Dune director: Many Marvel movies are just copy-pastes of others

Director Denis Villeneuve was the latest director to be asked for his opinion on Marvel movies, and his response was a bit mixed. While he called many Marvel movies "copy and paste," he also praised Marvel's hiring of Zhao Ting to direct The Eternals, calling it a "genius move."

In an interview with Spanish newspaper El Mundo, Villeneuve was asked about the process of making a high-budget art house film, to which Villeneuve responded that it was certainly doable, as was done with Nolan and director Alfonso Cuarón.

This brings up Martin Scorsese's comments on Marvel movies, and how the director has criticized them in the past. In a quote independently translated by IGN, Villeneuve seemed to agree with Scorsese, saying, "Maybe the problem is that there are too many Marvel movies that are just copy-pastes of other movies. Maybe these kinds of movies are making us a little zombie-like. There are also a lot of big-budget, but valuable movies now. I don't think we can be completely pessimistic."

While this may be another case of a well-respected director criticizing the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Villeneuve isn't entirely against the Marvel machine. During another directors' roundtable with Harper's Bazaar, Villeneuve was joined by Oscar winner Zhao Ting, who is currently directing The Eternals for Marvel.

There, Villeneuve praised Zhao Ting's selection by Marvel as a genius move. He told Zhao Ting, "I am your number one fan. I think it was a genius move for Marvel to find you because you are the exact opposite of it aesthetically." Villeneuve praised Zhao Ting's "The Rider" and wrote an "artistic love letter" to her ability to capture life behind the camera after watching it.

Villeneuve's comments on Marvel movies sparked a flurry of criticism on social media, most notably from "Doctor Strange" director Scott Derrickson.

Derrickson tweeted: "As a director I don't disparage other directors' work even if I don't like theirs. This job is hard enough for all of us and no one ever sets out to make a bad movie."