Ridley Scott is a celebrated filmmaker but recalls finding sceptics at the start of his career.
The Gladiator director says these doubters questioned his themes in early films such as Alien, Blade Runner, and Legend, which went on to become iconic hits.
However, back at the time, he notes, “There’s only one film worked out of all of that lot. But they’re a pretty good first four movies. So I knew I’m on the right track.”
“But somebody at one of the studios said to me, ‘Why don’t you do a film about normal people?’ I went, ‘What the **** does that mean?'”
“Because no one’s normal unless you’re totally boring, right?” the Academy-nominated filmmaker recounts in an interview with Alien: Romulus writer-director Fede Alvarez on the Director’s Guild of America’s The Director’s Cut podcast.
Elsewhere in the interview, Ridley also discusses the struggles he faced while directing his first film, The Duellists, despite having rich experience working in commercials as a director.
“I was 38, realized I hadn’t done a movie, so I had enough money to find a writer, pay him, pay for the book, et cetera. And so from that, we got a prize at Cannes, where the first film went.”
“Pretty good. But the studio here made seven prints. so my producer is [David Puttnam]. I said, ‘Is this normal?’ He said, ‘No, it’s not.'”
“Alien did well, but with Blade Runner, “She destroyed me,” the veteran filmmaker adds, referring to late critic Pauline Kael, who wrote a critical review of the 1982 sci-fi film.
“She destroyed Blade Runner in four pages. I didn’t even meet her. To me, it almost walked in the column of industrial espionage, because you’re destroying a product before it’s out,” the 87-year-old recalls.
Nonetheless, Ridley says these setbacks did not spoil the film in any way, as all of his under-question films did well with the critics and, to some extent, at the box office.
“These are all good movies, so there’s something deeply wrong with the audience or marketing,” he argues.
“But you know, I’m not bitter. I’m very happy where I am. It is the best attitude that one can have. I think, you know, that’s the best attitude that one can have, to just love all of your movies, trust, and keep going,” the director concludes.
