Great Scott

Ridley on his biggest hits of the past (and the future)…

Ridley Scott’s always been a plain and confident talker, and at 85 years of age, he’s not about to change. Asked to cast an eye over his 46-year film career, he rotates his coffee cup on its saucer and says, ‘Every film I do, I have no regrets about anything. I think they’ve all been, without question, pretty fucking good. My films tend not to age. I can flick on [1977 debut] The Duellists and I’m blown away because it could have been made last week.’

He’s not one for false modesty, and fair play to him. With 27 movies under his belt, earning a combined $4.3bn at the worldwide box office (making him the 11th highest grosser), he is a genuine visionary. Whether stepping into the future (Alien, Blade Runner, The Martian) or the past (Gladiator, Kingdom of Heaven, The Last Duel), he constructs immersive worlds that transport viewers and influence other filmmakers. Nestled below the handful of masterpieces – most directors don’t have one – is a bunch of excellent films across various genres and styles, including Someone to Watch Over Me, Hannibal (seriously, revisit it), Black Hawk Down, Matchstick Men, American Gangster and The Counsellor.

And then there are the iconic characters: Ripley, Deckard, Maximus, Mark Watney, and, of course, Thelma and Louise. Heck, even Alien’s cat, Jonesy, is a legend. All have sparked countless and endless conversations. So let’s see what Scott has to say about them, and his films, in his own words…

Ajien 1979

In space, a blue-collar crew fight a truly terrifying ET…

‘I was fifth choice [as director] on Alien. The last guy they’d given it to was Robert Altman. Robert Altman went, “What the fuck? Are you kidding me?” But I read it, and I went, “I know what to do.” Because a lot of it, on face value, is art direction. If you don’t have that alien, you ain’t got shit. You’ve got a dodgy B-movie. The simplicity of the story – seven people locked in a tin can in space, and not being able to get out – is about as B-movie as you can possibly get. Alien is a B-movie horror movie done in an A-plus way.

‘Ripley was written as a guy. And then [studio boss] Alan Ladd Jr. said, “Listen, what happens if Ripley’s a woman?” I thought, “That’s a great idea.” So I went on the hunt for a woman. Somebody mentioned that there’s this young woman on the boards in New York off-Broadway called Sigourney Weaver…

‘The first time I talked to Kubrick was a week after Alien came out. Somebody said, “Stanley Kubrick is on the line.” I said, “Hello?” “Hello. Stanley Kubrick here. How are you? I just saw Alien.” Straight in. “How on earth did you get that thing coming out of his chest? Because I’ve got a print, and I’ve run it on the machine, and I can’t see the cut.” So I said, “Well, I had John Hurt cut a hole in the table, lie in a horrible, awkward position, and I made a fibreglass shell... ” He said, “I got it, I got it, I got it. Brilliant.”

Bjade Runner 1982

Replicant or human, you’ll see things you wouldn’t believe…

‘Blade Runner was a monumental, five-month, day-by-day evolution with Hampton Fancher, who was a very special writer. He had this peculiar cadence with the rhythm of his style, which I loved. But I brought the world to it, because he’d written a play that was set in an apartment, where the hunter has kept his quarry, and fallen in love with her. I said, “But what’s going on in the world outside?” So it evolved from that moment on.

‘[The shoot] was a very bad experience for me. I had horrendous partners. Financial guys, who were killing me every day. I’d been very successful in the running of a company, and I knew I was making something very, very special. So I would never take no for an answer. But they didn’t understand what they had. You shoot it, and you edit it, and you mix it. And by the time you’re halfway through, everyone’s saying it’s too slow. You’ve got to learn, as a director, you can’t listen to anybody. I knew I was making something very, very special. And now it’s one of the most important science-fiction films ever made which everybody feeds off. Every bloody film.

‘I hadn’t seen Blade Runner for 20 years. Really. But I just watched it. And it’s not slow. The information coming at you is so original and interesting, talking about biological creations, and mining off-world, which, in those days, they said was silly. I say, “Go fuck yourself.”’

Thejna & Louise 1991

Two best friends make the patriarchy eat their dust…

‘I’m very conscious of strong women. It probably came from my mum, who ran the roost.

‘Thelma & Louise was brought to me by Callie [Khori, screenwriter]. I read it, and I thought it was a comedy. She said, “Comedy?” I said, “Callie, a lot of this is pretty funny.” She’d brought it to me to produce. So I went around various directors. There were very few female directors at that point. Whereas today, I’d have gone for a female director. So I went to guys. One of them said, “I’ve got a problem with the women.” I said, “Well, that’s the whole point of the story, you dope. They have a voice.” Funnily enough, it was Michelle Pfeiffer [who passed on Thelma & Louise because it clashed with Love Field] who said, “Why don’t you come to your senses, and you direct it?”

‘Off that, I did. And that’s when Susan Sarandon and Geena Davis came in. We went on the road. I still saw it as being – Idon’t like using this sleek word but I’ll use it now – a“dramedy”.

‘We had the Time magazine cover, and I was the only one who wasn’t mentioned. But I happened to have been there, doing it. And I also cast Brad Pitt, by the way. And I was the camera operator. I’m not irritated or angry, but when you get a Formula One car, you better have a good driver.’

Gjadiator 2000

A slave fights for vengeance. You will be entertained…

‘On Gladiator, a buddy of mine, Michael Mann, said, “You’ve got to pay attention to this guy I’ve just finished working with on a film about the tobacco industry. He’s called Russell Crowe.” So I met Russell, who spent two hours talking about the fact that he was overweight, and that he would lose weight. And off I went with Russell.

