Marvel Studios president and producer Kevin Feige is being chided for his comments about Oscar winner Chloé Zhao’s practical directing work.
While Feige had nothing but praise for Zhao’s work with Marvel and throughout the industry, his comments made some people question Wednesday if he’d been spending a little too much time in front of green screens.
Speaking about Zhao’s work on “Eternals” in a recent interview with Variety, Feige said he was amazed that Zhao spent time “really fighting for practical locations” while working on the film which comes out this November.
While showing Disney executives a sample cut of Zhao’s footage, Feige said he “had to keep saying, ‘This is right out of a camera; there’s no VFX work to this at all!’”
“Because it was a beautiful sunset, with perfect waves and mist coming up from the shore on this giant cliffside — really impressive stuff,” Feige added.
Feige said after watching Zhao’s Oscar-winning film “Nomadland” starring Frances McDormand, he realized similarities in her style of directing and shooting. “Oh! That is not just what she wanted to bring to Marvel; this is a signature style,” Feige said he thought at the time.
Of course, people were quick to point out that even though Marvel movies rely on a huge amount of visual effects and CGI, that doesn’t mean people can’t still capture jaw-dropping footage just by, you know, going outside and filming, the old-fashioned way. Twitter users and film buffs were fast to jab Feige for forgetting that there are other ways to make movies outside the Marvel machine.
“Someone buy Kevin Feige a calendar of waterfalls and shit and just watch his head explode,” Slate editor Sam Adams wrote on Twitter Wednesday.
Check out some more reactions to Feige’s comments below.
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