Guillero del Toro Doesn’t Usually ‘Sh*t Talk’ But He Had To Speak Up Against ‘Cruel’ Criticisms Of Martin Scorsese

There’s a lot of discourse on Film Twitter today over an article about Martin Scorsese. For once, it’s only indirectly related to the director’s well-argued criticisms of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

In “Martin Scorsese: rinse and repeat self-indulgence,” published in the October 2022 issue of The Critic, the author belittles Scorsese for making movies that are “routinely an hour too long” and that he’s “lazily settled on Mafia-Picture Director” post-Goodfellas. There’s also a bit about his comments on the MCU: “Scorsese recently slammed the Marvel Cinematic Universe, asserting that its component films are sensationalist and empty. In fact, thoughtfulness and rationalism suffuse every single one of them,” the article reads, conventionally forgetting the dullness of Eternals, among others.

Guillermo del Toro — who, like Scorsese, is a Best Director winner — rarely wades into social media drama, but he couldn’t resist this time. “I very, very seldom post anything contradictory here- but- the amount of misconceptions, sloppy innacuracies and hostile adjectives not backed by an actual rationale is offensive, cruel and ill-intentioned. This article baited them traffic, but at what cost?” The Shape of Water filmmaker tweeted.

del Toro continued:

To be clear: If God offered to shorten my life to lengthen Scorsese’s- I’d take the deal. This man understands Cinema. Defends Cinema. Embodies Cinema. He has always fought for the art of it and against the industry of it. He has never been tamed and has a firm place in history.

I don’t shit talk, I don’t “slam” and I support- but if anyone thinks that [The Wolf of Wall Street] is “…achingly slow” or that Raging Bull is “… bad filmmaking” and that “No studio dares to utter the word ‘no’ to him.” Film language discussions, history lessons and research may be needed.

Find yourself a friend who defends you like GDT defends Marty.