Paul Thomas Anderson’s surprising love of superhero movies: “There’s a terrific energy”
The legacy of Paul Thomas Anderson is synonymous with some of the greatest cinematic masterpieces of this century, leading audiences to feel stressed at the mere sight of an asparagus, immense fear over losing their milkshakes, and somehow making people do a double-take for turning unlikely stars like Adam Sandler into formidable dramatic actors.
From the scathing commentary at the heart of Boogie Nights to his deeply personal ode to growing up in Licorice Pizza, the director has created classic after classic that reaffirm him as one of the most talented in the business with impeccable taste.
But like many people, we all have our fair share of surprises stacked away beneath the surface, with the director listing one of his favourite films as Ted when discussing his taste in cinema, also professing his love for another surprising genre that some might not expect.
There isn’t one person in Hollywood who hasn’t chipped in their own two cents on the impact of the Marvel franchise, with Martin Scorsese describing them as ‘theme-park pictures’ and passionately describing how they kill the entirety of cinema while others continue to defend them for the sole reason that they bring in substantial box office revenue and keep cinemas alive.
There are many arguments for both, but ultimately, commercial pictures don’t subsidise smaller projects; they take over them, something you’d imagine an independent director wouldn’t be a fan of. But interestingly enough, Anderson described his love for the studio, saying, “Obviously it’s gotten even more complicated with streaming and the sort of overabundance of superhero movies. Most of the stuff I don’t take too seriously. I mean, it seems that there is a bit of a preoccupation with superhero films. I like them. It seems to be something that’s popular these days to sort of wonder if they’ve ruined movies and all this kind of stuff. I just don’t feel that way. I mean, look, we’re all nervous about people getting back to the theatre, but you know what’s going to get them back in movie theatres? Spider-Man. So let’s be happy about that.”
The director is right about the fact that these films encourage people to visit the cinema, with packed screening rooms every time a new story enters their universe. Anderson proclaimed his love for two of their projects in particular, saying, “Shang-Chi was good fun. There’s a terrific energy about it, but I also live in a Marvel-obsessed household, so continuing the journey of these Marvel stories is exciting to us. I liked Venom 2.”
It’s an interesting dilemma that will no doubt continue to be debated. Directors like Anderson are struggling to have their films made because of this very success, with everyone from David Fincher and Richard Linklater, who used to be huge cinematic figures in the 2000s and 2010s, are now starting to fade into the streaming machine as their new projects are being shunned from cinemas and shoved onto the revolving algorithm of Amazon Prime and Netflix.
It’s a tragic fate that only makes independent projects harder to make, even when they’re coming from the greatest filmmakers in the industry. It might bring more people into the cinema and kept it afloat, but at what cost?
