Ridley Scott (born 30 November 1937) is an English film director and producer.
He has directed the science fiction horror film Alien (1979), the neo-noir dystopian film Blade Runner (1982), the road adventure film Thelma & Louise (1991), the historical drama film Gladiator (2000), the war film Black Hawk Down (2001), and the science fiction film The Martian (2015).
Scott began his career as a television designer and director before moving into advertising, where he honed his filmmaking skills by making inventive mini-films for television commercials. His work is known for its atmospheric and highly concentrated visual style.
Though his films range widely in setting and period, they frequently showcase memorable imagery of urban environments, spanning 2nd-century Rome (Gladiator), 12th-century Jerusalem (Kingdom of Heaven), Medieval England (Robin Hood), contemporary Mogadishu (Black Hawk Down), or the futuristic cityscapes of Blade Runner and distant planets in Alien, Alien: Covenant, Prometheus, and The Martian. Several of his films are also known for their strong female characters.
In 2021, his films The Last Duel and House of Gucci were released.
Scott has been nominated for three Academy Awards for Directing, which he received for Thelma & Louise, Gladiator and Black Hawk Down.
Gladiator won the Academy Award for Best Picture, and he received a nomination in that category for the 2015 film The Martian.
In 1995, both Scott and his brother Tony received a BAFTA for Outstanding British Contribution to Cinema.
In 2003, he was knighted for services to the British film industry.
In a 2004 BBC poll, Scott was ranked 10 on the list of most influential people in British culture.
He received an honorary doctorate from the Royal College of Art in London in 2015 and the BAFTA Fellowship for lifetime achievement in 2018.
More information: Ridley Scott
Scott was born on 30 November 1937 in South Shields, County Durham to Elizabeth (née Williams) and Colonel Francis Percy Scott. His grand-uncle Dixon Scott was a pioneer of the cinema chain and opened many cinemas around Tyneside. One of his cinemas, Tyneside Cinema, is still operating in Newcastle and is the last remaining newsreel cinema in the UK.
Born two years before World War II began, Scott was brought up in a military family. His father, an officer in the Royal Engineers, was absent for most of his early life. His elder brother, Frank, joined the Merchant Navy when he was still young and the pair had little contact.
During this time the family moved around; they lived in Cumberland as well as other areas in England, in addition to Wales and Germany. Scott's younger brother, Tony, also became a film director. After the war the Scott family moved back to County Durham and eventually settled on Teesside.
His interest in science fiction began by reading the novels of H. G. Wells as a child. He was also influenced by science-fiction films such as It! The Terror from Beyond Space, The Day the Earth Stood Still, and Them! He said these films kind of got [him] going a little but his attention was not fully caught until he saw Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey, about which he said, Once I saw that, I knew what I could do.
He went to Grangefield Grammar School in Stockton on Tees and obtained a diploma in design at West Hartlepool College of Art. The industrial landscape in West Hartlepool would later inspire visuals in Blade Runner, with Scott stating, There were steelworks adjacent to West Hartlepool, so every day I'd be going through them, and thinking they're kind of magnificent, beautiful, winter or summer, and the darker and more ominous it got, the more interesting it got.
More information: Screen Rant
The Duellists (1977) marked Ridley Scott's first feature film as director. Shot in Europe, it was nominated for the main prize at the Cannes Film Festival, and won an award for Best Debut Film.
Scott had originally planned next to adapt a version of Tristan and Iseult, but after seeing Star Wars, he became convinced of the potential of large scale, effects-driven films. He accepted the job of directing Alien, the 1979 horror/science-fiction film that would win him international success. Scott made the decision to switch Ellen Ripley from the standard male action hero to a heroine.
Ripley (played by Sigourney Weaver), who appeared in the first four Alien films, would become a cinematic icon. The final scene of John Hurt's character has been named by a number of publications as one of the most memorable in cinematic history.
After a year working on the film adaptation of Dune, and following the sudden death of his brother Frank, Scott signed to direct the film version of Philip K. Dick's novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? Re-titled Blade Runner and starring Harrison Ford, the film was a commercial disappointment in cinemas in 1982, but is now regarded as a classic.
In 1991, Scott's notes were used by Warner Bros. to create a rushed director's cut which removed the main character's voiceover and made a number of other small changes, including to the ending. Later Scott personally supervised a digital restoration of Blade Runner and approved what was called The Final Cut. This version was released in Los Angeles, New York City and Toronto cinemas on 5 October 2007, and as an elaborate DVD release in December 2007.
Today, Blade Runner is ranked by many critics as one of the most important and influential science fiction films ever made, partly thanks to its much imitated portraits of a future cityscape.
It is often discussed along with William Gibson's novel Neuromancer as initiating the cyberpunk genre. Stephen Minger, stem cell biologist at King's College London, states, It was so far ahead of its time and the whole premise of the story -what is it to be human and who are we, where we come from? It's the age-old questions. Scott has described Blade Runner as his most complete and personal film.
In 1984, Scott directed a big-budget ($900,000) television commercial, 1984, to launch Apple's Macintosh computer. Scott filmed the advertisement in England for about $370,000; which was given a showcase airing in the US on 22 January 1984, during Super Bowl XVIII, alongside screenings in cinemas. Some consider this advertisement a watershed event in advertising and a masterpiece. Advertising Age placed it top of its list of the 50 greatest commercials.
