Line #36 Creator/RidleyScott


1	[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ridley_scott.jpg]]
2	->''"I'm a yarn teller. My job is to engage you as much as I can and as often as I can."''
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4	[[UsefulNotes/KnightFever Sir]][[note]]he doesn't use the title as it makes him "sound like an old man"[[/note]] Ridley Scott GBE[[note]]Knight Grand Cross of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire[[/note]] (born 30 November 1937) is an English film director and producer.
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6	A highly accomplished commercial director at his beginnings (he did some of the early Creator/{{Apple}} ads), he would rapidly become an auteur filmmaker. Known for an obsession with visual detail rivaling Creator/StanleyKubrick, if not Creator/AlfredHitchcock. Several of his early works helped establish the popularity of the UsedFuture trope, and he is also one of the (if not ''the'') most prominent directors of {{epic\|movie}} {{period piece}}s (and [[BigBadassBattleSequence epic battles]] set in multiple such eras) since TheNineties. He has worked with an incredibly wide variety of genres and budgets, yet somehow maintains his own special touch through it all.
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8	He is the older brother of late director Creator/TonyScott, and the father of Jake, Jordan and Luke Scott, [[ItRunsInTheFamily all directors]].
9	----
10	!!Filmography:
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12	[[index]]
13	* ''Film/TheDuellists'' (1977) [[/index]]
14	* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZ3vwIhHodo "Share the Fantasy"]] for Chanel No. 5, the probable UrExample for the PerfumeCommercial (1979) [[index]]
15	* The ''Franchise/{{Alien}}'' franchise
16	** ''Film/{{Alien}}'' (1979)
17	** ''Film/{{Prometheus}}'' (2012)
18	** ''Film/AlienCovenant'' (2017)
19	* ''Film/BladeRunner'' (1982)[[/index]]
20	* [[Advertising/NineteenEightyFour 1984 commercial]] that introduced the Platform/AppleMacintosh[[index]]
21	* ''Film/{{Legend\|1985}}'' (1985)
22	* ''Someone to Watch Over Me'' (1987)
23	* ''Film/BlackRain'' (1989)
24	* ''Film/ThelmaAndLouise'' (1991)
25	* ''Film/FourteenNinetyTwoConquestOfParadise'' (1992)
26	* ''White Squall'' (1996)
27	* ''Film/GIJane'' (1997)
28	* ''Film/{{Gladiator}}'' (2000)
29	** ''Gladiator 2'' (2024)
30	* ''Film/{{Hannibal}}'' (2001)
31	* ''Film/BlackHawkDown'' (2001)
32	* ''Film/MatchstickMen'' (2003)
33	* ''Film/KingdomOfHeaven'' (2005)
34	* ''Film/AGoodYear'' (2006)
35	* ''Film/AmericanGangster'' (2007)
36	* ''Film/BodyOfLies'' (2008)
37	* ''Film/{{Robin Hood\|2010}}'' (2010)
38	* ''Film/TheCounselor'' (2013)
39	* ''Film/ExodusGodsAndKings'' (2014)
40	* ''Film/TheMartian'' (2015)
41	* ''Film/AllTheMoneyInTheWorld'' (2017)
42	* ''Film/TheLastDuel'' (2021)
43	* ''Film/HouseOfGucci'' (2021)
44	* ''Film/{{Napoleon\|2023}}'' (2023)
45	[[/index]]
46
47	!!Series:
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49	* ''Series/Numb3rs'' (as executive producer)
50	* ''Series/TheGoodWife'' (as executive producer)
51	* ''Series/TheGoodFight'' (as executive producer)
52	* ''Series/ThePillarsOfTheEarth'' (as executive producer)
53	* ''World Without End'' (as executive producer)
54	* ''Series/TheManInTheHighCastle'' (as executive producer)
55	* ''[[Series/BrainDead2016 Brain Dead]]'' (as executive producer)
56	* ''Series/MercyStreet'' (as executive producer)
57	* ''{{Series/Taboo}}'' (as executive producer)
58	* ''Series/TheTerror'' (as executive producer)
59	* ''Series/ThePassage'' (as executive producer)
60	* ''Series/{{Raised by Wolves\|2020}}'' (directed the first two episodes, also the executive producer)
61	* ''Series/{{Kaleidoscope\|2023}}'' (as executive producer)
62	[[/index]]
63	----
64	!!This director's films contain examples of these tropes:
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66	* ActionGirl: Ellen Ripley, Jordan O'Neill, Thelma and Louise and Elizabeth Shaw, for starters. Scott has admitted he prefers strong women in his films.
