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Beyond his filmmaking, Scorsese has been a champion of film preservation, co-founding The Film Foundation to protect and restore classic cinema. According to Scorsese, “Well, the industry is over,” who has once again questioned the state of cinema, this time last year during the release of his ‘Killers Of The Flower Moon’ project. The legendary filmmaker famously made lots of waves around four years ago when he claimed that superhero films were not cinema. Now, in a profile piece for GQ, Scorsese has widened his critique beyond a single genre, instead aiming a broadside at blockbuster franchise movies in general. “The danger there is what it’s doing to our culture, because there are going to be generations now that think movies are only those – that’s what movies are,” the director said when asked his take on the current state of blockbuster dominance. Scorsese then went on to give an example of how studio executives tried to get him to alter his planned ending to The Departed so it could become a franchise. He doesn’t recall the moment fondly. In suggesting that large parts of the audience have been trained to watch only these films, Scorsese argues that the only way to reverse course is via the filmmakers. “We have to then fight back stronger,” he argues, “and it’s got to come from the grassroots level. It’s gotta come from the filmmakers themselves. And you’ll have, you know, the Safdie brothers, and you’ll have Chris Nolan, you know what I mean? And hit ’em from all sides. Hit ’em from all sides, and don’t give up. Let’s see what you got. Go out there and do it. Go reinvent. Don’t complain about it. But it’s true, because we’ve got to save cinema.” Five years ago, the Taxi Driver director likened superhero films to theme park rides, famously stating that they lacked a sense of emotional danger. This time, Scorsese uses a more topical allegory, but one even more damning. “It’s almost like AI making a film … and that doesn’t mean that you don’t have incredible directors and special effects people doing beautiful artwork. But what does it mean? What do these films, what will it give you? Aside from a kind of consummation of something and then eliminating it from your mind, your whole body, you know? So what is it giving you”. Scorsese’s recent comments are likely to spark debate again, though this time he hasn’t targeted a specific genre, so other filmmakers may not feel personally singled out. Meanwhile, he’s back in the spotlight with a new project outside the film industry—directing and starring in the latest campaign for fashion brands KITH and Armani. Read on! By ML Staff/Film Stories / The Content Exchange