James Mangold calls multiverse crossover movies “the death of storytelling”

Although James Mangold has dipped his toe in franchise filmmaking a few times, the director equates multiverses to Legos.

Deadpool & Wolverine is finally hitting screens this week. While much of the hype around the movie deals in the massive easter egg hunt and crossover surprises for fans of the decades-long Marvel movie catalog, the director, Shawn Levy, has assured people that there is no homework required to enjoy the film. However, just like Spider-Man: No Way Home, the multiverse crossover appeals of these movies are massive pay-offs for loyal fans of the genre.

James Mangold brought Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine arc to a close in Logan, but the director is not a professed fan of these multiverse films. According to The Hollywood Reporter, as Mangold’s Bob Dylan biopic, A Complete Unknown, releases its trailer, Mangold tells Rolling Stone that he will not feature Joaquin Phoenix in his Johnny Cash role as a surprise cameo, in which Mangold then ventured into his feelings on multiverse films. “I don’t do multiverses,” Mangold stated.

Boyd Holbrook portrays Cash in his upcoming film and the director explains why bringing Phoenix back was out of the question, “I love Joaquin, but he’s not 30, or whatever Johnny was at this moment. They’re both young people in that moment in life. It’s weird that I’ve even worked in the world of IP entertainment because I don’t like multi-movie universe-building. I think it’s the enemy of storytelling. The death of storytelling. It’s more interesting to people the way the Legos connect than the way the story works in front of us.”

He continues, “For me, the goal becomes, always, ‘What is unique about this film, and these characters?’ Not making you think about some other movie or some Easter egg or something else, which is all an intellectual act, not an emotional act. You want the movie to work on an emotional level.”

About the Author

E.J. is a News Editor at JoBlo, as well as a Video Editor, Writer, and Narrator for some of the movie retrospectives on our JoBlo Originals YouTube channel, including Reel Action, Revisited and some of the Top 10 lists. He is a graduate of the film program at Missouri Western State University with concentrations in performance, writing, editing and directing.