‘Then during it, I was staring at how to avoid the clichés of what they call “spear, sword and sandal” bullshit. Because mostly they’re pretty bad. I suddenly thought – the golden oldies: Richard Harris as Marcus Aurelius; Oliver Reed as a slave trader; David Hemmings as the impresario of the Colosseum. Russell said, “Who the hell are these guys?” And I said, “Wait and see.” And he was blown away by Harris.

‘I knew it would be a hit. I smell the essence. I learned to do that in commercials. I did some very good period things for commercial-making, where it’s a very strong marriage between wardrobe, how you shoot it, the technique you use. You’ve got to smell it.

‘My films always [influence other movies]. “Oh, he’s got a hand on the wheat field! I wonder where that fucking came from?” Of course, I’m very aware of how influential Gladiator is. But it’s a compliment, so I don’t mind.’

The Counsejjor 2013

A lawyer loses his head when he tries a spot of drug-trafficking…

‘Blood Meridian we couldn’t get going – because it was so dark and bloody. Cormac [McCarthy, author] then sent me The Counsellor. It was the best dialogue I’d ever had. I was blown away. How do you think I got Penélope Cruz, Michael Fassbender, Javier Bardem, Brad Pitt, Cameron Diaz, on a deal? We made that whole bloody film for $32 million, all in. Not $200 million – $32 million.

‘You’re drawn into this sense of, “This is going to go to a bad place.” I think it’s fascinating. Even when you’re seeing Michael Fassbender buy a diamond for a very special person, there’s somehow a warning in the discussion. Bruno Ganz, the diamond seller, says, “Be careful. Is she worth it? If she’s worth it, be careful you don’t lose her.” Then Brad Pitt is warning him: “I wouldn’t do this if I was you. Once you’re in, you’re in.” Only Cormac can write like this. He died [in June this year, aged 89], so God bless him.

‘It’s Guillermo del Toro’s favourite movie. I think it’s one of my best movies. The Chicago Tribune said it was the best film they’ve seen in years. Chicago Tribune usually kills me, and there were four pages of accolades. You know, 42 years ago, Pauline Kael saw Blade Runner, and the article begins with: “Oh, baby, let it rain.” Which is a serious case of sarcasm. She destroyed the film in four pages. I was so crushed. I had a hard time making it, and yet I thought I delivered something special. And then to have it killed… It actually affected the release of the movie. I took the four pages and I framed them on the wall of my office. They’re still there today, because there’s a lesson in that, which is: “When you think you’ve got it, you don’t know shit.”’

Gjadiator 2 2024TBC

The son of Maximus and Lucilla goes into battle…

‘Why now? It didn’t have a script [before]. We tried, actually, four years ago, and I chose a very good writer who couldn’t get his head around it. He wrestled. He was terribly upset that he didn’t deliver. He’s a friend of mine. I said, “You’re not getting there?” He said, “No.”

‘That took 10 months. So it went dead. And then we circled the wagons again, coming back with a very obvious idea, and why not? There’s a survivor. The survivor is the son of the union between Lucilla and Maximus.

‘Can I see Paul Mescal being as big as Russell Crowe? For sure. I watched Normal People. It’s not my kind of show but I saw four episodes in a row – boom, boom, boom. I was thinking, “Who the hell is this Paul Mescal?” And then I watched the whole series. And then, suddenly, Gladiator 2 came up, because the script was working pretty well. And I kept thinking about Paul. And that was it.

‘I respect Denzel Washington tremendously [after working together on American Gangster]. I shouldn’t call Denzel a golden oldie – he’d fucking kill me – but he’s gold dust. As for Denzel’s character… There were businesses of gladiators who could indeed earn their freedom if they stayed alive. That was the deal. That’s not fiction. So we went right into that, in depth. Where did he come from? How was he taken? He was branded with marks, and registered with a brand on his chest as a slave. So that’s how he comes into the story. And he’s unforgiving in terms of anything Roman, except, ironically, he’s built a very rich and wealthy career of earning his way out into freedom, and now he has slave schools himself. He’s an arms dealer. He supplies food and merchandise for the armies in Europe. So he’s a rich guy who’s still carrying a grudge.’

The Martian 2015

An astronaut stranded on Mars survives on home-grown poo-tatoes…

‘The Martian had been sat on the shelf for about 18 months, and then somebody said, “Could you look at this script, and see what you think?” I said, “It’s a comedy.” They said, “What?” I said, “Yeah. What could be more comedic than staying alive, and using your own poo to grow food?”

‘Matt is brilliant at playing John Doe. His humour is very cool. He’s got this really marvellous touch of realness in whatever he does. But he can carry off that dry humour. He doesn’t go for the laugh – it’s there.

‘The stage we shot in is in Budapest. It has a bigger cubic capacity than the Bond stage. I made a brand-new green screen, and spent a lot of money on the deserts and the living spaces – the igloos, right? I’d already chosen a place in Jordan, and I’d photographed everything in Jordan from the same position. So we registered these positions so that they dovetail into that green screen. Wasn’t it perfect?

‘So I shot the film first, and having been to the location, then I shot it all again. When he’s outside at the very beginning of the film, that’s all in Jordan. The stuff around the igloo living quarters is in a studio. If you know what you’re doing, digital is a tool.’