“Silence of the Lambs” actress Jodie Foster recently got candid about superhero and comic book movies, calling Hollywood’s ongoing obsession with making them “a phase” that has overstayed its welcome.
However, the Oscar-winner did clarify that the genre has produced some great movies that she does “marvel” at.
Foster gave her opinion during a recent interview with Elle Magazine that delved into the experiences and wisdom she has acquired during a decades-long career as a Hollywood A-Lister.
SOUTH PARK LAUDED FOR MOCKING DISNEY’S ‘WOKE GENDER AD RACE-SWAPPING REBOOTS: ‘A NATIONAL TREASURE’
Elle also asked her about current trends, in particular the “dominance” that superhero movies still have over the industry, as Elle put it.
The actress described it as “a phase,” adding, “It’s a phase that’s lasted a little too long for me, but it’s a phase, and I’ve seen so many different phases.”
“Hopefully people will be sick of it soon,” Foster added.
Perhaps Foster’s wish will come true sooner rather than later. Juggernaut film studio Marvel’s latest blockbuster outing “The Marvels” – which stars Brie Larson – has received dismal reviews from critics and disappointing box office numbers, some of whom say it’s emblematic of the genre’s declining standards. It finished No. 1 at the box office in its opening weekend but grossed just $47 million in domestic sales. According Comscore, that makes “The Marvels” Marvel Studio’s lowest opening weekend performer ever.
The Irish Times’ Donald Clarke recently called the film a “solid contender for the worst Marvel film yet.”
The Washington Post’s Michael O’Sullivan skewered the film, stating, “Despite its progressive bona fides, ‘The Marvels’ is so fueled by fan service and formula, like pretty much everything in the MCU these days, that it gives short shrift to such basics as narrative comprehension.”
DISNEY DELAYS WOKE ‘SNOW WHITE’ REBOOT FOR A YEAR FOLLOWING BACKLASH: ‘WHAT A DISASTER’
However, Foster admitted the superhero genre has produced plenty of films that she loves – to a point. The actress added, “The good ones – like Iron Man, Black Panther, The Matrix – I marvel at those movies, and I’m swept up in the entertainment of it. But that’s not why I became an actor. And those movies don’t change my life. Hopefully, there’ll be room for everything else.”
She did shout out another action/adventure blockbuster from last year she called “my favorite movie perhaps of all time” – 2022’s Oscar winner for “Best Picture,” “Everything Everywhere All at Once.”
Foster said, “That’s the film that I will return to over and over again whenever I feel depressed or sad. I first saw it with one of my sons, and we held hands and pinched each other and cried for 45 minutes afterward.”
She added, “And then I saw it with my other son a week later, and it just opened a portal of connection and understanding and hope. He started telling me everything from his high school that he’d never told me, and we were walking in the rain crying and opening up. And I was like, This is what film can do.”
