Ridley Scott is becoming pretty good at trolling… Or is he getting too old?
1. On ”Star Wars: The Last Jedi”
“Because I know what I’m doing. I think they like to be in control, and I like to be in control myself. When you get a guy who’s done a low-budget movie and you suddenly give him $180 million, it makes no sense whatsoever. It’s fuckin’ stupid. You know what the reshoots cost?”
“Millions! Millions. You can get me for my fee, which is heavy, but I’ll be under budget and on time. This is where experience does matter, it’s as simple as that! It can make you dull as dishwater, but if you’re really experienced and you know what you’re doing, it’s fucking essential. Grow into it, little by little. Start low-budget, get a little bit bigger, maybe after $20 million, you can go to $80. But don’t suddenly go to $160.” (source)
- What an old fart. He even can’t make any other loosy ”Alien” sequels because nobody will sponsor it since he almost ruined the film franchise he started in 1979. Does Scott really think that directing 2 cult movies 30+ years ago lets him to be that arrogant?
- I’m actually curious if he knows who actually directed the first Star Wars movie and how experienced that guy was at the moment (hint – George Lucas directed just 2 movies ”THX-1138” and ”American Grafitti”, both costed less than $1 mln).
- No matter what you think of the last Star Wars installment, Rian Johnson directed wonderful movies before, and his ”Looper” was an original, fresh and awesome sci-fi flick, with the box office of $176 mln and $30 mln budget.
- ”The Duellists”, Scott’s debut film actually costed 11-12 times less than ”Alien”, his second feature film. Rian Johnson’s ”Looper” costed roughly 7 times less than ”Star Wars: The Last Jedi”.
2. On ”Blade Runner 2049”
“I have to be careful what I say. I have to be careful what I say,” Scott whispered, which he immediately followed by saying: “It was fucking way too long. Fuck me!” (source)
“It’s slow. It’s slow. Long. Too long. I would have taken out half an hour.” (source)
- ”Blade Runner 2049” is 2 hours and 44 minutes long. Here’s the reply…
3. On ”Exodus: Gods and Kings”
Scott directed ”Exodus: Gods and Kings” in 2014 and the film was largely criticized for casting white actors to play Egyptians. While this kind of criticism may be an obvious Internet age trolling bullshit, what actually the Scott replied is disturbing:
“I can’t mount a film of this budget, where I have to rely on tax rebates in Spain, and say that my lead actor is Mohammad so-and-so from such-and-such. I’m just not going to get it financed. So the question doesn’t even come up.” (source)
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I don’t like ranting and I consider some of Ridley Scott’s films to be incredibly important, but I hate arrogance more than anything in this world.
Director: Min Byeong-cheon. Starring: Yoo Ji-tae, Lee Jae-eun, Seo Lin. South Korea, 2003. IMDb: 5.8. My rating: 0.5/4. ”Blade Runner” rip off.
Rose Leslie, Michale Yare, Toby Jones. USA, 2016. IMDB: 5.8. My rating: 1/4. Sci-fi thriller about androids and stuff.
”Morgan” will surely provide you with some powerful insight about which tales Ridley Scott told his kids before sleep. It is another take on androids in the recent wake of independent A.I. science fiction and a debut feature of Luke Scott, whose father directed several movies we all adore. But “Morgan” is too immature to tell a complex story and the movie admits this quickly by itself, as it quickly abandons any attempts of being smart and tries to compensate it with some action. Not really good action. 
Taylor-Young. USA, 1973. IMDb: 7.3. My rating: 1.5/4. Dystopian future cli-fi.
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