“Avengers: Endgame” director Joe Russo blames Harvey Weinstein for keeping blockbusters out of awards season.
During a sit down with The Sunday Times, Russo said that the reason big budget, high grossing films are largely barred from major awards contention is because of a trend “started by Harvey Weinstein.”
“He vilified mainstream movies to champion the art films he pushed for Oscar campaigns,” Russo said. “Popular films were winning Oscars before the mid ’90s, then Weinstein started mudslinging campaigns…It affected how audiences view the Oscars, because they’ve not seen most of the movies. We’re in a complicated place. Things we should all be enjoying collectively we instead punch each other in the face over.”
He continued, “Like this argument that Marvel movies were killing cinema. Well, Marvel movies seemed to be keeping cinemas open for quite a long time.”
In the same interview, Russo also addressed the state of the movie industry, which faces unprecedented hardships due to plummeting profits and the threat of AI. He blames the struggle on Hollywood’s lack of cohesion and compromise.
“Like everything, the film space has become divisive,” Russo said. “Everything is about who can be the loudest, who can clickbait the most.”
With his directing partner and brother, Anthony Russo, Joe Russo has helmed some of the most successful blockbusters of the 21st century under the once invincible Marvel banner. As a pair, they directed “Avengers: Infinity War,” “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” and “Captain America: Civil War.” Recently, the Russo Brothers have returned to the MCU to direct two of the franchise’s most anticipated tent poles: “Avengers: Doomsday” and “Avengers: Secret Wars”