Quentin Tarantino was a guest on comedian Tom Segura’s podcast and said he thinks the Marvel movies are destroying cinema. Because of them, there would be “no more movie stars” and there would also be a “problem of representation” for films outside of the superhero genre. Tarantino guested on the 2 Bears, 1 Cave podcast to discuss his new book Cinema Speculation, having previously written a spin-off of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.
In the podcast, which was also uploaded to YouTube on Sunday (November 20), Tarantino commented that “there are all these actors who have become famous playing these characters. But they are not movie stars. Captain America is the star. Or Thor is the star.” Segura thinks the problem with Marvel movies is a certain predictability. The films are always structured according to the same pattern. Tarantino declined to comment, but said, “My only problem with these films is that they seem like the only films that are being produced. They represent the current era of film and don’t leave much room for anything else.” To illustrate his thoughts on the actors, Tarantino explained, “If [2005 oder 2009] an actor is in a movie that sells as well as the Marvel movies, that person is a star. People want to see more of him or her.” They would watch a movie to see the person and the quality of the movie would be secondary.
Tarantino and Segura start off 01:10:20 to talk about the Marvel movies. The director also said on the podcast that he “neither loves nor hates” the films. Nevertheless, he thinks he knows that he would never make a Marvel film and told the “Los Angeles Times”: “You have to be an employee to see these [Filme] to turn. I am not an employee. I’m not looking for a job.”