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Avi Arad feels that he’s not getting enough credit for the success of Marvel Studios.
Following a profile of current Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige in Bloomberg Businessweek last month, Arad — currently working with Sony on its own Marvel franchise, The Amazing Spider-Man — wrote an email to complain about the way in which he was portrayed in the piece.
STORY: Stan Lee, Avi Arad Team for Secret Movie Project (Exclusive)
“I am sure you were told by Marvel that I resigned over the self-financing strategy,” Arad wrote to the profile’s author, Devin Leonard, in an email he then released publicly. “It is about time for a reporter like you to do your homework and check the facts. It will sound arrogant to you, but I single-handedly put together the Marvel slate. Read it carefully and you will notice the natural progression of the character’s design to get to where we are today.”
Arad went on to report that Marvel’s financing “would never have happened without me reaching out to [Paramount Studios CEO and Chairman] Brad Grey to make a distribution deal that will give you a corporate guarantee… The big presentation to financial institutions and insurance companies took place on the Paramount lot. I was the presenter and it worked. Does this sound to you like someone who disagreed with the strategy to make our own movies?”
The producer berated Leonard for what he called “unprofessional self-serving work,” although he pointed out that he has “forgiven Kevin for following orders and taking the credit, but he had no choice.” Because nothing says forgiveness like sharing emails berating others who share what the forgiven has to say about a particular matter, obviously.
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