The movie Ridley Scott refused to direct: “I don’t want to”
Throughout a nearly 50-year directing career, Ridley Scott has made some of the greatest science-fiction and historical movies ever. In truth, he’s become synonymous with those genres over the years, but that’s what happens when you have the likes of Alien, Blade Runner, Gladiator and The Martian on your CV. Associating him so closely with those kinds of movies actually does him a disservice, though, because he’s turned his hand to countless genres over the years.
Scott has made crime films (American Gangster, The Counsellor), a fantasy (Legend), a war movie (Black Hawk Down), a horror film (Hannibal), a spy thriller (Body of Lies), and a feminist masterpiece (Thelma & Louise). There was one film he outright refused to direct, however, and the reason was very close to his heart.
Scott was interviewed by The Hollywood Reporter on the eve of the release of his much-anticipated sequel, Gladiator II, and was asked if he was considering retirement at the ripe old age of 86. Naturally, the very question seemed to offend the workaholic octogenarian, who pointed out that he’s made 16 films in the 24 years since the first Gladiator was released in 2000. He claimed that directing doesn’t even feel like work to him because he is doing what he has always loved, and at a very high level. He mused, “It’s my passion and, therefore, my pleasure. I think it actually keeps me going.”
After essentially confirming that he would die before he retired, the talk turned to a topic that has always been raw for Scott. He was asked if it was strange for him to watch Top Gun: Maverick, the 2022 sequel to the classic 1986 original directed by his brother Tony. Tragically, Tony took his own life in 2012 while prepping for that sequel, and was eventually replaced on directing duties by Tron: Legacy’s Joseph Kosinski.
In response, Scott neatly sidestepped whether he had seen the film by revealing that the producers had approached him to helm it. However, he told them, “I don’t want to follow my brother”, and then spoke of how they had completely different sensibilities as directors, so he probably wouldn’t have been a great choice to direct it anyway. Scott explained, “Tony was always interested in today. A lot of my stuff is either historic, fantasy or science fiction. Tony didn’t like fantasy — things like Alien or Blade Runner or Legend.“
It was a fascinating, poignant insight into the thought process of a man who had different tastes than his brother but respected what he did so much that he couldn’t even consider trying to emulate him. Heartbreakingly, when asked at the end of the interview if he wanted to add anything, Scott simply said, “I miss my brother.”
As for what Scott truly made of Top Gun: Maverick, there are two schools of thought. In a 2022 issue of Empire magazine, mega-producer Jerry Bruckheimer revealed that one of the first things he chose to do while the Covid-19 pandemic delayed the movie’s release was screen it privately for Scott. He said, “One of the most heartwarming things I experienced was when we showed the movie to Tony’s brother, Ridley. He was laudatory in his praise for the film and the kind of care that Tom took to honour Tony throughout the movie. That was foremost in everybody’s mind.”
However, Alien: Romulus director Fede Alvarez, who worked closely with Scott while making that film, had a different take. At the Director’s Guild of America Latino Summit, he claimed, “I asked him about the new Top Gun, and he’s like ‘Meh.'” Alvarez said he believed Scott respected the film in some ways, but overall, he couldn’t stop thinking, “My brother’s was original, and this is like ‘Eh.'”
