Logan and Indiana Jones 5 director James Mangold, soon to jump into Star Wars and the DCU as well, slams cinematic universes
Read the room, man.
With Deadpool & Wolverine now rolling out in theaters worldwide and many Marvel fans revisiting the two characters' past solo adventures, it makes sense that we'd hear something from Logan director James Mangold, who tried to wrap up Hugh Jackman's run as Wolverine back in 2017 at 20th Century Fox. Unsurprisingly, he doesn't have kind words for cinematic universes, yet almost half his big-screen career is IP work.
The filmmaker admits in an interview for Rolling Stone, following the release of the first trailer for his Bob Dylan biopic, that even he's surprised he's worked in "the world of IP entertainment," which is funny considering he's cashed three fat checks already thanks to two Wolverine movies and the fifth Indiana Jones. Moreover, he's set to direct a Star Wars movie at Lucasfilm and Swamp Thing for James Gunn's DCU, Warner's new attempt at mimicking the MCU.
"It’s weird that I’ve even worked in the world of IP entertainment because I don’t like multi-movie universe-building. I think it’s the enemy of storytelling. The death of storytelling. It’s more interesting to people the way the Legos connect than the way the story works in front of us," he explained. And you know what? The thing is that he's not wrong. Studios and fans often get lost looking for quick profits and surface-level satisfaction even if fan-service and proper good narratives can coexist.
It makes sense that a largely traditional filmmaker such as him (movies like 3:10 to Yuma and Ford v Ferrari are great 'dad movies' and crowd-pleasers) would have this type of opinion, but it all comes crashing down and feels really funny when he's helped build out Fox's universe of mutants twice, handled the conclusion to Indiana Jones, and then signed up right afterwards to do a Star Wars 'Jedi origins' movie as well as Swamp Thing at DC Studios. Mind you, all of his IP-based output kind of stands on its own, but they're still part of larger, franchise-driven endeavors. It's also not a great look when you're prepping a key building block of James Gunn's upcoming rebooted DC continuity. Like it or not, Swamp Thing will tie into a larger universe.
"For me, the goal becomes, always, “What is unique about this film, and these characters?” Not making you think about some other movie or some Easter egg or something else, which is all an intellectual act, not an emotional act. You want the movie to work on an emotional level," he added. Again, he's completely right about the central idea, and that does come through in most of his IP work (even if the full stories haven't always 100% landed). But man, you really aren't the most indicated person to come out and bang this drum.