Jerry Bruckheimer doesn't have a bad word to say about superhero movies. In fact, he thinks they're 'terrific'.
Comic book movies: a transmedia religion for some, a blight on cinema for others. Today, fandom is probably at its fiercest and most puerile; one cannot criticise the superhero cinematic empire, whether it's Marvel or DC, without risking the well-actually wrath of social media.
It's a potent mix of love and venom, and its contagion has targeted icons: Martin Scorsese really kicked things off by comparing the MCU to theme park rides; Francis Ford Coppola branded them as 'despicable'; and Ridley Scott said the modern superhero model is 'boring'.
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Check out the trailer for Top Gun: Maverick below:
For a time, it felt like there was a new headline every other week of another filmmaker offering their (often negative) take on the superhero boom. It's become a bit like the Die Hard Christmas debate: in a word, tedious.
Bruckheimer is an appropriate agent for discourse. He's a Hollywood legend, presiding over five decades of mainstream cinema with a jaw-dropping CV. His credits include Thief, Flashdance, Beverly Hills Cop, The Rock, Con Air, Armageddon, Black Hawk Down, National Treasure, and all of the Pirates of the Caribbean and Bad Boys movies, to name a few.
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He sat down with UNILAD ahead of the release of Top Gun: Maverick, the long-awaited sequel to Tom Cruise's 1986 classic - which he also produced, by the way.
We asked Bruckheimer for his opinion on the dominance of superhero movies, and he didn't hesitate. "I think it's terrific," he said.
"Any time we can get people away from their computers and cellphones and get them to go to the theatre and watch a movie and enjoy it, and just follow those superheroes and these fans - I just love every moment of it.
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"Kevin Feige, at Marvel, is a brilliant man, he’s developed all these wonderful characters and brought them to the screen. I think that’s great."
An unfortunate side-effect of the Marvel machine has been the unintentional death of the movie star; these characters are more popular than the actors, and audiences wait with bated breath on any comic book adaptation casting. The reaction to John Krasinski's cameo in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is as good an example as any.
Discussing this with Bruckheimer, who helped Cruise, Eddie Murphy and Will Smith become household names, he nodded.
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When asked what makes a true movie star today, he said: "First of all, you’ve got to be enormously talented. Let’s start there. That’s the key.
"You have to be in good movies, and pick good directors, good scripts - that’s the magic. The magic is having talent and picking talented people to be around you."
Top Gun: Maverick may be the greatest testament to Cruise's indelibility yet; at this point, he's the movie star, making any film an event just because he's in it.
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Bruckheimer said: "He loves what he does, he loves making movies, he loves every part of it, he loves working with great actors and directors, he loves working with terrific writers. He’s a student of the process.
"We got the benefit of 35 years of experience when we made Top Gun: Maverick. He comes to the set in the morning, and he’s happy to be there. When we’re finished filming, he’ll sit and work on the script. He’ll do anything he can do to make a better movie.
"He lives his life like an athlete. He eats properly, tries to get enough rest, works out. He does all these things to make sure that when he works out on that set, he’s so prepared; physically, mentally, and then he surrounds himself with really talented people.
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"Part of my career is the same way - I always surround myself with people that are a lot smarter than I am."
Top Gun: Maverick is out at cinemas now.
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Topics: Film and TV, Entertainment
Cameron Frew