“My first film, Boy and a Bicycle, was made when I was at the Royal College in 1965. They didn’t have a film department but there was a post-graduate course called Film and Theatre Design, and in their cupboard was an old Bolex. I borrowed it for a month and went up north with my brother (and fellow film director) Tony, and made him the actor and had him carry the equipment. I would get him to go buy sandwiches and five Woodbines and he’d come back and get on with the filming – my dad is the blind man, my mother is in it – it was a family affair. By the time I’d finished I knew that that was what I wanted to do.
“I was doing very well as a production designer at the BBC at the time, and within three years they gave me a three-year course in film-making, and I went on to direct; I was moonlighting dressing sets at night for advertising until 6am and then I’d go off to the BBC at 7am. I couldn’t carry on like that. So, as I was making far more money in advertising than at the BBC, I went into advertising. I had directed Adam Adamant for the BBC, so my career as an ad director took off massively. I did 2,500 commercials (including the now-famous Hovis ad). My ad company is now 39 years old, has 50 directors in New York, London and LA, and half are now feature film directors, which feeds into Scott Free, our feature film-making company.”
The Duellists (1977)
Keith Carradine and Harvey Keitel star as French officers in a tale of honour offended and avenged.
“I was 39 when I made this, my first feature film. I’d got my hands on this sketch, or short story for a much bigger book by Joseph Conrad and I thought, ‘Wow this is great. It’s like a Western, it’s about the insanity of these two guys who can’t even remember what the fight was about.’
“This great guy called Gerald Vaughn Hughes adapted it and we took it to David Puttnam, who said he would do it with me directing. Casting it was a two-month nightmare. Harvey Keitel was umming and aahing, and Carradine had had a number one record that week called I’m Easy, and he wanted to go on tour. Autumn was approaching fast and Paramount wanted to push it back to spring but I refused. Because I was used to fighting over commercials we did it. And then it was nominated for the Palme d’Or and won the Best First Work award at Cannes, and I thought, ‘Wow this is pretty easy’. The next thing I was offered was Alien.”
Alien (1979)
The horror film set in space gave Scott his first global hit, and launched the career of Sigourney Weaver.
“When I did Alien it was meddle, meddle, meddle from the studio. In the end I said, ‘Stop! You do your job and I’ll do mine.’ If I start to go over, then come and adjust but if not, stay away.’ That is why I now produce and develop all I make. I refuse to kowtow. I will not be ambivalent because if you are you will get trampled. Now I am so sturdy and resolute that they give way to my demands because I won’t do it any other way. But I think it redefined sci-fi movies and when I first showed it in Leicester Square I knew I’d nailed it. There were 2,000 people in the cinema and they were all visibly shaken. Which was very cool. I loved that.”
Blade Runner (1982)
Existential angst meets dystopian sci-fi meets film noir as Harrison Ford’s cop trails four perfect cyborgs, or Replicants, who have escaped to Earth. The film was recut for its first release by nervous distributors. The version now available on DVD is Scott’s own cut, which lacks the voice-over of the original cinematic release.
“I’d had success with The Duellists and Alien, and when I started on Blade Runner, even though I was 42, I was the new kid on the block in Hollywood. But I was pretty tough when it came to process, procedure and business as I’d had a hugely successful ad company for 12 years. Now I was being passed around and being told what to do and had to curb my temper and bite my tongue. It was such a strange world. People who had neither the right nor the authority were asking me questions and I was not used to that.
“It was like: ‘Why is it always raining?’ 'Cos I want it.’ ‘Why is it always night time?’ – ’cos it’s a film noir.’ But through sheer tenacity I pushed it through, because if you budge you will be walked all over. I was very unpopular and I didn’t care because to me it was important to get the film right, and in fact I was killing myself doing so. But at the end of the day I got it right.
“It’s being re-released to celebrate the 25th anniversary next year and shown at the beautiful Frank Geary Hall in LA .They’ll get the cast back together and probably Vangelis (who wrote the soundtrack) will do his thing and it will be a huge event because there is no question that it is now a cult classic. Warner Brothers tell me that next to Casablanca it is their most requested title.”
Thelma and Louise (1991)
Geena Davies and Susan Sarandon star as two women who go on the run after accidentally killing a would-be rapist. A global hit that raised as many questions as laughs.
