
Ridley Scott
Director · b. 1937 · South Shields, County Durham, England, UK
Sir Ridley Leighton Scott (born 30 November 1937) is an English filmmaker. He directs films in the science fiction, crime, and historical epic genres with an atmospheric and highly concentrated visual style. He ranks among the highest-grossing directors, with his films grossing a cumulative $5 billion worldwide. He has received many accolades, including the BAFTA Fellowship for Lifetime Achievement in 2018, two Primetime Emmy Awards, and a Golden Globe Award. He was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 2003 and appointed a Knight Grand Cross by King Charles III in 2024. An alumnus of the Royal College of Art in London, Scott began his career in television as a designer and director before moving into advertising as a director of commercials. He made his film directorial debut with The Duellists (1977) and gained wider recognition with his next film, Alien (1979). Though his films range widely in setting and period, they showcase memorable imagery of urban environments, spanning 2nd-century Rome in Gladiator (2000) and its 2024 sequel, 12th-century Jerusalem in Kingdom of Heaven (2005), medieval England in Robin Hood (2010), ancient Memphis in Exodus: Gods and Kings (2014), contemporary Mogadishu in Black Hawk Down (2001), futuristic cityscapes of Los Angeles in Blade Runner (1982) and extraterrestrial worlds in Alien, Prometheus (2012), The Martian (2015) and Alien: Covenant (2017). Scott has been nominated for three Academy Awards: Directing for Thelma & Louise, Gladiator, and Black Hawk Down. Gladiator won the Academy Award for Best Picture and received a nomination in the same category for The Martian. In 1995, Scott and his brother Tony received a British Academy Film Award for Outstanding British Contribution to Cinema. Scott's films Alien, Blade Runner and Thelma & Louise were each selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress for being considered "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". In a 2004 BBC poll, Scott was ranked 10 on the list of most influential people in British culture. Scott also works in television and has earned 10 Primetime Emmy Award nominations. He won twice, for Outstanding Television Film for the HBO film The Gathering Storm (2002) and Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Special for the History Channel's Gettysburg (2011). He was Emmy-nominated for RKO 281 (1999), The Andromeda Strain (2008), and The Pillars of the Earth (2010).
Movies22
Movie7.8DocumentaryThe definitive 3½-hour documentary about the troubled creation and enduring legacy of the science fiction classic 'Blade Runner', culled from 80 interviews and hours of never-before-seen outtakes and lost footage.
Dangerous Days: Making Blade Runner
2007 · 74 votes
Movie7.0DocumentaryHistoryDocumentary about the art of film editing. Clips are shown from many groundbreaking films with innovative editing styles.
The Cutting Edge: The Magic of Movie Editing
2004 · 113 votes
Movie8.4DocumentaryCelebrating the relaunch of Film4 as a free-to-air TV channel, Channel4 counts down their list of the fop 50 films to see before you die, as compiled by film critics and personalities.
50 Films to See Before You Die
2006 · 4 votes
Movie7.0DocumentaryAn in-depth documentary on the making of Ridley Scott's "Prometheus," featuring cast and crew interviews, outtakes and behind-the-scenes footage. Released on the 4-disc Collector's Edition Blu-ray set.
The Furious Gods: Making Prometheus
2012 · 15 votes
Movie7.9DocumentaryNearly every major element of making the 1991 film Thelma & Louise is examined here from how the script was written to how Ridley Scott got involved, to how the big tanker explosion was pulled off. Some funny stories are shared and some great trivia as to what was improvised on set and actually left in the film.
Thelma & Louise: The Last Journey
2003 · 19 votes
Movie7.8DocumentaryHistoryWhy are we still able, today, to view images that were captured over 125 years ago? As we enter the digital age, audiovisual heritage seems to be a sure and obvious fact. However, much of cinema and our filmed history has been lost forever. Archivists, technicians and filmmakers from different parts of the world explain what audiovisual preservation is and why it is necessary. The documentary is a tribute to all these professionals and their important work.
Film: The Living Record of Our Memory
2022 · 10 votes
Movie7.1DocumentarySeveral aspects of Ridley Scott's masterpiece Hannibal (2001) are examined through interviews with the cast and crew, and behind the scenes footage. We are even taken to two premieres and get to see some of the audience's reactions while they're watching the film.