67	--> '''Scott''': There are a lot of men who feel they're being emasculated by having Women in charge; I've never had that problem. The stronger the woman, the better for me.
68	* ArtificialHuman: ''Alien'', ''Blade Runner'' and ''Prometheus'' have fun with this trope.
69	* ArtisticLicenseHistory: He has an infamous reputation of this in any historical film he directs. RuleOfCool prevails in most cases.
70	* BittersweetEnding[=/=]DownerEnding: More of the former shows up in his films, but the latter is definitely present.
71	* CyberPunk: Practically codified how to put cyberpunk onscreen with ''Bladerunner'', yet ''Alien'' helped cement the related UsedFuture just before.
72	* DuelToTheDeath: ''The Duelists'', ''Gladiator'' and ''Kingdom of Heaven'' have this. ''The Last Duel'' takes this further however with said duel being the main focus and the climax of the film.
73	* ExcessiveSteamSyndrome: One of the more frequent visual motifs of his Scifi and fantasy films -- ''Alien'', ''Blade Runner'', ''Film/{{Legend\|1985}}'', and ''Prometheus''. Even scenes without it may still have characters cooking noodles or soup and producing a lot of steam as well.
74	* MegaCorp: Serves as the GreaterScopeVillain of ''Film/{{Alien}}'' and ''Film/BladeRunner''.
75	* MilitaryAndWarfareWorks: He's pretty much the only director who can claim to have directed big budget epic battles set in [[Film/{{Gladiator}} Roman times]], [[Film/KingdomOfHeaven medieval]] [[Film/RobinHood2010 times]], [[Film/Napoleon2023 Napoleonic times]], and a [[Film/BlackHawkDown modern war setting]].
76	* NothingIsScarier: Every piece of work of his has ''at least'' one scene that ratchets the tension up by showing not a damn thing happening. Done very, ''very'' atmospherically, too. May include water, smoke or mist.
77	* OffWithHisHead: ''Gladiator'', ''Kingdom of Heaven'' and ''The Counselor'' are rife with decapitations.
78	* {{Patricide}}: Many of his films show some kind of conflict between a son and a parent (either literally or metaphorically) which usually ends with the former killing the latter. The ''Alien'' creature kills its host in a way similar to birthing, Batty from ''Blade Runner'' murders his creator Tyrell after calling him father, Commodus kills his dad Marcus Aurelius in ''Gladiator'', Moses opposes Seti I in ''Exodus'', and even ''Black Hawk Down'' contains a scene of a Somali child accidentally killing his own father. David from ''Prometheus'' seems to sum Scott's usage of the trope with the quote "Doesn't everyone want their parents dead?"
79	* PeriodPiece: He's been making historical fiction films since ''The Duellists'', but ''Gladiator'' really started the trend of seeing him as a modern equivalent of Creator/CecilBDeMille when it comes to {{epic\|Movie}} historical films (and the Biblical film ''Exodus'' made him come [[Film/TheTenCommandments1956 full circle]]).
80	* ReCut: Even when he didn't actually want them. Still, Scott is often labelled as the "Father of the Director's Cut" after how many versions of ''Blade Runner'' are running around. In addition, ''Alien'', ''Legend'', ''Gladiator'', ''Black Hawk Down'', ''Kingdom Of Heaven'', ''American Gangster'', ''Robin Hood'', ''The Counselor'' and ''The Martian'' all had Director's Cuts/Extended Editions.
81	* SceneryPorn: If there's one thing consistent about his films, it can be said that all of Ridley's films look ''good''.
82	* SlidingScaleOfIdealismVsCynicism: Almost all of his films lean heavily towards the cynical side (Barring ''A Good Year'' and ''The Martian''). This is primarily due to him tackling heavy subject matter, [[DownerEnding Downer Endings]]/[[BittersweetEnding Bittersweet Endings]], and having a dark tone and feel to his films.
83	* {{Unicorn}}: ''Film/{{Legend\|1985}}'' and, oddly enough, ''Film/BladeRunner.''
84	* UsedFuture: ''Film/{{Alien}}'' and ''Film/BladeRunner.''

Context Creator / RidleyScott