Director James Mangold has directed films that were part of franchises before. He directed Logan and The Wolverine as part of the X-Men franchise and the latest Indiana Jones film. With his new film A Complete Unknown as a standalone film, Mangold gives his honest opinion on multi-film universes as the "death of storytelling."

Even if Logan was a continuation of a popular X-Men character, James Mangold's film doesn't rely heavily on cameos or references to 20th Century Fox's other X-Men films. Instead, it was intended to be the superhero character's conclusion. However, the recently released Marvel Cinematic Universe film Deadpool & Wolverine brings the character back.

The film features Timothée Chalamet holding a letter from Johnny Cash, leading to speculation that Mangold, who directed Walk the Line , would bring Joaquin Phoenix back for a multi-movie universe return. The American director quickly debunked the rumors.

"I don't do multiverses. But then Johnny Cash, like, was 30. I love Joaquin, but he's not 30 or whatever Johnny was at that point. They're both young people at that point in their lives," Mangold told Rolling Stone. "It's weird that I've worked in the IP entertainment world at all, because I don't like building multi-movie universes. I think it's the enemy of storytelling. The death of storytelling. It's more interesting to people how the Legos connect than how the story works for us."