Ridley Scott has spent nearly 50 years shaping how movies look and feel, from the acid-blooded terror of deep space to the neon rain of a dystopian future. So when The Times of London recently asked the director to name the through line across his career, his answer wasn’t “filmmaker.” It was something a little more modern — and a little more provocative.
Scott landed on that description when the paper asked him to sum up his body of work. His reasoning: he’s stayed ahead of the game, and being ahead of the game is what makes someone an influencer.
The 88-year-old is a three-time Oscar nominee whose filmography reads like a tour through the last half-century of blockbuster and genre cinema. Among his biggest and most influential films — with horror and thrillers well represented:
“Alien” (1979) — the sci-fi horror landmark that made deep space terrifying. “Blade Runner” (1982) — the neo-noir thriller that defined a genre’s visual language. “Thelma & Louise” (1991). “Hannibal” (2001) — his gruesome Hannibal Lecter thriller. “Gladiator” (2000). “American Gangster” (2007) — a crime thriller. And “Prometheus” (2012) and “Alien: Covenant” (2017), his returns to the “Alien” universe’s horror roots.
He says there’s still plenty left on his list. He’s never made a Western, wants to do a musical, and is eyeing “a marvelous film about the African elephant.” He’s already cast Hugh Jackman in a “Treasure Island” adaptation.
His frustration with Hollywood sameness is what pushed him toward his next project. “Everything now is about a murdered girl in the woods, or an FBI agent who is better than anyone else, or a superhero,” he said. “Fuck me! There have to be other stories to tell.”
That next film is “The Dog Stars” with Jacob Elordi, Margaret Qualley and Josh Brolin. Scott called Elordi “a big star” and said the two “got on great.”
The Dog Stars is in theaters Friday.
