Ridley Scott
If somebody's given me X amount of dollars to fulfill a dream, they've got every right to actually say something about it.
If you circle above Central Park at night in a helicopter, you're looking down at the most expensive real estate in the world. It's the American Monopoly board.
I want to return to the epic idea of the grand, big Western, in the sense that 'The Searchers' was.
We can't terraform yet, but we know it exists.
Anybody who does 90 takes has a problem.
I have a healthy competitive nature.
I wanted 'Alien' to be all about claustrophobia.
There are some moments that are pretty distressing in 'Prometheus.' In fact, the last hour is pretty distressing.
There has to be absolute trust between the tiger and its master, but its master must be the master - there must be no mistake about that.
I would like to have a bit of a break and do a comedy.
As soon as you're at the higher levels of budgeting, you've got to get the film made, and the only way to support the film is to have actors who can support the budget.
It's very difficult to find good scripts in Hollywood any more.
Fundamentally, I always find that most of the films that I've put out are essentially the director's cut. Part of the process with a director's cut is the leaving behind of certain aspects of the movie that we don't feel necessary because they aren't part of the dynamic of the story.
I like a film such as 'American Beauty,' and I like 'Spider-Man.'
I used to agonise over what to do next, but now I'm making a movie a year. It's insane, but it's only a movie after all. You just hang in there, and occasionally you might make something which you can call art... briefly.
If 'formulaic' is somebody who is unlikely to succeed starting down a process and succeeding - then isn't that what most films are about? And art films are about people who aren't likely to succeed and then don't succeed.
I didn't want to go down the route of spending a year of my life making a movie that would never be seen. I may as well go down a route making a film that a lot of people will see, which is the whole idea behind cinema.
The word 'comedy' implies slapstick.
Sometimes I find I'm wearing a divided, split brain in terms of drama and humor.
The great attraction to 'American Gangster' is these two great characters who are absolute paradoxes within their own sphere.
I come out of TV. I come out of live television, BBC drama: that's where I started first as a designer, then a director. Then I went independent TV, then television advertising.
Sometimes you can do a TV show on a subject you just can't do in film. Either it's too long or studios will perceive it as not being commercial.
I'm a reader. I found out that, whether you're a studio head or a director, you must read your own material. You can't rely on readers.
Sometimes, scenes are great without any music at all.
Business fascinates me. It's very creative.
By going to a preview, a director becomes insidiously infected by the process, so by the end of it, you're thinking, 'It may be a bit too long.'
I've got a terrible knee from too much tennis.
Never be put off by anything because failure teaches you something.Collection: Teach
There's a little thing on your shoulder called intuition and it whispers in your ear. Everyone has that, there is a voice telling you to do something. Most people ignore it - but you must listen to it. I do it every day, all day.Collection: Voice
Once you crack the script, everything else follows.Collection: Directors
I want to make films about the human condition, what we're doing to the world or ourselves.Collection: World
I'm not criticizing Hollywood because I work there, I partly live there. But I'm saying this is the way it is, commerce is taking over art. Commerce has become the most important thing in the film industry. Hollywood is an industry, it's not an art form, therefore they have to address the bottom line. But in a way it's sad when you get a remake, isn't it?Collection: Art
Nowadays, everything's evolved into superheroes and it's boring. If I see one more superhero movie I'm going to shoot myself.Collection: Superhero
Audiences are less intrigued, honestly, by battle. They're more intrigued by human relations. If you're making a film about the trappings of the period, and you're forgetting that human relationships are the most engaging part of the storytelling process, then you're in trouble.Collection: Battle
Blade Runner was the godfather of all these fantastic movies that occur today. What's frustrating is that we're short of really great writing and great ideas. Blade Runner was full of them.Collection: Writing
I think there's nothing worse than inertia. You can inert and study your navel and gradually you'll fall off the chair. I think the key is to keep flying.Collection: Fall
There's nothing really original. Alien was a B-movie. Five directors passed on it before me. Because I was into Heavy Metal, I read it, and thought, "Wow, I want to do this." I was on a plane to Hollywood in 22 hours. It was a B-movie and was elevated to an A-plus movie by sheer good taste.Collection: Want
It doesn't matter how much faith you have or don't have [in aliens]. I just don't buy the idea that we're alone. There's got to be some form of life out there.Collection: Ideas
I'm a moviemaker, not a documentarian. I try to hit the truth.Collection: Trying
I love different themes, different venues, different movies. I love to jump about and tackle different subjects. I have no intellectual master plan.Collection: Intellectual
I think movies are getting dumber, actually. Where it used to be 50/50, now it`s 3% good, 97% stupid.Collection: Stupid
Usually, when special effects get in the way, it's because the story isn't strong enough. If you don't start with a strong screenplay, it's easy to fall back on special effects, thinking it's going to carry you. But it never works. It's just tiresome.Collection: Strong
As I'm getting older, I want to make sure every film I do really counts.Collection: Getting Older
I always say to people when I'm trying to get something going, bringing on other producers or other directors, "You can think of 95 reasons why not to make a movie. You've got to address why you want to make the movie and get it done. Just do it." I tend to live by that rule.Collection: Thinking
Scaring someone's the hardest thing to do, and that's why most of scary movies are not scary. They're sick, but not scary. There's a lot of sickness out there, of people who then sit there and watch it, which I think is absolutely dismaying.Collection: Thinking
That's a heavy word, but picking up a newspaper every day, how can you not despair at what's happening in the world, and how we're represented as human beings? The disappointments and corruption are dismaying at every level. And the biggest source of evil is of course religion... Everyone are tearing each other apart in the name of their personal god. And the irony is, by definition, they're probably worshipping the same god.Collection: Disappointment
It's the best of the best. No film can hope to top it(Kubrick's 2001).Collection: Film
I believe all of us only use one tenth of our brain. I know people who use one per cent only!Collection: Believe
I went to Art College and during the summer I made a movie with my brother. I got hold of a little camera, wrote a script and dragged my brother, Tony, out of bed to help me (which he did not like), so that we could shoot a film every day for six weeks. It was made for £65 and it was called Boy On A Bicycle.Collection: Summer