Stephen Dorff, who starred opposite Wesley Snipes in the 1998 Marvel film “Blade,” slammed the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the upcoming “Black Widow” as little more than a “bad video game” as part of a “clusterf— of content.”
Though he has a history with franchises and superhero movies, Dorff made clear he has no interest in being part of the MCU and is “embarrassed” for the people involved with the movie.
“I still hunt out the good s— because I don’t want to be in ‘Black Widow,’” he said in an interview with The Independent Monday. “It looks like garbage to me. It looks like a bad video game. I’m embarrassed for those people. I’m embarrassed for Scarlett! I’m sure she got paid five, seven million bucks, but I’m embarrassed for her. I don’t want to be in those movies. I really don’t. I’ll find that kid director that’s gonna be the next Kubrick and I’ll act for him instead.”
After starring as the villainous vampire Deacon Frost in “Blade,” Dorff went onto roles in “Somewhere” and “True Detective.”
In the interview, Dorff was also critical of the industry at large, bemoaning the Oscars and the state of streamers that place filmmakers and actors into boxes.
“This year’s Oscars were the most embarrassing thing I’ve ever seen,” he said. “My business is becoming a big game show. You have actors that don’t have a clue what they’re doing. You have filmmakers that don’t have a clue what they’re doing. We’re all in these little boxes on these streamers. TV, film – it’s all one big clusterf–k of content now.”
Marvel is huge and so popular, it’s to the point now that any Hollywood figure who in any way criticizes superhero movies or the franchise in general becomes headline news and the subject of online scorn from fans. Just ask Martin Scorsese.
But Dorff defended his eclectic filmography and the choices he’s made throughout his career dating back to the ’90s, including his new film “Embattled” in which he plays an MMA fighter. He recalled with The Independent an instance in which he chose to do John Waters’ “Cecil B DeMented” over some other “sh—y movie” that he can’t recall.
“Why wouldn’t I do a John Waters movie? The other movie sucks! They’re like, well, it’s not gonna do anything for your career or money-wise. But I’m gonna go to Cannes and we’re gonna have a standing ovation, and kids around the world, art students and John Waters fans are going to worship this f–king movie, which they do to this day. Why wouldn’t I do that,” he explained. “So I fired those agents.”
Read more from Stephen Dorff’s interview here.