Russell Crowe Gives Harsh Truth To Comic Book Movie Actors
Russell Crowe has been in the Hollywood business for a long time, and part of that time has been spent making comic book movies. Which is why when British GQ asked him about Dakota Johnson’s comments that Madame Web felt like art “art made by a committee,” he decided to give his two cents.
Crowe said, “I don’t want to make any comments to what anybody else might have said or what their experience is, but… you’re bringing out the impish quality of my humor,” adding, “You’re telling me you signed up for a Marvel movie, and some fu***g universe for cartoon characters… and you didn’t get enough pathos?”
Russell Crowe And The Reality Of Hollywood
Russell Crowe continued his thoughts, saying, “It’s a gigantic machine, and they make movies at a certain size…these are jobs,” adding, “You know: here’s your role, play the role.” While Crowe does have a point here, it’s also fair to say that Dakota Johnson had a point too.
Johnson’s Madame Web was a genuinely terrible film, and Johnson has since spoken about the film’s failure, saying, “Films are made by a filmmaker and a team of artists around them,” adding, “You cannot make art based on numbers and algorithms.” Which is also totally true.
Crowe Knows Formulaic And Disappointing Comic Book Movies
While there are still certainly outliers, it’s fair to say that many comic book movies in recent years have become formulaic and stale. Egregious examples like Madame Web and Morbius have especially brought down the good-to-bad ratio, and Russell Crowe himself may be adding to the recent terrible streak from Sony in the upcoming Kraven the Hunter. Even Crowe’s most recent comic-book film, Thor: Love and Thunder, was a massive step down from its predecessor, Thor: Ragnarok.
Loved Everything Fans Hated About Thor
Russell Crowe may not see the point in complaining about some of these comic-book films, and he still seems to enjoy doing them. Talking about his experiences with Thor: Love and Thunder and Kraven the Hunter, Crowe said, “I haven’t had a bad experience, adding, “I mean [on ‘Thor’], ok, it’s a Marvel movie, but it’s Taika Waititi’s world, and it was just a gas every day, being silly.”
Funnily enough, Crowe’s comments about having fun and being silly on the Thor: Love and Thunder set is what has been criticized about the film, and what star Chris Hemsworth has said went a bit too far, thus making it hard for fans to take it seriously.
Disregards The All-Time Greats Of The Genre
Russell Crowe’s comments about it being silly to expect comic book movies to have pathos is also one many comic book fans would take umbrage with. Plenty of comic book films like The Dark Knight, Iron Man, Logan, Spider-Man 2, Black Panther, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, and many more have moments of pathos. Now, no one expected Madame Web to have any, but that doesn’t mean it’s a genre devoid of pathos altogether.
Russell Crowe Is Everyone’s Dad
Russell Crowe has been in Man of Steel as Jor-El, aka Superman’s biological dad, Zeus in Thor: Love and Thunder, and Kraven’s dad in the upcoming Kraven the Hunter. Out of those roles, the only one with a little pathos would probably be Jor-El. So if Crowe is speaking from experience, he’s not necessarily wrong.
Don’t Expect Kraven The Hunter To Have Pathos
Regardless of his thoughts on the content of comic book movies, it is nice to know that Russell Crowe is still willing to show up for them, even if the next one he’ll be in is a not-so-promising film about the Spider-Man villain Kraven the Hunter. While it’s always great to see Crowe bring his gravitas to a role, it would be better if we could get him in a better comic-book movie than another film from Sony’s continually failing Spider-Man Universe.
Whether it ends up being good or not, you can see Crowe Kraven the Hunter later this year alongside Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Ariana DeBose, Fred Hechinger, Alessandro Nivola, and Christopher Abbott.
