Director Darren Aronofsky is blaming ignorant Americans and their lack of belief in science for the reason that his recent move Mother!, what some reviewers described as the “worst movie the century,” bombed at the box office.
Aronofsky’s film became a lightning rod of controversy upon its release for having deeply graphic and shocking moments of human cruelty while skewering Christianity. What better way to rope people into the seats than insulting them, as Aronofsky did during an interview with The Frame on Thursday.
It’s scary when you talk to the people who are studying this and thinking about this and then you have other people who basically believe in the power of a iPhone that they can communicate to 35 million people in a blink of an eye, yet they don’t believe in science in other ways. You know, which is as proven as gravity at this point, really.
It has as many people believe in it as believe in gravity. And it scares me and it’s time to start screaming. So I wanted to howl. And this was my howl. And some people are not going to want to listen to it. That’s cool.
As to why Americans hated Mother! so much, Aronofsky states that was the intention:
What’s interesting about that is, like, how if you walk out of this movie are you not going to give it an “F?” It’s a punch. It’s a total punch. And I realize that we were excited by that. We wanted to make a punk movie and come at you. And the reason I wanted to come is because I was very sad and I had a lot of anguish and I wanted to express it.
Express it he did, and spent $30 million in the process. Box Office Mojo states that the film has grossed $10.1 million.
Following the backlash, Paramount Pictures also defended the movie as “brave.”
“This movie is very audacious and brave,” Paramount worldwide president of marketing and distribution Megan Colligan told The Hollywood Reporter. “You are talking about a director at the top of his game, and an actress at the top her game. They made a movie that was intended to be bold. Everyone wants original filmmaking, and everyone celebrates Netflix when they tell a story no one else wants to tell. This is our version. We don’t want all movies to be safe. And it’s okay if some people don’t like it.”