French director Luc Besson (he’s the guy behind Leon: The Professional, The Fifth Element, Lucy, and this year’s mega-flop Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets) decided he didn’t want to make any new friends in a recent interview.
In fact, Besson had some harsh things to say about superhero movies, Captain America, and the United States.
When asked if he was tired of superhero flicks, Besson had this to say to Cine Pop:
“Totally tired of it. Totally. I mean it was great ten years ago when we [saw] the first Spider-Man and Iron Man. Now it’s like number five, six, seven. There’s superheroes working with another superhero, but it’s not the same family. I’m lost. But what bothers me most is that it’s always here to show the supremacy of America, and how they are great. I mean, which country in the world would have the guts to call a film ‘Captain Brazil?’ or ‘Captain France?’ I mean no one. We would be like so ashamed and say ‘no, no, we can’t do that.’ They can. They call it ‘Captain America’ [laughter]. And everybody thinks it’s normal. So I’m not here for propaganda, I’m here to tell a story.”
Well, in the interest not making any enemies myself, I’ll let you make what you will of that quote.
I will say this – could Besson simply just be salty about Valerian being the biggest Box Office disaster of the year? Hmmm…
So what do you think about Besson’s comments? Sound off below!