Scorsese calls the label a “killer” of good cinema.
The legendary director takes umbrage with the “indie film” label, claiming it makes it easier for movie theaters to exclude them from their lineup.
“The thing about it is, it would be great to see not only blockbusters on a big screen, franchises on a big screen,” Scorsese, 80, told IndieWire Wednesday at the New York premiere of his new film “Killers of the Flower Moon” — the first of his films to get a full theatrical release since 2016’s “Silence.”
“But also what they consider now ‘indie films.’ I don’t like that title,” continued the “Taxi Driver” director. “I think that categorizes, pigeonholes. I think they’re films for everyone.”
“I would love to see support from theaters, particularly, which would make it possible for people to want to come to a theater to see a film that isn’t necessarily a blockbuster that needs a giant screen,” concluded the iconic director.
“I’m glad that it’s on a giant screen, but otherwise the theaters will only become for action films. That’s all I’m concerned about.”
Though no one could overstate Scorsese’s influence in Hollywood, his hotly anticipated Western crime drama is considered “indie:” The film was initially developed by Imperative Entertainment (“Black Bird,” “Triangle of Sadness”) and produced by the director’s own Sikelia Productions, as well as star Leonardo DiCaprio’s personal studio venture, Appian Way Productions.
The Post reached out to Scorsese for comment.
Scorsese’s comments come after the “Goodfellas” director once slammed Marvel, saying the multi-million dollar franchise was “not cinema” but something you might find in “theme parks.”
“I don’t see them. I tried, you know? But that’s not cinema,” Scorsese told Empire Magazine in 2019. “Honestly, the closest I can think of them, as well made as they are, with actors doing the best they can under the circumstances, is theme parks.”
“It isn’t the cinema of human beings trying to convey emotional, psychological experiences to another human being,” continued Scorsese.
The aged director’s remarks caused a Thanos-sized wave of backlash from several Marvel icons including Robert Downey Jr. who said everyone has “different perspectives.”
“I appreciate his opinion, because I think it’s like anything — we need all of the different perspectives, so we can come to center and move on,” Downey Jr. said during an appearance on “The Howard Stern Show.”
“It is, it, it would be like saying Howard Stern isn’t radio. It makes no sense to say it.”
Scorsese’s latest film, which got a nine-minute standing ovation during the Cannes Film Festival, depicts the serial murders of members of the oil-wealthy Osage Nation, which was later dubbed the Reign of Terror and led to the formation of the FBI.
The nearly three-and-a-half-hour film was adapted from David Grann’s book of the same name.
Former Osage tribal leader Jim Gray praised the film, which stars Leonard DiCaprio Robert De Niro and Lily Gladstone, as “genuine and honest throughout the process.”
“The dignity and care for the Osage perspective was genuine and honest throughout the process and the Osage responded with the kind of passion and enthusiasm that met this historic moment,” praised Gray. “For those of us who were watching from the sidelines while our best and brightest among us auditioned, sewed, catered, painted, acted and advised the filmmakers, it’s going to be hard not to feel our presence in helping to tell.”
“Killers of the Flower Moon” is set to have a limited release on Oct. 6, 2023 before being released nationwide on Oct. 20.