Esteemed directors like Martin Scorsese and Ridley Scott still churn out amazing works at their age and it’s undeniable that their willingness to continue shows how passionate they are and how much they love making movies. Ridley Scott turns 87 this month and the acclaimed filmmaker will celebrate it with the self-proclaimed biggest movie he’s ever done — Gladiator II. Scott recently sat down for a profile with The Hollywood Reporter to talk about how he doesn’t plan to slow down his career in the slightest.
He provides some context on how he was a pretty late bloomer to the business, “I entered Hollywood when I was 40 years old. [Steven] Spielberg was 19. George [Lucas] was 20. And Francis [Ford Coppola] was 22 or something. They were all from exalted film schools. All I had was a very good show reel of my television commercials.” Then, when the interviewer gathered that directing must not feel like work to Scott, he replied, “Are you kidding? I wouldn’t be doing it [if directing felt like work]. It’s my passion and therefore my pleasure. I think it actually keeps me going. I’ve damaged myself with too much tennis. I’ve got dodgy knees and I’m now getting injections in them — I can’t be the old guy staggering around the set because when we were doing Gladiator II we’re in 112 degrees and I have to be out there.”
When it’s addressed that Scott’s output of films seems even more frequent now, he explained, “Yeah. I got good at cutting away all the crap. You can’t have 40 projects in development. That’s a bad idea. I usually have three or four. And I think that’s why I have a great relationship with Fox. I’ve done 13 films for Fox, which may be the highest any director would do for a studio. It’s a bit like opening a restaurant. You better eat there every night. So I eat at my table every night with Fox. I think that’s why I’ve been valuable to them. You win some, you lose some, but overall they have been rewarded for what I do. Because they’re now Fox-Disney, there’s now this tricky balance of how extreme they can go, and I respect that.”
As much of a workhorse as he is because of his love of filmmaking, when Scott was inquired if he thought Quentin Tarantino would actually retire after his tenth movie, he answered, “I don’t believe it.” The interviewer alluded to the notion that when you love something, you can get pulled back in and Scott added, “Exactly. I don’t fucking believe that bullsh*t. Shut up and go make another movie. Quentin wrote a few things for my brother. They got along great. I’m not sure I’ve met him.”