In response to Quentin Tarantino’s statement that performers in Marvel films are “not cinematic stars,” Samuel L. Jackson offers his two cents.
Samuel Jackson, who is 73 years old, made an appearance on The View on Tuesday with his wife, LaTanya Richardson Jackson, to talk about the Broadway revival of August Wilson’s The Piano Lesson, which LaTanya directed and in which Samuel stars.
During the course of the interview, a question was posed to Samuel concerning his opinion on the ongoing discussion concerning Tarantino, Samuel’s frequent working partner, who recently stated on the podcast “2 Bears, 1 Cave” that movie stars have vanished as a result of the “Marvel-ization of Hollywood.”
“It requires an actor to be able to play those particular roles, and the sign of cinema popularity has always been, what, asses in seats? ” Samuel remarked while he was making his appearance. “About what are we conversing here?”
Samuel, who plays the Marvel character Nick Fury in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) and has also acted in a number of Tarantino’s movies, made a reference to Chadwick Boseman, who passed away in 2016, as a definitive “movie star” from the Marvel era.
On The View, he stated, “That’s not a big problem for me to know that obviously, these people are movie stars,” which indicates that he does not find this to be a contentious issue. “Black Panther is played by Chadwick Boseman. That is something that can’t be disputed, and he’s a famous actor.”
In response to the remarks made by Tarantino, actor Simu Liu, who stars in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, expressed his opinion on Twitter the previous week that the age of cinematic stardom “was white as hell.”
“If the only gatekeepers to movie stardom came from Tarantino and Scorsese, I would never have had the opportunity to lead a $400 million plus movie,” Liu wrote in a Twitter post, also referencing director Martin Scorsese’s now-famous 2019 comment that Marvel Cinematic Universe movies are “not cinema.” Liu was responding to Scorsese’s statement that Marvel Cinematic Universe movies are “not cinema.”
“Their talent as filmmakers astounds me, and I am in awe of them. They are auteurs of the highest kind,” Liu remarked on Twitter, adding that auteur filmmakers like Tarantino “don’t deserve to look down their nose at me or anyone else.”
On Twitter, Liu, who is set to reprise his role as Shang-Chi in at least two upcoming Marvel Cinematic Universe films, stated that “No movie studio is or ever will be flawless.” “But I’m pleased to work with one that has made sustained efforts to increase diversity onscreen by creating heroes that empower and inspire people of all groups everywhere.” “But I’m proud to work with one that has made sustained efforts to promote diversity onscreen by creating heroes that…”
Liu concluded his essay with a brief observation about how things have progressed in the Hollywood industry.
On Twitter, he proclaimed, “I enjoyed the “Golden Age” too, but it was white as hell.”
During Tarantino’s most recent piece on a podcast, he explained to the presenter, Tom Segura, that his “sole ax to grind against [Marvel] is that they’re the only things that seem to be made.” He also stated that superhero films “are the complete depiction of this era of cinema right now.”