Ridley Scott is a legend. His legacy is beyond reproach. Over the span of three decades he gave us a varied filmography that went from Alien to Blade Runner to Thelma and Louise to Gladiator. That's amazing, and the man clearly has nothing left to prove, which is why it might be time for him to walk away from making movies for awhile.
Ridley Scott does not read his critics. While promoting his new Moses movie Exodus: Gods and Kings he told MTV News, "I don't make films for other people, I make films for me. And so far, it's pretty good because I'm still here after 35 years. So there's a good expression, 'Fuck you very much.'" Fine. Good for you, Ridley! You've got three Oscar nominations for Best Director and have shepherded 20 films responsible for nearly $2 billion in domestic box office grosses. As an essential part of film history, you are well beyond giving a damn what critics have to say, but here at WIRED, we like to think of ourselves more as your friends than your critics. So, friend-to-friend, here it is: Tell 20th Century Fox you're taking a sabbatical and exploring your options on the TV landscape instead.
Because here's the thing: You're not making movies for yourself anymore. And honestly, you haven't been since 1979 when you unleashed that landmark of cinema, Alien. We know you're major. We know you're important. We know you can secure any cast and budget you want. You call your own shots, but that's exactly why it's your responsibility to care about those "other people." On the scale you operate, the shots you call aren't seen by your closest confidants then shelved in your basement archives. They're laid out on the altar of public opinion and the expenses incurred making them are recouped by the very people you purport not to work for. And because you're Ridley Scott and your movies carry staggering price tags, that's a whole lot of people to ask for support (because, yes, you are asking them) while demonstrating palpable indifference for what they'd even enjoy. So as friends, and even more so as fans, we think it's time you took your talents to television.
Besides, TV is the new hotness! As the latest round of Golden Globe nominations shows, the prevailing narrative already is "Will Netflix or Amazon win the day?" That's ink typically reserved for the HBOs and Showtimes of the world. And with so many channels and formats and options to choose from, you needn't be bound by the strictures of a 2.5-hour runtime. If Exodus proved anything, it's that you are not an artist who plays well with oppressive forces like edits and character development anymore.
In the last 10 years, you've made eight movies, half of which have been sweeping period epics or ambitious tales of science fiction. Prometheus, Kingdom of Heaven, Robin Hood, and now Exodus. It's clear you love to paint with a big, fantastical brush, so why not make a miniseries? Give yourself 12 hours to tell a story instead of two. Maybe then you won't have to sacrifice character development in favor of world-building and we won't have to spend more than two hours in a theater and still leave unfulfilled. We can't lie to you, Ridley. We haven't felt emotionally invested in the outcome of one of your protagonists since American Gangster in 2007, and when you've got knockout stars like Michael Fassbender, Charlize Theron, and Christian Bale in your stable, we should have at least cared about someone on accident.
But you've turned cold on us, Ridley, casting heavyweights to immerse themselves in could-be-genius source material only to leave them extremely under-utilized. In Exodus, a plague of frogs got more screentime than Sigourney Weaver, which should never happen, and nearly every A-lister with a pulse was in The Counselor and it still felt empty. After your early 2000s run from Gladiator to Matchstick Men, almost everything else has felt like "Because I can." And because you obviously can, that's exactly why it's time to try something new.
And we think you'll agree. Perhaps you're feeling suffocated by months-long shoots meant to produce a single piece of art. Maybe that's why you optioned The Hot Zone about the spread and origins of the Ebola virus and are developing it as a miniseries. Yes, Ridley. Yes! Can't you feel the freedom washing over you already? And given the prestige of the small screen these days, your reliable cast of mega-stars surely will follow. Exodus or Kingdom of Heaven could have been your biblical Band of Brothers, instead of an overly stuffed, "Where did Edward Norton go?" film outing. Let Hot Zone be the trumpet blow heralding your fourth decade behind the camera, and let it be a decade of serialized triumphs.
We long for that feeling of urgency in your work again, Ridley. That feeling of "If I don't see this I will die!" that bled out of Blade Runner and Gladiator and even Gangster. So what do you say? Join the TV revolution and show these upstarts like Jenji Kohan and David Simon and Shonda Rhimes how the big old Hollywood guns throw down. You don't have anything to prove, but we sure would like to see you do some showing off on FX or AMC or Netflix.
That might even be fun for "other people" like us.
