James Mangold has expressed his dislike for multi-movie universes, saying that even he is surprised by some of the projects he has taken on.
Mangold, the filmmaker behind big franchise movies such as The Wolverine, Logan, and Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, shared his stance on cinematic multiverses while speaking to Rolling Stone about his upcoming Bob Dylan biopic, A Complete Unknown, explaining that he likes to tap into the emotional aspect of a story.
“I don’t do multiverses,” Mangold said when the topic came up of why Joaquin Phoenix didn’t reprise his highly lauded role as Johnny Cash from the 2005 movie Walk the Line for his Bob Dylan-centric feature.
I don’t like multi-movie universe-building. I think it’s the enemy of storytelling. The death of storytelling.
“It’s weird that I’ve even worked in the world of IP entertainment because I don’t like multi-movie universe-building,” he stated, asserting his position. “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.
“For me, the goal becomes, always, ‘What is unique about this film, and these characters?'” Mangold continued. “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.”
While Mangold has his fair share of franchise entries in his filmography, he prefers approaching these projects as standalone features. As such, he told Variety last year that he had no interest in continuing with Indiana Jones after directing and co-writing the fifth installment — which was Harrison Ford’s final crack of the whip.
“I refuse. I just can’t do it,” he said. “The amount of lore and Easter eggs and fan service starts to become antithetical to any of this stuff at a certain point. It isn’t storytelling anymore. It’s large-scale advertising.”
Mangold’s next movie, A Complete Unknown, is expected to hit theaters in December, with Timothée Chalamet taking center stage. The filmmaker is also attached to direct Star Wars: Dawn of the Jedi (working title), though he has already made it clear that he doesn’t want it to be weighed down by ever-expanding lore.
Adele Ankers-Range is a freelance entertainment writer for IGN. You can follow her on X/Twitter here.
