Academy Award-winning actress Jodie Foster slammed superhero movies in a recent interview, calling them "bad content" and likening them to fracking, which she claims "wrecks the earth."
Foster told Radio Times magazine that the likes of Marvel and DC production are the cinematic equivalents of fracking, an oil and gas extraction technique, the Daily Mail reported.
"Going to the movies has become like a theme park," she said. "Studios making bad content in order to appeal to the masses and shareholders is like fracking—you get the best return right now but you wreck the earth."
"It's ruining the viewing habits of the American population and then ultimately the rest of the world," the actress added.
Fracking has helped lead to the U.S. shale revolution, which has upended the global energy market to the benefit of American producers, although environmentalists criticize the practice, arguing it damages the environment and should be abandoned.
Foster, a two-time Oscar winner who has directed films including Nell, The Beaver, The Brave One, and Money Monster, said that she does not want to make "$200 million movies about superheroes,"according to the Daily Mail.
Foster, who also directs an episode of the latest season of Netflix's "Black Mirror," claimed its creator Charlie Brooker was her favorite producers [sic] to date because of his polite demeanor—something she says is atypical in Hollywood.
"This sounds crazy but of all the things I've done as a director, I've never had as nice a collaboration with a producer as this one," she said.
"It may be the English thing. I like the way Charlie says, 'It might be nice if ...' or 'Perhaps we could ...?' We're having a conversation, as opposed to somebody being bossy."
James Gunn, director of Guardians of the Galaxy and its sequel, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, responded to Foster with a series of tweets.
"I think Foster looks at film in an old-fashioned way where spectacle film can't be thought-provoking," he wrote. "It's often true but not always. Her belief system is pretty common and isn't totally without basis."
2. I say not without basis because most studio franchise films are somewhat soulless - and that is a real danger to the future of movies. But there are also quite a few exceptions.
— James Gunn (@JamesGunn) January 2, 2018
4. But, to be fair, at least from Foster’s quotes, she seems to see filmmaking as something that’s primarily about her own personal growth.
— James Gunn (@JamesGunn) January 2, 2018
6. But I respect Foster and her talent and what she’s done for films and I appreciate her different way of looking at Hollywood’s landscape.
— James Gunn (@JamesGunn) January 2, 2018