Joe Russo takes unsolicited 'dig' at Martin Scorsese and internet isn't too pleased

Martin Scorsese has made no bones about his stance on modern-day Hollywood cinema, particularly those coming out of the Marvel Studios mill. The Killers of the Flower Moon director has blatantly related films like Avengers: Endgame and the likes to theme-park rides to suggest that while the superhero films have a craft of their own, they may not qualify as 'cinema' in his books. 

Of course, his statement on these extremely loved franchise movies wasn't received well by the global fandom and neither did the cinephile community, including the media, allow any of us to forget and move on. While Scorsese continues to stand by what he said, we now see some kind of a repartee coming in as Avengers: Endgame, Avengers: Infinity War and The Gray Man director Joe Russo sends a "special" yet slightly unsavoury message to the 80-year-old filmmaker.

"Meet box office," says Joe Russo

In a small video snippet that's now gone viral on social media, one-half of The Russo Brothers, Joe, can be seen taking a direct dig at Martin Scorsese and his box-office exploits. After the latter's daughter, Francesca, posted a Tiktok video wherein the director can be seen directing his dog in a light-spirited manner, Joe Russo had a say about the fact that Scorsese's dog is named 'Oscar'. 

Also Read: Killers of the Flower Moon: Five essential, underrated works of Martin Scorsese to stream on OTT 

In his unsolicited response, Russo would point out the Schnauzer dog's name and sarcastically term it 'cute', before going on to reveal his own Schnauzer dog whom he introduces as 'box office'. Of course, many have correctly interpreted his post as a "dig" at Martin Scorsese's critical achievements over the years (including 10 Oscar nominations and one win for 'The Departed') which haven't necessarily been commercial successes. You can see the video post shared by Joe Russo here:

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Martin Scorsese has famously endured several struggles over the years to get his films made and despite all the efforts, some of his iconic works like Raging Bull, The King of Comedy and others, could not yield great box office results. Joe and Anthony Russo, on the other hand, have directed blockbusters that have collectively grossed over $6 billion. 

Netizens pick sides

Also Read: Killers of the Flower Moon review: Scorsese and DiCaprio deliver yet another cinematic masterpiece 

Needless to say, Joe Russo's "throw shade" attempt at Scorsese has attracted interesting views from social media users. While one-half of them believed that his dig comes in good spirits and that he does boast a filmography of only blockbusters, the rest weren't too pleased about the fact that he chose to be disrespectful towards a living legend like Martin Scorsese. Here are a few reactions that caught our eye: