Jodie Foster Compares Bad Big-Budget Filmmaking to Fracking
LatestJodie Foster thinks big budget movies are like fracking, in that they are both turning the planet into a desolate wasteland.
“Going to the movies has become like a theme park,” Foster said in an interview with Radio Times, according to Deadline. “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.”
Focusing specifically on the superhero genre, Foster added, “It’s ruining the viewing habits of the American population and then ultimately the rest of the world. I don’t want to make $200 million movies about superheroes.” Mother! might be more her cup of tea.
She’s not wrong. Looking at the box office, last year Wonder Woman became the fifth highest-grossing superhero movie—wedged between The Dark Knight and Avengers franchise. So many profitable films were released in the genre that Forbes deemed 2017 “the greatest year for superhero movies of all time.”
More generally, badly-made big budget films have taken clear precedence to studios. If it isn’t computer-generated 4DX asteroids flying in your face, it’s a strong person in a cape! Foster would rather make movies with deeper substance. “I feel like I make movies because there are things I have to say in order to figure out who I am or my place in the world, or for me to evolve as a person,” she said.
Who will save us from the bad content? A superhero perhaps.