No./2 Once upon a time in… 2019

THE YEAR... SCORSESE TOOK ON SUPERHEROES — AND SPARKED A DEBATE ABOUT CINEMA

It seemed like a harmless question. It was early July, and I was sat in Martin Scorsese’s New York office. The director had shown me an unfinished cut of his latest epic, The Irishman , minus the de-ageing effects, and we were busy chatting about it. I asked if he had looked at the de-ageing work in Marvel’s films. And to my surprise, Scorsese gave a fiery criticism of the Marvel oeuvre. “No, I don’t see them,” he began. “That’s not cinema.” My guess is you’ve seen the rest of his thoughts elsewhere.

I knew immediately it would get a reaction. But I didn’t know until we ran the quotes in in early October just how a reaction. Once they started being shared via social media, arguments raged over whether Scorsese was speaking truth to power or justop-ed piece by Scorsese, and a defence by Kevin Feige on a podcast. It’s been odd seeing this single quote spin into a global talking point. But ultimately, though Scorsese may wish I’d never asked him that question, it’s opened up a debate over the definition of cinema, and the state of the film industry, that may have been essential and inevitable. Still, I’m glad I didn’t ask him about the Snyder Cut.