Cover Story

Take One

Sarah Saunders April / May 2010

He’s 73 but Britain’s most successful Hollywood director, Ridley Scott, is betting on another blockbuster. Production houses, design studios and mega movies, life isn’t getting any slower. He speaks to Sarah Saunders.

He’s best known for intelligent, entertaining movies like Alien, Thelma and Louise, Black Hawk Down, American Gangster and Gladiator. But there’s more to 70-something British director Ridley Scott.

Number 35 in a list of the world’s 100 most powerful people, Scott’s influence infiltrates the entire entertainment spectrum, from advertising to film, on both sides of the Atlantic. Living between England, France and LA he runs, with brother Tony, the London-based Shepperton Studios and visual effects company, Mill Film. Two of his children, Jake and Jordon, also act or direct.

Besides sweeping visuals and strong female characters, Scott is also known for his iron fist on set – something that’s slightly unnerving on the way into an interview. Today he’s promoting his latest movie Robin Hood which stars Russell Crowe. It’s the fifth time Scott has worked with the temperamental Australian actor.

Five minutes in, he’s candid, interesting and, despite his age, a long, long way from slowing down. If Robin Hood is anything like Gladiator, strap yourself in and prepare for the ride.

We’ve seen a few Robin Hoods over the years, what are you bringing to it?

Reality. The earlier Robin Hoods lean heavily on the romance and the myth and legend of Robin Hood. That’s all great but my favourite Robin Hood in the past has been Mel Brooks who took a more comedic approach to it.

In this instance I looked at a few and then decided there was a point in history that I could attach it to because King John kept appearing. John was, if you like, the dysfunctional king who was stuck with a country that was deeply in trouble, and therefore he had to invent the process of taxation. Right there you’re on the edge of civil war. If you attach that to a character, an archer returning from the army of Richard Coeur de Lion, John’s brother, to a bankrupt England – that’s a good place to start.

I personally like to latch on to some realities. In Gladiator there was the reality of Marcus Aurelius and the reality of his dysfunctional son Commodus. You’ve got somewhere to anchor and from there you can branch out and romanticise a little. That’s how we began Robin Hood.

You’ve worked with Russell Crowe several times. What is it that you like about him?

He’s probably one of the best three actors in the world, and we got on. I listen to him, he listens to me, it’s a good partnership. I’m sure this won’t be the last one either. I think he’s terrific.

You’ve directed a string of excellent movies. Which are you most proud of?

I like them all. I never really think about it that way. It’s a bit like saying who’s your favourite child. No regrets about any of them.

What do you look for in a movie script?

Originality, a new take. The hardest single thing to do is actually to get the idea on paper. Making a movie for me isn’t.

You’re known for having strong women in your movies. May 2010 marks fifty years since the Pill was first made available to the public. How have you seen things change for women in Hollywood over the years?

You know, it really depends on who the woman is. Someone like Sigourney [Weaver], someone like Cate [Blanchett], someone like Meryl Streep doesn’t get pushed around, not by anyone. There’s no studio system manipulation at that level. Also, they don’t get pushed around because they are strong – they are strong minded and they are intelligent so that means they learnt to come up through the ranks to get to where they’ve got to today. It’s always hard at the beginning - I don’t care what the times are or what the pressures were. There’s always something that gets in the way that you have to bypass, you have to deal with it. It depends on the individual. How difficult is it to be a director? Murder - but you just do somehow, and if you don’t, you had no right to do it in the first place.

You were number 35 in the Telegraph’s 100 Most Powerful People list…

I was?

Yes.

 
Oh, I see.

How does it make you feel and does anyone ever…

Oh well, I didn’t know. So I suppose that means it didn’t matter. I really don’t pay attention to those things but I’ll try and dig it out and look at. I never think about it that way. I just think every day is hard work.

From what I read you’re running a huge empire. Do you ever get time to relax?

 
I’ve been a seven-day a week worker all my life and that means my private life is rolled into my working life, which means: Do I take elongated, prolonged holidays? Not really. Do I have a good time? Absolutely. My work is my passion. Yeah, no, I mean I don’t differentiate. It’s all one big blur.

You’re described as demanding and a “general with a battle plan” on set - is that fair?

 
On the one hand it’s a team effort without question. That’s the first said, absolutely. But then I produce a lot now so as a producer the single hardest person to find is not so much the lead or the actors but actually the director. He is the conduit through which everything passes and, through that, one hopes to always get a person who has some kind of vision. That means someone who has a stabilising influence, has an opinion about everything that happens and comes through him - that is the job, you know, whether it’s casting, art direction, locations, editing or music. He’ll have people to help him but fundamentally I’m looking for an autonomous person who’s going to embrace that. If I find him or her then it means I can leave them alone and move onto something else. If I don’t, then it’s a nightmare.

Has anyone in particular influenced your career?

 
Not really. I didn’t know anyone in the business when I came in. I came to New York on a travelling scholarship in 1960. It was a design scholarship from the Royal College of Art. When I arrived in New York I knew I really didn’t want to design anymore - I wanted to direct. I didn’t know what that meant in the sense of I had nary met an actor. So I registered at a place called Circle in the Square acting school and sat and watched that for a bit with two very good lecturers, Jose Quintero and Alan Schneider. I think at that early stage Pacino was a very young student there.

Then I literally talked my way into a job as an assistant which meant getting hamburgers and sinking some rushes. It was a very good documentary film house run by two excellent documentary filmmakers called Richard Leacock and Don Pennebaker - two of the big daddies, really great.

So gradually you build up a knowledge, gradually you spread out, gradually I tried to edit a few bits at the weekends which would later get pulled apart by the editors. You’d learn.

When I returned to England I had to resume a job at the BBC that was being held up for me because of my celebrity as a student. So a year later I’m already back in design but I’ve already had the experience of being in film. Gradually you put these things together. No one helped. You help yourself. God helps those who help themselves.

You’re in your seventies now, any thoughts of retirement?

No. I don’t even know what that means actually.

What are you passionate about?

My dogs. Painting. I started to paint again quite seriously after many years. If I can repair my knee I’ll be back on the court. I haven’t played tennis for a year - I’m an absolutely crazy tennis player and I wore one knee out by tennis actually. Of course, passionate, I’d better mention my lady as well, Lady Giannina.

What makes you happy?

 
A full life.

Robin Hood opens across the country on May 13