Guillermo del Toro defends Martin Scorsese after a critic called the 'Taxi Driver' director self-indulgent and said his films were too long

• Guillermo del Toro has defended Martin Scorsese against a critic who said his movies were "too long."
• Del Toro tweeted his thoughts on a scathing opinion piece about Scorsese in The Critic.

Guillermo del Toro has been sticking up for fellow director Martin Scorsese after he faced criticism that his films were "too long."

On Thursday, an opinion piece featured in the October issue of The Critic centered on Scorsese, 79, was tweeted by the magazine. Authored by Sean Egen, the piece took aim at Scorsese's directorial style.

It said that no studio dared to say "no" to him and that the result was a "debasing of his talent."

The piece also stated: "New Scorsese films are routinely an hour too long. The truth, though, is that his directorial talent has never been as great as occasional masterpieces like Goodfellas (1990) tricked us into believing it was."

Egen's view of Scorsese, whose directorial portfolio includes films such as "Taxi Driver," "The Wolf of Wall Street," and "Hugo," caught the attention of del Toro, who posted a series of tweets defending Scorsese on Friday.

"I very, very seldom post anything contradictory here- but- the amount of misconceptions, sloppy inaccuracies and hostile adjectives not backed by an actual rationale is offensive, cruel and ill-intentioned," del Toro wrote.

"If God offered to shorten my life to lengthen Scorsese's - I'd take the deal," he added. "This man understands Cinema. Defends Cinema. Embodies Cinema. He has always fought for the art of it and against the industry of it. He has never been tamed and has a firm place in history."

Del Toro, a renowned director in his own right, having made "The Shape of Water" and "Pan's Labyrinth," went on to compare criticizing Scorsese's directorial style with taking aim at Pablo Picasso for not getting "perspective right."

Elsewhere in his piece for The Critic, Egen referenced comments Scorsese made in 2019 about Marvel movies.

In 2019, Scorsese told Empire Magazine that though he's tried to watch Marvel movies, they aren't for him.

"I tried, you know? But that's not cinema," the director said. "Honestly, the closest I can think of them, as well made as they are, with actors doing the best they can under the circumstances, is theme parks. It isn't the cinema of human beings trying to convey emotional, psychological experiences to another human being."

Taking aim in his piece, Egen said each MCU film has "thoughtfulness and rationalism" suffused throughout.

As Insider previously reported, the comments caused a stir online between cinephiles and comic-book superfans over whether Marvel movies are cinematic.

Representatives for del Toro and Scorsese did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.