Filmmaker Ridley Scott has begun publicity for his upcoming period epic “Napoleon” and, as is usual with the director, he speaks bluntly about a number of topics.
The tireless helmer is well into his eighties, yet continues to be highly prolific – pushing out a new film at least every year and a half. He also has strong opinions about some of his works, including his iconic 1982 feature “Blade Runner”.
Everyone is well aware the film was a flop at release and then subsequently became one of the most influential sci-fi movies ever made. It also famously was an arduous production both for its star Harrison Ford and for Scott himself.
Speaking with Total Film (via Slashfilm), Scott talked about the film’s “monumental, five-month, day-by-day evolution” and the hard experience of filming the movie:
“[The shoot] was a very bad experience for me. I had horrendous partners. Financial guys, who were killing me every day. I’d been very successful in the running of a company, and I knew I was making something very, very special.
So I would never take no for an answer. But they didn’t understand what they had. You shoot it, and you edit it, and you mix it. And by the time you’re halfway through, everyone’s saying it’s too slow.
You’ve got to learn, as a director, you can’t listen to anybody. I knew I was making something very, very special. And now it’s one of the most important science-fiction films ever made which everybody feeds off. Every bloody film.”
Scott also took the opportunity to take a swipe at those who dismissed “Blade Runner” back in the day:
“I hadn’t seen ‘Blade Runner’ for 20 years. Really. But I just watched it. And it’s not slow. The information coming at you is so original and interesting, talking about biological creations, and mining off-world, which, in those days, they said was silly. I say, ‘Go f— yourself.'”
That doesn’t mean he doesn’t take the criticism seriously. In the interview, he also reveals that legendary film critic Pauline Kael penned a four-page review of the movie in which she “destroyed” it. Scott took the criticisms seriously:
“I was so crushed. I had a hard time making it, and yet I thought I delivered something special. And then to have it killed … It actually affected the release of the movie. I took the four pages and I framed them on the wall of my office. They’re still there today because there’s a lesson in that, which is: ‘When you think you’ve got it, you don’t know s—.'”
Scott’s “Napoleon” hits theaters November 22nd with the filmmaker currently working on the over four-hour-long director’s cut of that film which will hit Apple TV+ streaming at a later date.
Scott is expected to get back to shooting the “Gladiator” sequel once the current SAG-AFTRA strike is over.
