Hollywood likes Marvel movies because they like money. We get it. What we don’t get is Neill Blomkamp losing his shit over Denis Villeneuve’s moderate opinion on them.
Neill Blomkamp, known best for his politically charged sci-fi film District 9, has lashed out at Dune director Denis Villeneuve for his recent remarks regarding big-budget Marvel films. The fact that neither director has an allegiance to the Marvel cinematic universe makes it all the more surprising.
In a recent interview with Spanish newspaper El Mundo, Villeneuve reportedly stated:
“The problem is that we are in front of too many Marvel movies that are nothing more than a ‘cut and paste’ of others… Perhaps these types of movies have turned us into zombies a bit… But big and expensive movies of great value there are many today. I don’t feel capable of being pessimistic at all.”
So while certainly not an endorsement of such filmmaking, it’s hardly as assault on Rome either. He just thinks they take up too much figurative space in the market of film; an opinion that is understandable even if you don’t agree with it.
Less understandable, but much more entertaining and concise, is Blomkamp’s rebuttal:
What a fucking asshole https://t.co/vXH13aIAA1
— Neill Blomkamp (@NeillBlomkamp) September 16, 2021
With the ability to spit venom like that, it’s a surprise the Hollywood suits cancelled his Alien remake – dude went straight for the jugular.
It isn’t clear what Neill Blomkamp is hoping to achieve by going after one of his fellow directors, but it does bear the feint aroma of jealousy. Villeneuve is a filmmaker on a hot streak, working in spaces that many assumed Blomkamp, after his first film’s success, would also occupy.
Their careers have had different trajectories though, with Blompkamp’s films suffering diminishing returns financially and critically with each new release. His latest film Demonic, a low budget sci-fi horror project filmed during the pandemic, received harsh reviews and a general lack of fanfare.
Perhaps that’s what’s really going on here – a plea to the powers above that he is on their side: ‘come get me Marvel, I’ll make whatever trash you want… it’s so cold out here’. Conversely, he could have just been trying to stick up for the directors that have chosen to work with Marvel.
Either way, calling someone “a fucking asshole” because he responded to a question in an interview seems like overkill.
