pugh, Rachel Weisz, and David Harbour joined Johansson in the ensemble as Natasha’s family. The film grossed $379 million at the box office worldwide, resulting in one of the least popular films released by Marvel at the time. The movie was also heavily criticized in various aspects, including the screenplay and visual effects.
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Argentine director Martel is the most recent member of the band ofBlack Widow movie critics and Marvel. In a recent interview with The Film Stage, the filmmaker revealed that despite almost being part of the film, she never watched the movie. She adds that she saw most of the films from the company whenever they were available on planes she was traveling in. Martel credits the sound of these movies as her main dislike of the genre. “It’s the selection of the sounds that they’re connecting to the effects, which is actually very ugly,” she said, “and the way the music is used is actually horrible.”
In 2018, the Zama director told the Daily Pioneer about her experience with the studio. During the pre-production stages of Black Widow, Marvel Studios contacted several female directors to see who would take the lead in the film. “Don’t worry about the action scenes, we will take care of that,” the studio told Martel, immediately turning her off the offer. Martel reveals that the offer was not tempting, as she was interested in managing the movie how she pleased, which is why the relationship did not go past the first meeting.
Superhero movies have been criticized since the dawn of time, not only by audiences but more arduously by other filmmakers who deem this genre to be meritless or “not real cinema”. This type of criticism usually stems from the genre’s reliance on CGI and visual effects to bring their action sequences, heroes, and villains to life, as well as the lack of long scenes and in-depth character analysis, as seen with some indie and independent films. These comments often come from filmmakers without a relationship with superhero companies such as Marvel.
Martel is just one of the several directors who have explicitly communicated their disconnection from Marvel and its storytelling techniques. Most famously, film director Martin Scorsese said he believes superhero movies are closer to theme parks than cinema and that he has tried to watch such films but is unable. Since then, a conversation about the merit and veracity of the genre has increasingly sparked in pop culture.
Black Widow is available on Disney Plus.
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Source: The Film Stage, Daily Pioneer
Black Widow director candidate Lucrecia Martel turned down the job and is now revealing what she doesn’t like about Marvel Studios movies. Read More