Below is a compiled list of the most interesting facts about Ridley Scott. Check it out!
Described by film producer Michael Deeley as “the very best eye in the business”, director Ridley Scott was born on November 30, 1937 in South Shields, Tyne and Wear (then County Durham). His father was an officer in the Royal Engineers and the family followed him as his career posted him throughout the United Kingdom and Europe before they eventually returned to Teesside. Scott wanted to join the Royal Army (his elder brother Frank had already joined the Merchant Navy) but his father encouraged him to develop his artistic talents instead and so he went to West Hartlepool College of Art and then London’s Royal College of Art where he helped found the film department.
Interesting Facts about Ridley Scott
- He was considered to direct Jacob’s Ladder (1990).
- In 1994, he was slated to direct “Hot Zone” from a screenplay by James V. Hart based on the 1992 New Yorker article “Crisis in the Hot Zone” by Richard Preston. The film was to star Robert Redford and Jodie Foster and was based on the true story of the discovery of the deadly Ebola virus. Various factors, including the development of the similarly-plotted Outbreak (1995), led to the project being canceled. The very day this happened, Scott read the script for White Squall (1996) and decided to direct it.
- He was Joel Silver’s first choice to direct Lethal Weapon (1987). Due to Scott’s still recent tensions with Warner Brothers during the making of Blade Runner (1982) the studio refused to offer him the job.
- 2003: Ranked #25 in Premiere magazine’s annual Power 100 List. Had ranked #30 in 2002.
- Father of Jake Scott and Luke Scott with Felicity Heywood.
- Coming from an army and fine arts background, he is an inveterate stickler for detail who tackles each movie project with the vehemence of a general with a battle plan. His persistent scrutiny of minutiae on the Alien (1979) shoot prompted Sigourney Weaver to complain that he cared more about his props and sets than he did about his cast.
- He was attached to direct Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (2006) years before production finally began.
- 2005: Ranked #5 in Empire (UK) magazine’s “The Greatest directors ever!”.
- Received a TCL Chinese Theatre handprint ceremony on May 17, 2017. His hands and feet were encased in cement outside the TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, California. He first set foot on the famous sidewalk in 1960, when he had no intention of entering the movie business. He was 22, fresh out of college and after working in New York for nine months, saved enough money to travel to L.A. on a Greyhound bus. “One of the big deals for me was to come to Hollywood,” Scott remembered. “I stayed in a boarding house nearby and walked to Hollywood Boulevard. I remember standing outside and staring at the footprints. Never, ever, would I have thought that this would happen.” [Variety 2017].
- Is frequently involved, as producer and director, with historically-oriented projects: The Duellists (1977), 1492: Conquest of Paradise (1992), Gladiator (2000), The Pillars of the Earth (2010).
- His first feature film, The Duellists (1977) is based on a Joseph Conrad story. In his next film, Alien (1979), the spaceship was known as the Nostromo and its escape ship as the Narcissus. Both are names taken from Conrad stories.
- He is cited as a major influence by the Canadian director James Cameron, who made the first sequel to Scott’s Alien (1979), as well as iconic films such as The Terminator (1984), Titanic (1997) and Avatar (2009). Cameron has admitted that he goes to see any new Ridley Scott film because “…he is such an artist, he’s such a filmmaker. I always learn from him”.
Personal Quotes by Ridley Scott
If you ever have a kid who doesn’t know what to do, stick him in art school. It’s amazing what evolves.
Ridley Scott
I had been very impressed with the voiceover of ‘Apocalypse Now,’ with Martin Sheen’s voice. That was a great voiceover; it really internalized the Martin Sheen character, who was essentially fairly low key and didn’t say a lot during the whole movie. But he thought a lot, so I always thought that was really great.
Ridley Scott
I think, at the end of the day, filmmaking is a team, but eventually there’s got to be a captain.
Ridley Scott
On rare occasions, Dad used to reminisce about when he met Eisenhower and how Churchill would pop in, in the late hours of the evening or night, carrying a cigar, when he’d obviously had a good dinner.
Ridley Scott
In film, it’s very important to not allow yourself to get sentimental, which, being British, I try to avoid. People sometimes regard sentimentality as emotion. It is not. Sentimentality is unearned emotion.
Ridley Scott
