Simu Liu is getting slammed on Twitter for calling out directors Martin Scorsese and Quentin Tarantino after the latter criticized the “Marvel-ization of Hollywood.”
Tarantino appeared on the “2 Bears, 1 Cave” podcast, where he called Marvel films “the only things that seem to generate any kind of excitement amongst a fanbase or even for the studio making them.”
The Academy Award-winning director added that the actors who are featured in every Marvel movie are “not movie stars” because it is the franchise’s characters — Captain America, Thor and other superheroes — “that become a star.”
Tarantino noted that while he isn’t fond of Marvel films, he doesn’t despise them.
But Liu wasn’t having it. The “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” star took to Twitter to respond to Tarantino’s remarks.
“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 tweeted. “I am in awe of their filmmaking genius. They are transcendent auteurs. But they don’t get to point their nose at me or anyone.”
“No movie studio is or ever will be perfect,” he went on. “But I’m proud to work with one that has made sustained efforts to improve diversity onscreen by creating heroes that empower and inspire people of all communities everywhere. I loved the ‘Golden Age’ too.. but it was white as hell.”
Scorsese, best known for directing films such as “Goodfellas” and “Taxi Driver,” has previously said that he doesn’t consider Marvel movies to be cinema.
“Honestly, the closest I can think of them, as well made as they are, with actors doing the best they can under the circumstances, is theme parks,” he said in an interview with Empire. “It isn’t the cinema of human beings trying to convey emotional, psychological experiences to another human being.”
Scorsese clarified in a New York Times opinion piece in response to the criticism that if he grew up at a later time in his life, he might have enjoyed watching films from the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
“The fact that the films themselves don’t interest me is a matter of personal taste and temperament,” he wrote. “But I grew up when I did and I developed a sense of movies — of what they were and what they could be — that was as far from the Marvel universe as we on Earth are from Alpha Centauri.”
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Liu garnered support from fans.
However, he also faced heavy criticism for taking aim at the directors.
Some Twitter users pointed out that Liu simply doesn’t have the filmography to post such a comment.
Others noted that Scorsese established the World Cinema Project, a nonprofit that promotes films from around the world.
While Liu faced some backlash for his tweet, Scorsese and Tarantino have also previously received criticism for their own work.
According to CNN, Scorsese has dodged questions about why his films don’t feature many female actors. Tarantino, meanwhile, has been criticized for Bruce Lee’s portrayal in “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” and the way women are violently treated in some of his films.
