Ridley Scott names his four favourite movies of all time
Ridley Scott is one of the few directors who has left a long-lasting mark on cinematic history and wider pop culture in general. Famous for a wide breadth of stories that take place in space, on earth, in intimidatingly open spaces and oppressively closed spaces, stories about assertive women and women learning how to express their voices, powerful men and men who are stripped of their status. And for someone who so deftly switches from genre to genre while still remaining so refined and well-versed in the language of each genre, it comes as no surprise that his personal favourite films have inspired and informed his work. And when Scott was asked about his four favourite films, his response was very revealing.
Scott listed Stanely Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey as one of his top picks, which should come as a shock to absolutely nobody. Unsurprisingly, there’s at least one Kubrick film on Scott’s list, given that both directors share a similar penchant for constant reinvention and period pieces. When discussing the film, Scott discussed the similarities between 2001: A Space Odyssey and Alien, stating that “the computer knows that the mission is more important than the people. We copied that in Alien”. Both films play with the idea of oppression and danger within closed spaces, an omnipotent threat that is both everywhere and nowhere to be found. While the threat in 2001 is a machine and in Alien it is… well… an alien, the thematic similarities are uncanny, and it’s unsurprising that Scott drew inspiration from the tension and threat in such a pivotal and revolutionary film.
The next film that Scott listed is Star Wars, which, again, given the nature of Scott’s own liking for science fiction stories, doesn’t feel like a surprise. However, Scott’s relationship with Star Wars doesn’t end with the stylistic inspiration that he draws from it – it was also one of the key films that encouraged him to try his hand at a blockbuster project.
After completing his first film, The Duelists, which was met with critical acclaim at Cannes, Scott had planned on next doing a remake of Tristain and Isolde. However, Star Wars was shortly released, and after watching it, Scott said he was depressed for three months, stating, “How could I be doing Tristan and Isolde when he [Lucas] was doing this?”
He was offered the Alien script six weeks later and jumped at the chance to direct a similar kind of movie. The grand scale of the world-building and immersive quality of Star Wars is ultimately what inspired Scott, which is something he very much brought to Alien, a story world so thoughtfully constructed that you forget it isn’t real.
Scott also mentioned Blade Runner as one of his favourites, perhaps for a similar reason to Star Wars. Scott has a real talent for bringing fictional worlds and places to life, and in a film like Blade Runner that creates an entire universe with systems and laws that feel natural and effortless, you can clearly see the similarities within Scott’s own filmography.
And last but not least, Scott listed a film called Quest for Fire as his final favourite, which I’ll admit, is a bit of a curveball. The film is set in pre-historic times and follows the first people to discover fire, with Scott saying that “hardly anyone knows about the film but everyone should watch it”. This choice is interesting because compared to his other options, it’s somewhat of an underdog. It’s not a particularly well-known or culturally significant film when compared to the likes of Star Wars and 2001, but it highlights Scott’s own tendency to root for and showcase characters who are typically underdogs, such as Sigourney Weaver’s character in Alien and both women in Thelma and Louise.
While films like Star Wars and Blade Runner are the spark for Scott’s style, Quest for Fire is the flame, showing his love for these flashier cult movies, but also revealing the heart at the center of his work, and his ability to bring characters who are typically in the dark, into the light.
