The people who really resurrected 'Blade Runner' was 'MTV.'
— Ridley Scott
I think there are a lot of men who feel they're being emasculated by having the woman be in charge; I've never had that problem.
I think there's nothing worse than inertia. You can be inert and study your navel, and gradually fall off the chair. I think the key is to keep flying.
I watch a lot of 'National Geographic.'
If you go back and look, a completely underrated film is 'Quest for Fire.' That was one of the most genius, simplistic but incredibly sophisticated notion of what it was. The evolution of that was just fantastic.
I'm a yarn teller. My job is to engage you as much as I can and as often as I can.
It doesn't matter how much faith you have or don't have. I just don't buy the idea that we're alone. There's got to be some form of life out there.
I think, at the end of the day, filmmaking is a team, but eventually there's got to be a captain.
The very first film I ever saw was a pirate movie called 'The Black Swan' with Tyrone Power. And I thought that was great stuff. Of course, in those days, Technicolor was really Technicolor; there was no such thing as desaturation. Everybody looked super suntanned.
Audiences are smarter than ever; they know if filmmakers cheat an environment.
A word on 'Kingdom of Heaven:' if you get the four-disc set, which is 3 hr. 8 min., you'll see why it's such a good movie. It was a real passion project, and it's the film I'm most proud of. I think it was treated incredibly unfairly.
If studios don't get their money back, we don't have any movies. So it is important that films are successful, and I am fully supportive of that because I'm not just a director, I'm also not stupid. I've been in this business long enough and, to a certain extent, I'm a businessman; I know the importance of that.
Are we the first hominids? I really, really, really doubt it.
When you're at a certain point in your time - age, that is, when you're older - you start to realize that, actually, what you leave behind you does count, and so you start to become fundamentally aware of your own destiny, which sounds very grand. It's not grand at all, actually.
Actors are all different. They're not all volatile. Some are sweet, some are volatile, but what is fundamentally in there is something that has to be paid attention to, in that they are, I would say, needy.
Sci-fi films are as dead as westerns.
Far from being dead, physical media has years of life left and must be preserved because there is no better alternative.
I had been very impressed with the voiceover of 'Apocalypse Now,' with Martin Sheen's voice. That was a great voiceover; it really internalized the Martin Sheen character, who was essentially fairly low key and didn't say a lot during the whole movie. But he thought a lot, so I always thought that was really great.
I'm used to very strong women because my mother was particularly strong, and my father was away all the time. My mother was a big part of bringing up three boys, so I was fully versed in the strength of a powerful woman, and accepted that as the status quo.
I've gradually realised that what I do best is universes. And I shouldn't be afraid of that.
I'm a very practical person.
I'll reshoot a corridor 13 different ways, and you'll never recognise them.
I don't get attached to anything. I'm like a good antique dealer. I'm prepared to sell my most valuable table.
How can you look at the galaxy and not feel insignificant?
I love designing, and I still do it.
Sacred texts give no specific depiction of God, so for centuries, artists and filmmakers have had to choose their own visual depiction.
Choosing location is integral to the film: in essence, another character.
In film, it's very important to not allow yourself to get sentimental, which, being British, I try to avoid. People sometimes regard sentimentality as emotion. It is not. Sentimentality is unearned emotion.
One of the problems with science fiction, which is probably one of the reasons why I haven't done one for many, many years, is the fact that everything is used up. Every type of spacesuit is used up, every type of spacecraft is vaguely familiar, the corridors are similar, and the planets are similar.
The hardest single thing you do is get the bloody screenplay right.
If you ever have a kid who doesn't know what to do, stick him in art school. It's amazing what evolves.
From time to time, there are people in the film industry who appear on the horizon with a unique vision. South African director Neill Blomkamp is one of those rare people.
Most people need the money all the time.
Technology will need to make many more huge leaps before one can ever view films with the level of picture and sound quality many film lovers demand without having to slide a disc into a player, especially with the technical requirements of today's 3D movies.
Oddly enough, I find it quite engaging to be working with a female when I'm directing. It's kind of interesting.
For 'Prometheus,' I came back to a very simple question that haunted me that appears in the first 'Alien,' and no one answered in subsequent Alien films: who was the 'Space Jockey' - the big guy in the seat? If you really go into that, it becomes the basis for a pretty interesting story.
'Alien' is a landmark. One of the really good science-fiction films.
I made the mistake of saying I was an atheist at one point, when I was doing 'Kingdom of Heaven.'
'The Duellists' won Cannes, but Paramount didn't know how to release a film about two guys in bizarre breeches, waving swords around. I actually think it's a pretty good Western.
The idea of flying in general does not appeal to me. I can barely understand why people want to fly at all, other than that it's occasionally necessary.
I'm really intrigued by those eternal questions of creation and belief and faith. I don't care who you are, it's what we all think about. It's in the back of all our minds.
I was one of those kids who tended to stay in on Saturday nights. My mother used to come and say, 'Why don't you go to the dance with the boys?' And I'm going, 'No, I'm perfectly happy.' I think my parents thought I was definitely weird.
On 'Black Hawk Down,' I was employing 1,000 Muslims. 'Kingdom of Heaven,' same deal except bigger, probably 1,500 Muslims.
I've got many letters from Muslim organizations thanking me for making 'Kingdom of Heaven.'
I unfortunately do suffer for my art.
The story of 'Prometheus' is the idea that if you're given a gift from the gods, do not abuse it, and do not think you can compete.
I want a certificate that allows me to make as big a box office as possible.
I had a quite unconventional childhood, in the sense that I traveled a lot and I went to 10 or 11 schools. I was completely confused academically, but wherever I went, I could paint. I painted an inordinate amount.
What's interesting to me about Moses isn't the big stuff that everybody knows.
When you're in the editing room, the dangerous thing is that it becomes like telling a joke again and again and again. Eventually, the joke starts to not be funny. So you have to be careful that you're not throwing the baby out with the bath water.