Set in a dystopian future modelled after George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four, Scott's advertisement used its heroine (portrayed by English athlete Anya Major) to represent the coming of the Macintosh, indicated by her white tank top adorned with a picture of the Apple Macintosh computer, as a means of saving humanity from conformity (Big Brother), an allusion to IBM, at that time the dominant force in computing.
In 1985, Scott directed Legend, a fantasy film produced by Arnon Milchan. Scott decided to create a once upon a time tale set in a world of princesses, unicorns and goblins, filming almost entirely inside the studio. Scott cast Tom Cruise as the film's hero, Jack; Mia Sara as Princess Lili; and Tim Curry as the Satan-horned Lord of Darkness.
Scott made Someone to Watch Over Me, a romantic thriller starring Tom Berenger and Mimi Rogers in 1987, and Black Rain (1989), a police drama starring Michael Douglas and Andy García, shot partially in Japan. Both achieved mild success at the box office. Black Rain was the first of Scott's six collaborations with the composer Hans Zimmer.
The road film Thelma & Louise (1991) starring Geena Davis as Thelma, Susan Sarandon as Louise, in addition to the breakthrough role for Brad Pitt as J.D, proved to be one of Scott's biggest critical successes, helping revive the director's reputation and receiving his first nomination for the Academy Award for Best Director.
His next project, independently funded historical epic 1492: Conquest of Paradise, was a box office failure. The film recounts the expeditions to the Americas by Christopher Columbus, French star Gérard Depardieu. Scott did not release another film for four years.
Scott's historical drama Gladiator (2000) proved to be one of his biggest critical and commercial successes. It won five Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Actor for the film's star Russell Crowe, and saw Scott nominated for the Academy Award for Best Director.
More information: CBR
Scott worked with British visual effects company The Mill for the film's computer-generated imagery, and the film was dedicated to Oliver Reed who died during filming -The Mill created a digital body double for Reed's remaining scenes. Some have credited Gladiator with reviving the nearly defunct sword and sandal historical genre. The film was named the fifth best action film of all time in the ABC special Best in Film: The Greatest Movies of Our Time.
Scott directed Hannibal (2001) starring Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal Lecter. The film was commercially successful despite receiving mixed reviews. Scott's next film, Black Hawk Down (2001), featuring Tom Hardy in his film debut, was based on a group of stranded US soldiers fighting for their lives in Somalia; Scott was nominated for an Oscar for Best Director.
In 2003, Scott directed a smaller scale project, Matchstick Men, adapted from the novel by Eric Garcia and starring Nicolas Cage, Sam Rockwell and Alison Lohman. It received mostly positive reviews but performed moderately at the box office.
In August 2009, Scott planned to direct an adaptation of Aldous Huxley's Brave New World set in a dystopian London with Leonardo DiCaprio.
In 2009, the TV series The Good Wife premiered with Ridley and his brother Tony credited as executive producers.
In 2012, Scott produced the commercial for Lady Gaga's fragrance, Fame. It was touted as the first ever black Eau de Parfum, in the informal credits attached to the trailer for this advertisement.
On 24 June 2013, Scott's series Crimes of the Century debuted on CNN.
More information: Collider
In November 2012 it was announced that Scott would produce the documentary, Springsteen & I directed by Baillie Walsh and inspired by Life in a Day, which Scott also produced. The film featured fan footage from throughout the world on what musician Bruce Springsteen meant to them and how he impacted their lives. The film was released for one day only in 50 countries and on over 2000 film screens on 22 July 2013.
In May 2014, Scott began negotiations to direct The Martian, starring Matt Damon as Mark Watney. Like many of Scott's previous works, The Martian features a heroine in the form of Jessica Chastain's character who is the mission commander.
On 26 February 2015, the sequel was officially confirmed, with Denis Villeneuve hired to direct the film, and Scott being an executive producer. The sequel, Blade Runner 2049, was released on 6 October 2017 to universal acclaim.
In 2021, Scott directed The Last Duel, a film adaptation of Eric Jager's 2004 book The Last Duel: A True Story of Trial by Combat in Medieval France, starring Adam Driver, Matt Damon and Jodie Comer. It was released on 15 October 2021. Filming locations included the French medieval castle of Berzé-le-Châtel, with a film crew of 300 people including 100 extras, and Ireland.
He also directed House of Gucci, a film about the murder of Maurizio Gucci orchestrated by Patrizia Reggiani, who were portrayed by Adam Driver and Lady Gaga, respectively. The film was released in November 2021. Scott is also developing Kitbag, a biopic of Napoleon Bonaparte starring Joaquin Phoenix as Napoleon and Jodie Comer as the Empress Josephine, with filming set to begin on 15 January 2022.
Ridley Scott and his brother Tony produced CBS series Numb3rs (2005-10), a crime drama about a genius mathematician who helps the FBI solve crimes; and The Good Wife (2009-2016), a legal drama about an attorney balancing her job with her husband, a former state attorney trying to rebuild his political career after a major scandal.
More information: Screen Rant
I always shoot my movies with score
as certainly part of the dialogue.
Music is dialogue.
People don't think about it that way,
but music is actually dialogue.
And sometimes music is the final,
finished, additional dialogue.
Music can be one of the final characters in the film.
Ridley Scott
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