Sir Ridley Scott

Sir Ridley Scott is a highly respected film director and producer. He has been nominated for three Academy Awards for Directing... Thelma & Louise, Gladiator and Black Hawk Down - as well as a Golden Globe, BAFTA and 2 Primetime Emmy Awards.

I went to Art College and during the summer I made a movie with my brother. I got hold of a little camera, wrote a script and dragged my brother, Tony, out of bed to help me (which he did not like), so that we could shoot a film every day for six weeks. It was made for £65 and it was called Boy On A Bicycle.

Beginning his career in advertising where he honed his filmmaking skills by making inventive mini-films for television commercials, Scott's work is known for its atmospheric, highly concentrated visual style.

Over the years I've probably done 2,700 commercials.

I was always amazed about how much I could finally squeeze into a thirty second commercial.

The first feature film that he directed was The Duellists (1977), shot in Europe, it was nominated for the main prize at the Cannes Film Festival, and won an award for Best Debut Film.

In 1977, after seeing Star Wars, Scott became convinced of the potential of large scale, effects-driven films and accepted the job of directing Alien. He also made the decision to switch Ellen Ripley from the standard male action hero to a heroine.

There's nothing really original. Alien was a B-movie. Five directors passed on it before me. Because I was into Heavy Metal, I read it, and thought, "Wow, I want to do this." I was on a plane to Hollywood in 22 hours. It was a B-movie and was elevated to an A-plus movie by sheer good taste.

Usually, when special effects get in the way, it's because the story isn't strong enough. If you don't start with a strong screenplay, it's easy to fall back on special effects, thinking it's going to carry you. But it never works. It's just tiresome.

In 1981 he directed Blade Runner (an adaptation of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep - by author Philip K Dick), which is ranked by many critics as one of the most important and influential science fiction films ever made, partly due to its much imitated portraits of a future dystopian cityscape. It is often discussed along with William Gibson's novel Neuromancer as initiating the cyberpunk genre. 

Blade Runner was the godfather of all these fantastic movies that occur today. What's frustrating is that we're short of really great writing and great ideas. Blade Runner was full of them.

In 1984, Scott directed a big-budget television commercial, 1984, to launch Apple's Macintosh computer. Some consider this advertisement a watershed event in advertising and a masterpiece.

In 1991, the road movie, Thelma & Louise, resulted in Scott receiving his first nomination for the Academy Award for Best Director.

His next project (1992) was the independently funded historical epic 1492: Conquest of Paradise, the film recounts the expeditions to the Americas by Christopher Columbus.

In 1995, Ridley and his brother Tony formed a production company, Scott Free Productions and all Ridley's subsequent feature films, starting with White Squall and G.I. Jane, have been produced under the Scott Free banner. The same year the two brothers purchased a controlling interest in the British film studio Shepperton Studios. In 2001, Shepperton merged with Pinewood Studios to become The Pinewood Studios Group.

Scott's historical drama Gladiator released in 2000, was a huge critical and commercial successes and went on to win five Academy Awards.

I think one of the successes of Gladiator is how we manage to turn on a dime the character from one thing to another where you believe he is one thing and he is something very different.

But Gladiator is one of my favourite adventures because I really loved going into the world. I loved creating the world to the degree where you could almost smell it.

He directed Hannibal in 2001 (the sequel to The Silence of the Lambs) starring Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal Lecter. He also made Black Hawk Down which featured Tom Hardy in his film debut. 

Scott was appointed Knight Bachelor in the 2003 New Year Honours for services to the British film industry.

As a boy growing up in South Shields, I could never have imagined that I would receive such a special recognition. I am truly humbled to receive this treasured award and believe it also further recognises the excellence of the British film industry.

In 2011, he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Prometheus, which Scott described as sharing strands of Alien's DNA while not being a direct prequel, was released in June 2012.

On 3 July 2015, he was awarded an honorary doctorate by the Royal College of Art in a ceremony at the Royal Albert Hall in London at which he described how he still keeps on his office wall his school report placing him 31st out of 31 in his class, and how his teacher encouraged him to pursue what became his passion at art school.

There's a little thing on your shoulder called intuition and it whispers in your ear. Everyone has that, there is a voice telling you to do something. Most people ignore it - but you must listen to it. I do it every day, all day.

The Martian, starring Matt Damon was released on 2 October 2015. It was a critical and commercial success grossing over £480 million worldwide and is Scott's highest-grossing film to date.

In May 2017, Alien: Covenant was released, the sequel to Prometheus, which follows the crew of a colony ship that lands on an uncharted planet and makes a terrifying discovery. 2017, also saw the release of All the Money in the World - the film depicts the events surrounding the actual 1973 kidnapping of John Paul Getty III in Italy and the refusal of his grandfather, the multi-billionaire oil tycoon J Paul Getty, to cooperate with the extortion demands of the organised crime Mafia group 'Ndrangheta.

As I'm getting older, I want to make sure every film I do really counts.

A good year for me is when me and my family are in good health. I'm just lucky to have good years doing something I like to do.

In 2018 he received the highest accolade from BAFTA, the BAFTA Fellowship, for lifetime achievement.

In my view, the only way to see a film remains the way the filmmaker intended: inside a large movie theater with great sound and pristine picture.

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