I get so used to working with writers that my prime occupation is development.
— Ridley Scott
Do what you haven't done is the key, I think.
It's everything and I always make decisions about the cast.
I don't ever blink, honestly.
But Gladiator is one of my favourite adventures because I really loved going into the world. I loved creating the world to the degree where you could almost smell it.
And I maintain good relationships with all the studios so I've never been bullied into any cut, frankly.
I do a pretty good job at casting actually.
I was always amazed about how much I could finally squeeze into a thirty second commercial.
Good FBI officers are not noticeable. You would never look at them.
I think if I'm going to do a science fiction, I'm going to go down a new path that I want to do.
My career seems to be a career of non-specific subjects which are all over the place.
That's part of the policy: To keep switching gears.
Cast is everything.
I think one of the successes of Gladiator is how we manage to turn on a dime the character from one thing to another where you believe he is one thing and he is something very different.
Digital is a different world because you are sitting at home and a hi tech piece of equipment today is within reach of most people, so they are watching a pretty hi tech version of whatever you've done.
And anyway, it's only movies. to stop me I think they'll ahve to shoot me in the head.
MPC, Moving Picture Company, they're really excellent, they did the majority of the effects.
I watched Someone to Watch Over Me the other night. I thought it was a really good movie. It's a great movie.
Politics is very interesting and always leads to conflict.
Some people like to do everything always the same thing. That's another way: To do the same thing.
When you're doing a big movie, you're gone for 10 months to a year.
Blade Runner appears regularly, two or three times a year in various shapes and forms of science fiction. It set the pace for what is essentially urban science fiction, urban future and it's why I've never re-visited that area because I feel I've done it.
I knew exactly what to do on Alien, it was funny.
What you do, is you gradually become more and more experienced, and more and more realistic about dramatic tolerance, i.e. about how long the play should be.
If I have to, I'll go and direct theater and talk till the cows come home.
Same thing with film, by the time you've finished shooting and you've really been into everything, you've touched up everything in the editing room. You've gone in there and taken little bits from everything.
A hit for me is if I enjoy the movie, if I personally enjoy the movie.
People say I pay too much attention to the look of a movie but for God's sake, I'm not producing a Radio 4 Play for Today, I'm making a movie that people are going to look at.
