Directors who trashed other people's films (8 photos)

The modern film industry often displays conspicuous corporate solidarity. At public events and red carpets, directors regularly exchange compliments, publicly supporting even the most controversial and drawn-out projects of their colleagues. However, there are still directors in the industry who openly ignore the rules of corporate diplomacy and harshly criticize others' work. Such uncompromising attitude always attracts attention. We propose to analyze some of the most striking and harsh statements made by famous filmmakers about their colleagues.

David Fincher trashed "Joker" (2019)





This is the guy who directed "Fight Club" and "The Social Network."

David Fincher harshly criticized Todd Phillips' film, calling it an unoriginal, commercial product that plagiarizes Martin Scorsese's classic.

The director accused the creators of "Joker" of simply cobbling together the plots of "Taxi Driver" and "The King of Comedy," wrapping it in a comic book for easy money and passing it off as a standalone film. Fincher believes the film is a cynical betrayal of people with real mental illnesses for the sake of studio profits.

Paul Thomas Anderson trashed "Fight Club" (1999)



This is the guy who recently won an Oscar for "Fight After Fight" and directed "There Will Be Blood."

Paul Thomas Anderson expressed deep contempt for David Fincher's most famous film (a response), having only watched it for thirty minutes. The director was deeply outraged by the film's tone, its false moralizing, in his view, and its cynical black humor. Anderson publicly criticized his colleague for using themes of terminal illnesses and mental disorders, calling the jokes in scenes with cancer support groups absolute cringe and the director's personal hackwork. He even wished Fincher cancer. That's the review.

By the way, it turns out Anderson never learned the main twist in Fight Club.

John Carpenter trashed "Oppenheimer" (2023)





This is the guy who directed "Halloween" and "The Thing."

Horror master John Carpenter was completely baffled by Christopher Nolan's most critically acclaimed film.

He criticized the narrative structure of "Oppenheimer," calling the three-hour biopic drawn-out, overloaded with details, and a boring lecture. Carpenter noted that the chaotic editing and excess of unnecessary elements literally cause the narrative to fall apart, failing to justify its enormous running time.

Hayao Miyazaki trashed The Lord of the Rings (2001–2003)



This is the guy who created Spirited Away and My Neighbor Totoro.

The great Japanese animator and staunch pacifist Hayao Miyazaki criticized Peter Jackson's iconic film trilogy. He accused Hollywood creators of aestheticizing violence and completely destroying the humanistic message of Tolkien's books. Miyazaki emphasized that the film adaptation had degenerated into a primitive American action movie that divides the world into flat good and bad characters, justifies the mass murder of enemies, and conveys a false morality to the viewer.

Andrei Tarkovsky trashed 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)



Well, it's clear, it's Tarkovsky. He directed Mirror, Stalker, Andrei Rublev, and Solaris.

Soviet genius Andrei Tarkovsky called Stanley Kubrick's cult science fiction sterile, soulless, and dead. His main complaint was that Kubrick's preoccupation with spaceship design, futuristic gadgets, and special effects completely eclipsed real human psychology. Tarkovsky considered the film an artificial exhibition of technological achievements and, in contrast, made his Solaris to depict man's spiritual trials in space.

Which of these two films do you like better?

Terry Gilliam trashed Black Panther (2018)



He's the guy who made Twelve Monkeys and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.

Terry Gilliam took a detailed look at Ryan Coogler's Oscar-winning blockbuster and admitted he genuinely hated it. The director blasted the film's very artistic message. Gilliam declared the fictional Wakanda to be complete nonsense and a glossy fairy tale that replaces a deep understanding of real African culture.

I don't think the people who made the film have ever been to Africa. They just hired some designer who came up with African prints on fabrics and stuff. I absolutely hated that film, partly because the media talked about the importance of this nonsense.

Jean-Luc Godard trashed Schindler's List (1993)



Godard is called the father of the French New Wave of the 1950s and 1960s. He made Breathless, Contempt, and Alphaville, if that means anything.

This is truly astonishing. Godard accused Steven Spielberg of commercializing the Holocaust and committing an artistic crime. Godard considered it unacceptable to transform a real-life tragedy of millions of people into a beautiful Hollywood melodrama with carefully crafted lighting and tear-jerking music for the sake of box office receipts and Oscars. In his view, editing gas chambers according to the laws of suspense in the style of Alfred Hitchcock thrillers for the sake of public entertainment is the height of shamelessness.

Martin Scorsese trashed the Marvel Cinematic Universe



This is the guy who made "The Departed," "Goodfellas," "Taxi Driver," "The Wolf of Wall Street," and a whole bunch of other stuff.

The director openly stated that these films aren't cinema in the classic sense, as they completely lack artistic risk, mystery, and psychological depth. Scorsese compared Marvel's output to the calculated algorithms of amusement parks that standardize visuals, destroy independent creators, and wean audiences off deep artistic experiences.