Martin Scorsese’s Daughter Loves Trolling Him About Marvel
While promoting his latest film, Killers of the Flower Moon, Martin Scorsese has gamely tried appealing to the age bracket that may be most squeamish about enduring a three-hour-plus movie. There was his spirited sitdown with Gen-Z star Timothée Chalamet, his long-awaited embrace of Letterboxd, and a few viral TikToks with his 23-year-old daughter, Francesca. But there’s at least one youth-centered trend that the 80-year-old has not endorsed: Marvel movies.
Back in October 2019, Scorsese said in an interview that Marvel films are “not cinema.” The following month, he clarified his comments but didn’t change his stance, writing in a New York Times op-ed: “Many of the elements that define cinema as I know it are there in Marvel pictures. What’s not there is revelation, mystery or genuine emotional danger. Nothing is at risk.”
This is worth noting because in a recent Scorsese father-daughter TikTok called “The Muse,” the Academy Award winner jokingly dotes on the star of his next film: Francesca’s schnauzer, Oscar. “My dad adores him and he adores my dad,” she told GQ in a new interview. “It’s funny because he kind of looks like my dad too.”
Director Joe Russo, who has helmed multiple Marvel films, decided to retaliate at Scorsese by poking fun at the clip. He made his own video response, joking that while Scorsese’s dog may be named Oscar, Russo’s is named “Box Office.”
Though Francesca told the publication she hasn’t seen Russo’s video, she did admit to trolling her dad over his Marvel criticism. One year, she said, she covered all his Christmas gifts in Marvel wrapping paper. After posting photos of the prank on her Instagram Story, Francesca said, “People keep telling me to get him a Marvel cake. I’m like, ‘He might kill me.’”
For her part, Francesca is reluctant to weigh in on the debate over Marvel’s cinematic merits. “I don’t want to offend anybody or anything,” she told GQ. “I do very much stand with my dad, but I did educate myself. Originally, when I was agreeing with him, I’d never seen a single Marvel film. And then during COVID, I finished all of them, but I still stand by it. I will say some of them are fun.”
Perhaps the pair can delve into this conversation further in their forthcoming book. Francesca revealed to GQ that A24 has commissioned one from her and her father, “about my film upbringing and how that shaped me as a person, as an artist.”
