NEW YORK (AP) ā An inevitable fact of interviewing is that, whatever movie heās about to release, youāll find him already knee-deep in his next project.
Scott, Hollywoodās perpetual rolling stone even at age 86, may be one of his biggest epics yet, but during an interview earlier this fall, he had the Bee Gees on the brain. Scott is developing a biopic on the Gibb brothers. On a Zoom call from his office in Los Angeles, he was surrounded by meticulously plotted storyboards.
Scott is enthusiastic about the project. āI think the word is beyond talented. They were gifted,ā he says ā even if the Bee Gees brand of music seems quite distant from the no-nonsense British director.
āIām not a disco guy,ā Scott says. āI dance like a (expletive) plowman.ā
Scott is on more familiar turf in āGladiator II,ā which Paramount Pictures will release Thursday. He's back in ancient Rome, among sandals, swords and glistening biceps, for a sequel to his best picture-winning āGladiator,ā with Russell Crowe and Joaquin Phoenix. āGladiator IIā is set a couple decades after that film. It focuses on the grandson of former emperor Marcus Aurelius ā a minor character in āGladiatorā now played by Paul Mescal ā whoās mentored as a gladiator by a former slave with aspirations of seizing Rome, Macrinus (Denzel Washington). Pedro Pascal co-stars as the Roman general Marcus Acacius.
āSequels are always kind of suspect,ā says Scott. āBut to begin with, we had a good logical stepping stone into who next, who survived and where did he go.ā
Aside from numerous āAlienā films, Scott has largely eschewed sequels throughout his career. āGladiator IIā had been in development, off and on, for two decades, though. And it ultimately swelled to one of Scottās most massive projects ā which is saying something for a filmmaker who just released of Some reports have pegged the budget for āGladiator IIā
But Scott believes in the movie so much that heās called it his best. Why?
āItās to frighten the others,ā he says, chuckling. āAnd I think I might be right. I donāt want to count my chickens. But itās pretty (expletive) good.ā
Part of Scottās confidence comes from his belief in his cast, particularly Mescal, the Irish actor who broke out on the series āNormal Peopleā before starring in acclaimed films like and
āEighteen months ago I found a show, āNormal People.ā I think for me it looks a bit suburban, et cetera, et cetera. I watch one, then I watch another. I say, āWho is this guy?ā Both the guy and the girl were absolutely interesting. From that, I cast Paul Mescal,ā Scott says. āYou know, Paul has got that harsh profile with the nose. And then a little bit of Thereās a bit of Finney about him.ā
Scott, who paints as a hobbyist, has seemingly been drawn to bigger and bigger canvases as heās grown older. āNapoleon,ā he says, required 900 personnel; āGladiator IIā took 1,200. He is, himself, a commander of armies. In Malta, Scott and his regular production designer, Arthur Max, erected enormous sets.
āWe built Rome,ā says Scott. āI discovered that you can have a lot of access, nice costumes and all blue screen. But in every shot you take ā whether itās (Scott holds his hands up for wide shots, over-shoulder shots and close-ups) youāre investing money on the blue. Itās more expensive to do that than to build it. So I built the Colosseum 40% full scale. It was cheaper to do that than blue screen.ā
Far smaller productions have worn down other filmmakers who donāt match half the pace of Scott. But Scott, a self-described āwar babyā born in 1937 whose father was a senior officer in the Royal Engineers, has showed no signs of slowing down, nor of fading ambition. Asked where he gets his drive, Scott responds: āDNA.ā
āMy mum was ferocious,ā Scott says. āYou have to stay kind of fit. And I embrace stress. If you donāt embrace stress, do not do the job. People get very stressed and frightened and I donāt. Iāve grown to it over the years to just embrace it and walk in and say, āRight, everybody over here. Weāre going to do this.ā And they listen. Bearing in mind that Iām artistically driven and Iām blessed with a very good eye, the decision is everything. Make the bloody decision. Do not discuss it with everybody including the window cleaner where youāre going to put the camera.ā
To Scott, his most formative training came in commercials. He and his brother, Tony Scott, started out with their film and commercial production company Ridley Scott Associates. Particularly in television, Scott got accustomed to shooting with multiple cameras rolling simultaneously. He didnāt make his first feature, 1977ās āThe Duelist,ā until he was 40. Now, on movies like āGladiator,ā Scott might have eight or 10 cameras rolling for a single scene.
āSo I got used to scale,ā says Scott. āBy that time I had probably done 2,500 commercials. And when youāre doing a commercial for yourself, the company, youāre on your own clock. After 5 oāclock, you pay. So youāre constantly against time. I learned that better than any film school could teach you. On every second hand is a dollar sign.ā
That kind of scale also comes with risk, of course. āGladiator IIā is opening in theaters against Universal Picturesā āWicked,ā another highly anticipated movie although one, like with different and possibly complementary target audiences. Mescal has teased the moviegoing weekend as āGlicked.ā
Scott remains optimistic about the movie business ā even if his main concern is what it'll mean for the next mammoth project he undertakes.
āThere have been a few combustions of big box office this year that gives a certain kind of movie a promise for financial return,ā Scott says. āBut the financial return ā au courage dāautres ā encourages the others. Because greed will always be in the front, right? Maybe the investors will say, āMaybe it can be me.ā Thatās what we always hope for because I just love making movies. And the bigger the better.ā
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This story first moved Sept. 4, 2024, and has been updated ahead of the release of āGladiator II.ā
Jake Coyle, The Associated Press
