Ridley Scott

Harrison Ford, ‘Prisoners’ Director In for that Great-Idea ‘Blade Runner’ Sequel

By Jason Bailey on Feb 27, 2015 9:00am

It’s been a big couplea weeks for ill-advised sequels to Ridley Scott movies. Hard on the heels of Neill… Read More

Where Are All the New Sci-Fi Movie Franchises?

By Jason Bailey on Feb 19, 2015 1:15pm

Well, there’s going to be a new Alien movie, and for some reason, this is good news. Word broke yesterday that Neill Blomkamp, writer/director of District 9 and the forthcoming Chappie, closed a deal with 20th Century Fox to helm a new film in the sci-fi/monster franchise, and everyone is very excited, somehow ignoring the fact that Ridley Scott’s 1979 original has yielded exactly one good sequel (James Cameron’s Aliens) and no fewer than five more that are varying degrees of terrible (Alien 3, Alien: Resurrection, Alien vs. Predator, Alien vs. Predator: Requiem, and Scott’s own Prometheus). That’s a 16 percent sequel success rate, kids, so let’s maybe keep it in our pants for a minute — particularly as Variety is reporting that the Blomkamp Alien is “separate from Prometheus 2, which Fox is still making with Ridley Scott.” Oh, cool, so they’re making like a whole Alien Cinematic Universe, awesome idea, A-plus you guys. But here’s the more pressing issue: in this era of mega budgets and limitless effects possibilities, why has science fiction fallen so specifically prey to the endless sequel-remake-reboot machine? Where are the new sci-fi franchises? … Read More

Film

Neill Blomkamp-Directed ‘Alien’ Movie Officially Confirmed

By Moze Halperin on Feb 18, 2015 10:31pm

Last we’d heard from Neill Blomkamp regarding his directing a much-rumored new, potentially Sigourney Weaver-starring Alien movie, the District 9… Read More

Film

Christian Bale Defends Ridley Scott’s Use of White Actors in ‘Exodus’

By Angela Lashbrook on Dec 9, 2014 11:35am

Director Ridley Scott has received plenty of criticism for his use of mostly white actors in his biblical epic Exodus. Christian… Read More

Books

The Strange Case of Cormac McCarthy, Screenwriter

By Jonathon Sturgeon on Dec 8, 2014 2:15pm

We rarely appraise our most revered literary writers on the basis of their screenwriting. The bald truth is that most great writers never wrote original screenplays, and when they did, they were seldom produced. (Even the crop of famous literary men who dabbled in Hollywood — Faulkner, Fitzgerald, Nabokov, Dos Passos — routinely failed.) Nor do we judge these writers on their adapted screenplays, precisely because these works were adaptations and not originals, but also because Hollywood is a collaboration machine that historically chews up and swallows the solitary imagination, at least during production. … Read More

Film

A Treasury of Dumb Quotes About Whitewashed Casting From the People Responsible for ‘Exodus: Gods and Kings’

By Jason Bailey on Dec 3, 2014 9:45am

Let’s get this out of the way: I have not yet seen Exodus: Gods and Kings, Ridley Scott’s big-budget retelling of the Moses story, and God willing, I won’t have to. For starters, it looks like a yet another dirge-like epic on the order of his earlier Kingdom of Heaven, Robin Hood, and (yes, I’ll say it) Gladiator, a dull slog through the past from a director who works best in the present and the future. But the setting and story aren’t the only elements of Exodus that are tied firmly to the past, as considerable controversy has brewed around Scott’s old-Hollywood decision to cast this story of Egyptian pharaohs and prophets with a cast roughly as diverse as the industry seats at an Eagles concert. And now, facing a backlash from commentators and social media, the people responsible for the movie are in spin mode, prompting a spectacle surely more entertaining than anything Sir Ridley put on screen. … Read More

Pop Culture

Flavorwire’s 2014 Holiday Gift Guide: 50 Gifts for 50 Cultural Icons

By Emily Temple on Dec 1, 2014 10:30am

It’s that time of year again: the season of the holiday gift guide. And in keeping with tradition, if you’re looking for a present for that special cultural icon of yours (or just someone who reminds you of a certain famous face), Flavorwire has you covered. Here are our gift recommendations for some of the year’s biggest names in culture, whether they be naughty, nice, or lurking somewhere in… Read More