Apparently, director David Cronenberg does not think highly of superhero films

Well, it looks like director David Cronenberg does not have a high opinion of superhero films, which shouldn’t come as much of a surprise to those familiar with his work.  Cronenberg has always been an “outside-the-box” kind of filmmaker, so it’s not exactly a shock that he doesn’t care for the genre.  However, I certainly don’t agree with his assertations that a superhero film can’t be an “elevated art form,” seeing as not everything that falls into that category has to be shocking, weird, and melancholic.

Here’s the interview excerpt from Next Movie:

David, you’ve done drama and horror. Some fairly formidable directors have branched out into superhero movies pretty beautifully —is that something you would consider doing?

DC: I don’t think they are making them an elevated art form. I think it’s still Batman running around in a stupid cape. I just don’t think it’s elevated. Christopher Nolan’s best movie is “Memento,” and that is an interesting movie. I don’t think his Batman movies are half as interesting though they’re 20 million times the expense. What he is doing is some very interesting technical stuff, which, you know, he’s shooting IMAX and in 3-D. That’s really tricky and difficult to do. I read about it in “American Cinematography Magazine,” and technically, that’s all very interesting. The movie, to me, they’re mostly boring.

Do you think the subject matter prohibits the elevated art form?

DC: Absolutely. Anybody who works in the studio system has got 20 studio people sitting on his head at every moment, and they have no respect, and there’s no…it doesn’t matter how successful you’ve been. And obviously Nolan has been very successful. He’s got a lot of power, relatively speaking. But he doesn’t really have power.

So that’s a no.

DC: I would say that’s a no, you know. And the problem is you gotta… as I say, you can do some interesting, maybe unexpected things. And certainly, I’ve made the horror films and people say, “Can you make a horror film also an art film?” And I would say, “Yeah, I think you can.”

But a superhero movie, by definition, you know, it’s comic book. It’s for kids. It’s adolescent in its core. That has always been its appeal, and I think people who are saying, you know, “Dark Knight Rises” is, you know, supreme cinema art,” I don’t think they know what the f**k they’re talking about.

Personally, I think Cronenberg’s comments about the genre are a bit closed-minded and dismissive.  It’s also pretty hypocritical to say that comic books are for kids and are “adolescent,” seeing as the director has adapted a comic book himself with John Wagner’s A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE, which coincidentally is one of his best films.  But, obviously I don’t know what the f*ck I’m talking about.

I’m sure there will be some mild backlash from Cronenberg’s comments from fans, critics, and probably Christopher Nolan, but I’m also sure that the director has run out of f*cks to give on the subject, so it won’t really matter.

Cronenberg’s latest flick, COSMOPOLIS, opens in limited release this Friday, August 17, 2012.