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James Mangold, the director of the critically-acclaimed Marvel movie Logan, has zero time for all those post-credit movie scenes us stupid fans have been trained to sit and wait for after each film (mostly after, uh, Marvel movies).
Speaking this past weekend at the Writers Guild Association Panel, Mangold held nothing back in his disdain for this recent movie trend (via io9).
“The idea of making a movie that would fucking embarrass me, that’s part of the anesthetizing of this country or the world. That’s further confirming what they already know and tying in with other fucking products and selling them the next movie while you’re making this movie, and kind of all that shit that I find really fucking embarrassing. Like, that audiences are actually asking for scenes in end credits when those scenes were first developed for movies that suck, so they put something extra at the end to pick up the scores when the movie couldn’t end right on its own fucking feet.”
Ouch, bro. Tell us how you really feel about post-credit movie scenes? Oh, you’re not done talking about them? My bad.
“Now we’ve actually gotten audiences addicted to a fucking bonus in the credits. It’s fucking embarrassing. It means you couldn’t land your fucking movie is what it means. Even if you got 100,000 Twitter addicts who are gambling on what fucking scene is going to happen after the fucking credits it’s still cheating. It’s just cheating, but there’s all sorts of bad habits like that that fucking horrify me, man, that have become de rigueur in the way we make movies and I think the fear of being one of them that did that end then everyone’s patting me on the back and I feel like shit inside because I know I cheated, is probably the greatest thing that scares the shit out of me.”
Hmmm. Wait a second here. Wasn’t there a post-credits scene after The Wolverine? And didn’t Mangold direct that movie too? Oh, right, yes and yes.
Mangold later walked back his remarks, a little bit, kind of, on Twitter.
1/ Many folks commented on my diatribe re: end credits scenes. Good points made by some who disagree. My vehemence comes from a belief these scenes r cinematic MSG/crack. Of course they feel good. They are designed to do that, like ads, as they hook you to buy the next film/s…
— Mangold (@mang0ld) February 4, 2018
2/ and at the same time, I feel like the omnipresent expectation of them cheapens the integrity of a theatrical experience as the movie doesn't stick its ending but rather dribbles to an end with a series of pleasing vignettes/ads for the thing they will sell you next year…
— Mangold (@mang0ld) February 4, 2018
3/ So its not so much the scenes I despise as much as I fear that movies (an art form I deeply love) are not advanced when they are no longer functioning as a form with a beginning middle and end but rather as part of a serialized money machine.
— Mangold (@mang0ld) February 4, 2018
These scenes promote a slightly false sense of fully realized "universe" as if everyone behind scenes knows exactly what's next in a saga, when the truth is a bit less charted despite what many tell a sycophantic press that makes $ on the "universes" & the gossip mill they create
— Mangold (@mang0ld) February 4, 2018
Lastly, the term "easter egg"'s a bit infantile &, at least 2 me, feels condescending toward a thoughtful & intellectual audience that might be treated w/ more respect than imagining them as kids jumping around trying to guess storylines from breadcrumbs dropped by corporations.
— Mangold (@mang0ld) February 4, 2018
One more thing. The argument that these scs. make people watch end credits is just lame. If you have to offer shiny objects to keep people watching the names of the crew, then they are not showing an ounce of respect for the crew. Just waiting like dogs for milk bones.
— Mangold (@mang0ld) February 4, 2018
Okay fine, but, what about The Wolverine?
Your movie "The Wolverine" had a post-credit scene. If you could go back to 2012 when you were editing the movie would u leave that scene out? Even though it sets up Days of Future Past
— Jak Martin (@JMartin578) February 4, 2018
I directed it, I enjoyed directing it, but ultimately, i feel like I was selling burgers. It didn't "set up" DOFP, it promoted it.
— Mangold (@mang0ld) February 4, 2018
Hey, what’s wrong with selling burgers?!
My pushback is against them becoming the new norm. It's really that simple. As someone who moves between tentpole films & regular original dramas & smaller genre films I would hate to have to watch the end credit bonus scenes to LADYBIRD, CALL ME BY OUR NAME, or THE APARTMENT.
— Mangold (@mang0ld) February 4, 2018
Fine. We’ll get off your lawn and leave you alone now. Thanks.
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