The Bear's Jeremy Allen White isn't aiming for Marvel - he's aiming for Broadway

Jeremy Allen White is confused about why an actor's success is measured by Marvel involvement, and we are too

Image credit: FX

News by Tiffany Babb Deputy Editor

Published on Nov. 13, 2023

“I am confused at how the pinnacle of an actor’s career has ended up in that place,” Jeremy Allen White recently said about Marvel Studios in an interview with UK GQ's Cam Wolf. Later on he also added (more diplomatically), “They get really good filmmakers to do those movies and obviously they get really good actors to do those movies.”

Which is fair. Marvel Studios has vacuumed up a whole lot of talent and catapulted them out into stardom, but it's also loaded a lot of really talented actors with fairly mediocre material. Still, White's confusion on The Marvel Question that every up-and-coming actor is saddled with is also just as well, since White apparently landed one of those Marvel meetings and didn't quite knock it out of the park. According to White, he said to the execs he was meeting with, "Tell me about why should I do your movie," and they responded, "Fuck you."

Not all actors are made for the Marvel machine. While we've gotten some actors from it and a lot of actors have catapulted to stardom because of it, it isn't the be all end all of movies. And it's good to see up-and-coming actors and filmmakers begin to shy away from rushing headfirst into the blockbuster path.

As for what was most interesting about this Jeremy Allen White profile (at least to this writer) is the realization that White has always been aiming for Broadway and may be heading there as soon as early 2025.

Sure, it's not Reed Richards, but maybe Mr. Fantastic doesn't need Jeremy Allen White, and it certainly looks like White doesn't need Mr. Fantastic.