Marvel Studios accused of stealing creative control from MCU directors (report)

Marvel directors don’t have nearly as much control over the films they make for the studio, according to a new report.

Many fans have learned that Marvel Studios is short on cash in its visual effects department.

Some former Marvel artists recently revealed that company president Kevin Feige and ex-executive Victoria Alonso had to do it “Personally sign off on every shot” of a specific project and the company would “blacklist” any VFX artist who couldn’t keep up with that.

Now, a credited account is adding more fuel to the flame by claiming Marvel is purposely seeking inexperienced directors to ensure creative control of the company.

According to the report, Marvel is making its own films

In a recent conversation with The City with Matthew Belloni, New York Magazine And vulture Reporter Chris Lee has criticized Marvel Studios’ tendency to hire directors inexperienced in the visual effects department, saying the company is doing so on purpose to retain creative control over the studio’s various projects.

Lee started out with a pretty drastic comparison, a comparison Shang Chi director “Destin Daniel Cretton” To “James Cameron” as an example of Marvel’s choice of filmmakers affecting the visual aspects of its films:

“In your comparison of, say, ‘Avatar 2’ to ‘Shang-Chi,’ when you’re comparing James Cameron to Destin Daniel Cretton, don’t compare apples to apples, because James Cameron has an infinite amount of CGI experience.”

The reporter then claimed that Marvel is purposely seeking directors with no experience in the visual department. Lee explained that the company “systematically brings directors from the Sundance Film Festival” point out that this “Cheap Movies” largely do not involve heavy work with visual effects:

“…while Marvel is systemic…they’re reaping directors from the Sundance Film Festival, someone who’s directed a cheap movie, who’s made a lot of noise, who has a lot of heart and a lot of originality, and then suddenly they’re propsing them up on a nine-figure budget for the first time .”

Lee then specifically named some of Marvel’s greatest filmmakers in recent years, including eternal director “Chloe Zhao” And “Ryan Kugler” of Black Panther franchise, as well as the man responsible for Thor’s MCU resurgence “Taika Waititi” as a filmmaker that “have no experience with VFX:”

“These people, by and large, have no experience with VFX. And I’m talking about Taika Waititi, I’m talking about Chloé Zhao, Ryan Coogler…”

With the recent firing of Victoria Alonso, co-president of Marvel Studios, people were already fixated on Marvel’s mishandling of the production process. Lee lent more credence to these claims, adding that he recently spoke to a high-profile Marvel director who confirmed that Marvel is giving up little control.

According to Lee, this unnamed Marvel filmmaker was told by ex-manager Alonso that while the studio may hire a director, “They don’t direct the movies; (Marvel) direct the movies:”

“Around the time of Victoria Alonso’s sacking, I was in DM with a very well-known director who had been working on a Marvel film, and she shared some of the remarks Victoria had said to her about another filmmaker who was directing, let’s.” let’s just say it was one of the greatest movies Marvel has ever made. And (Alonso) talked about this guy, and (Alonso) said, “You don’t direct the movies. We direct the movies.” This means the filmmakers have no creative control over the look of the films Marvel makes.”

Lee admitted that he suspected Marvel had this stronghold over its creative development process “a very long time,” but he doesn’t see that it takes much longer. The reporter pointed out that although the Hollywood giant has “Decentralized creative control so much they think they’re such a hit factory” he added “it doesn’t work as well as it used to:”

“When I finally heard that, I paused because I’d heard a rumor about it for a very long time… I wish I could tell you who said that and what director he was talking about, but I found it very, very much.” characteristic of Marvel’s perspective is that they decentralize creative control so much that they think they’re such a success factory, and it’s worked for so long, why challenge that business model? But it doesn’t work that way anymore good as it used to be given the number of films that have to employ the same small pool of workers in Hollywood.”

Who Really Makes Marvel Movies?

While it may be unfair to compare these Marvel directors to James Cameron, a VFX mastermind responsible for three of the world’s four highest-grossing films of all time, it brings to light that Marvel isn’t exactly looking for the next prodigy in the world Graphics are looking for effects department.

With everything else that’s come to light about the firing of Marvel Studios exec Victoria Alonso and the tyranny in the visual effects department, it’s not too surprising that this kind of culture of control has been allowed to thrive within the company.

After all, the company’s whole tone for the first decade was that the films all told a coherent story, so of course it makes sense that Marvel would have a bigger say than normal in the direction of each film produced.

However, sticking to the same schedule as Phases 1 through 3 has proven less efficient as Marvel Studios is now producing more than just one or two films a year.

Additionally, Lee’s assertion that Marvel selects directors with no visual effects experience means the company is limiting the potential of its films and placing a ceiling on the quality of the viewing experience in films that rely heavily on visual effects for their storytelling.

For example current Marvel Studios entries like Thor: Love & Thunder And Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania were criticized for their lack of creativity in their visual effects, leaving many fans unimpressed by the thrown together nature of the visual artworks in these films. The films’ directors, Taika Waititi and Peyton Reed, actually lack experience with these visual elements, meaning it’s ultimately up to the studio and its burnt-out VFX department to piece together the vision.

In fact, much of Phase 4 was made this way, so maybe it’s time Marvel overhauled its process before crashing its current model into the ground.