Aside of the overwhelmingly positive reactions from critics to Dune, Villeneuve started making headlines after his interview with French outlet Premiere. While the focus was his new space opera, other topics came up as well, including the filmmaker’s position on the MCU. After Scorsese’s comments gave the media basically a week of free headlines, it seems like everyone is keen on pulling hot takes out of filmmakers.
Villeneuve’s ‘roast’ is a great deal more tame than what Scorsese said about the MCU films - he outright says that this format ‘doesn’t take anything away from the movies’. Honestly, we’ve got to agree with the sentiment too; there is a lot of repetition, in terms of themes, plot elements and techniques used in MCU movies. Some of that is an inherent quality of a connected cinematic universe, but often there really is some cut and paste going on. Despite these comments being diplomatic, not presented negatively and - we’re going to say it - true, Marvel fans have taken aim at Villeneuve for them. Many unhappy MCU fans have posted comments of varying degrees of civility condemning the director’s statements. The backlash spilled over into review bombing. While Dune hasn’t opened publicly across most of the world, and so far only limited screenings took place, Marvel fans have taken to review sites to slam the adaptation of Frank Herbert’s seminal novel. Dune will only hit theatres and HBO Max on the 22nd of October. Angry Marvel fans aside, the overwhelmingly glowing response to early Dune screenings paint a bright future for the movie at the box office. With pandemic lockdowns lifting gradually worldwide, moviegoers are hungry for a major picture to welcome them back to cinemas and Dune is perfect for that role. With projected success, it seems like a solid bet that we’ll get the second movie from Villeneuve - Dune only has space enough to adapt half of the book. Meanwhile, some mildly critical comments from a filmmaker aren’t the only reason the MCU and its fanbase are caught up in controversy - following the release of Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, star Simon Liu is in hot water over various posts he made in the past pertaining to sexism, racism and pedophilia. This follows comments made by the star which disappointed the Chinese authority responsible for approving foreign media, axing the movie’s release in the country.
