Since the move du jour is asking very famous directors what they think of superhero movies, a reporter at the WSJ Tech Live event asked Disney CEO Robert Iger what he thinks about the likes of Martin Scorsese and Francis Ford Coppola speaking ill of movies like his big Marvel tentpoles. “It doesn’t bother me, except I’m bothered on behalf of the people who work on those movies,†Iger told the moderator of his in conversation event. “They’re entitled to their own opinions. Francis Ford Coppola and Martin Scorsese are two people I hold in the highest regard in terms of the films they’ve made, the films I like, the films that we’ve all watched. But when Francis uses the words, ‘Those films are despicable,’ I reserve the word despicable for someone who committed mass murder. These are movies.â€
While Coppola has called superhero movies “despicable,†Scorsese compared them to amusement-park rides. Iger wondered which Disney-employed filmmakers the cinema legends were referring to — Ryan Coogler? Taika Waititi? Kevin Feige? “I think I’ve maybe sounded a little bit more defensive than I wanted to be. I don’t really feel a need to defend what we’re doing,†Iger continued. “If they want to bitch about movies it’s certainly their right. I just don’t understand. It seems so disrespectful to all the people who work on those films, who are working just as hard as the people who work on their films. They’re putting their creative souls on the line just like they are. You’re telling me Ryan Coogler making Black Panther is doing something that is somehow less than what Marty Scorsese or Francis Ford Coppola have ever done on one of their movies? Come on!†So, Iger didn’t want to sound defensive, but he did kind of want to say, Come through, Marty and Francis! Following light applause from the crowd, the Disney chief put a point on the matter by adding, “I said it!â€