“The script by Callie Khouri had floated around for ages and fallen through the net. Callie was a receptionist for a big Hollywood production company and she had been waving this script at them and everyone ignored her. I spent 10 months with her and she was a very tough, vociferous woman. I thought a lot of it was very funny, and she just didn’t see it. I thought it should be really humorous, and then you don’t ostracise two-thirds of the audience. One bloke looked at it and said, ‘Well it’s about two bitches in a car, yeah?’ I said, ‘Yeah, you could look at it that way, but that’s why you’re not directing it and I am!’ You’d be amazed at how many directors turned it down.”
Gladiator (2000)
The film that made Russell Crowe a superstar is an old-fashioned epic. They didn’t make them like this anymore, until Scott decided that, actually, they should.
“I’ve known Walter Parks, the head of DreamWorks for years, and he called me and said, ‘I’ve got something great for you and I need to see you in person.’ So he came in and gave me the script and said, ‘I don’t want you to read it yet as it needs a lot of work but this is what it’s all about.’ He then showed me this painting by a French painter called Jerome that was called For Those About to Die, and it showed Nero with his thumb down looking over this guy with the armour and the trident as he was poised to impale his victim. I looked at it and said, ‘I’ll do it.’ He looked at me, shocked, and said, ‘But you don’t know what it’s about!’ I said, ‘I’ll do it!’ I knew it was right as one hadn’t been done for 40 years. The time was right, and so was I.”
Kingdom Of Heaven – Directors Cut (2005-6)
Scott’s crusades epic cost millions to film, and was released last year to mixed reviews. The director has since gone back and re-edited the film as he originally intended, in order to iron out the problems created by cutting 50 minutes for the cinematic release.
“I do wish I’d originally released this, my first cut, but the great thing about the digital opportunity is that I can get another shot. It’s not so much the money, it’s more of an artistic frustration because I would like people to see what was intended originally.
“The enemy of film-making is the preview screening, which influences the final cut. It is a tool, but you should use it wisely. The danger is that by the time we reach the preview we have all seen the film so many times we have lost our ability to judge -- it’s like telling a joke 15 times, until it is no longer funny. So we were thinking, well maybe it is a bit long and maybe it does take too long to get there, and so we cut it. I’m not laying any blame on the studio because they are very respectful regarding my wishes. If I’d wanted to I could have released this version.
“But there were scenes that were edited out that left the plot construct open to criticism, while others opened the discussion as to do I have a God or do I not, and who is speaking to me whether I might be Christian or Muslim? The Koran does not propagate violence or murder, and its commandments are very similar to those in the Bible.
“That is why I picked this film -- because it is so pertinent right now. I met the writer, Bill Monahan, and proposed doing a Crusades film, to which he replied, ‘That’s my subject and my passion. I know all about the whole 300 years of the Crusades.’ So Bill came back with this idea about the wedge between the first and second crusades where there was this uneasy truce until Saladin was forced to come back and take Jerusalem. We found that the man who surrendered Jerusalem was a local Lord, a Jerusalem citizen called Balian, so we worked fiction backwards into the foothills of the Pyrenees.
“Kingdom was so tough to make it almost killed me. I’d drive on to set each morning and think, ‘Oh well, only another six weeks of this.’ I had 60 sun block on and the ridiculously powerful wind that usually stops in May was going at it constantly, blowing the top sand off on to the rock. Within 45 minutes, you looked like a Scotch egg. You had to literally cover yourself in cloth from head to toe but it looked fantastic. I think people will like this cut.”
A Good Year (To be released Oct 27, 2006)
“I’ve a little vineyard in Provence, and after five years I discovered that the writer Peter Mayle (of A Year in Provence fame) was my neighbour. About three years ago, on New Year’s Eve, we started talking about my experiences and he said he would put it in a book and out of that I got the film rights. We made the film last August with Russell Crowe, Albert Finney, Tom Hollander and Abbey Cornish -- a great band of talent. We had a great time and I am very happy with the movie.”
The Future
“Bill Monahan is maybe one of the two best writers I have ever worked with and I am developing something with him now that will take us back to Muslim countries next year. It’s called Tripoli, is set in 1805 and is about the bad behaviour of Pasha of Tripoli, who was kidnapping ships, particularly American ships, and demanding ransoms while Jefferson was broke, having emptied his coffers of $11 million to complete the Louisiana Purchase from Napoleon, who needed the money to feed his army. It is a fascinating period.”
Kingdom of Heaven The Director’s Cut is out now
Blade Runner : The Director’s Cut is out Oct 9
A Good Year will be released nationwide on October 27.
