Although some see the MCU as the Thanos of today’s film industry, David Harbour doesn’t think the superhero-movie business is the only big bad hurting cinematic diversity.
Addressing the box-office domination of the modern Marvel universe, Harbour says although he enjoys the big-budget action sequences hallmark of the studio these days, he would like to see a “broader scope” of creativity gaining traction in theaters.
“When I was growing up, Goodfellas came out in the cinema, and it was like the Captain America of its day,” the Stranger Things star tells The Independent. “We all rushed out to see it. And I don’t know if those movies really can exist in this climate anymore.”
Harbour may recognize that the Captain America of today looks far different than the crowdpleasers he remembers from his youth, but the actor says the MCU is just “a smaller piece in a much larger cultural puzzle.”
“I don’t see it as anything but entertaining, fun stuff,” he said with a “booming” laugh, per The Independent.
Harbour is certainly not alone in his nostalgic longing for a time when Goodfellas was the big-screen event of the season. In fact, the film’s director Martin Scorsese has been one of the most prominent voices criticizing the way Marvel’s ubiquity has changed the landscape in Hollywood.
“I don’t see them. I tried, you know? But that’s not cinema,” Scorsese told Empire in early 2021. “Honestly, the closest I can think of them, as well made as they are, with actors doing the best they can under the circumstances, is theme parks. It isn’t the cinema of human beings trying to convey emotional, psychological experiences to another human being.”
Since the statement, Scorsese has found eager allies in his “infinity war,” (per Francis Ford Coppola: “Martin was kind when he said it’s not cinema. He didn’t say it’s despicable, which I just say it is.”) With the legendary director daring modern action movies to grasp onto something deeper, we can’t help but wonder—what are Scorsese’s thoughts on Stranger Things?