Breaking the Silence: The Making of Hannibal
2001 · 8 votes
Movie7.5DocumentaryAn in-depth look at the entire making of Ridley Scott's Gladiator. Consisting of: Tale Of The Scribes: Story Development, The Heat Of Battle: Production Journals, Attire Of The Realm: Costume Design, Shadow And Dust: Resurrecting Proximo, The Glory Of Rome: Visual Effects, Tools Of War: Weapons, Echoes In Eternity: Release And Impact,and final Production Credits.
Strength and Honor: Creating the World of 'Gladiator'
2005 · 17 votes
Movie9.0DocumentaryThe documentary follows the iconic journey of the film and explores why Thelma and Louise shook the foundations of the film industry and society, and how it continues to influence today.
Movie7.0DocumentaryHistoryThe history of the peplum genre, known as sword-and-sandal cinema, set in Antiquity, from the silent film era to the present day.
Movie6.6DocumentaryHistoryIn the sixties, Swedish filmmaker Ingmar Bergman (1918-2007) built a house on the remote island of Fårö, located in the Baltic Sea, and left Stockholm to live there. When he died, the house was preserved. A group of very special film buffs, came from all over the world, travel to Fårö in search of the genius and his legacy. (An abridged version of Bergman's Video, 2012.)
Trespassing Bergman
2013 · 29 votes
Movie6.5DocumentaryHistory55 years ago, on October 1 1968, the first brand advertising spot appeared on the French television screen. Over the next three decades, thousands of creative little films would seduce and build our collective memory. Kitschy or cult spots, humor, slogans, music, stars, gimmicks, grand spectacle or sex appeal: during its golden age, how did advertising convince? Thierry Ardisson has brought together almost 400 advertising clips to relive the era of the conquest of minds and wallets.
L'Âge d'or de la pub
2023 · 6 votes
Movie5.8DocumentaryAn in-depth documentary on the making of Ridley Scott's "Exodus: Gods and Kings," featuring interviews with the cast and crew. Featured in the Deluxe Edition Blu-ray set.
Keepers of the Covenant: Making 'Exodus: Gods and Kings'
2015 · 32 votes
Movie8.0DocumentaryFrom pre-production to release, we are given an exclusive look into the making of Ridley Scott's Kingdom of Heaven (2005). Interviews with the cast and crew members take up the bulk of this film, but are accompanied by plenty of on-set footage. We are also given a glimpse at a lot of the deleted material, much of which will be in the director's cut.
The Path to Redemption
2006 · 1 votes
Movie6.8DocumentaryTV MovieDirectors Stephen Spielberg, George Lucas, Ridley Scott and James Cameron discuss the science fiction movies of the 1950s that influenced them.
Watch the Skies!: Science Fiction, the 1950s and Us
2005 · 11 votes
Movie6.5DocumentaryCurrent filmmakers such as Ridley Scott and George Lucas reflect on the importance and influence of the epic classic "Ben-Hur".
Ben-Hur: The Epic That Changed Cinema
2005 · 6 votes
Movie8.2DocumentaryA behind-the-scenes look at the making of “Alien,” the terrifying classic about a spaceship crew trapped with a hideous monster that's hunting them one by one.
The Beast Within: Making Alien
2003 · 24 votes
Movie7.6DocumentaryA long form documentary on the making of Ridley Scott's film, "The Martian," featuring interviews with its cast and crew.
The Long Way Home: Making 'The Martian'
2016 · 5 votes
Movie5.7DocumentaryHistoryWas there really a Robin Hood? Did he steal from the rich and give to the poor? This History Channel program revisits the popular legend of the valiant folk hero, revealing Robin's true origins as a composite of multiple figures from the distant past, reviewing their amazing exploits, and seeking insights from historians as well as cast members of the 2010 adventure film "Robin Hood" and its director, Ridley Scott.
The Real Robin Hood
2010 · 6 votes
Movie5.4DocumentaryProfile of the producer and former studio head of 20th Century Fox in the 1970s, Alan Ladd Jr.
Laddie: The Man Behind the Movies
2017 · 11 votes
Movie8.0DocumentaryThe Force Is with Them: The Legacy of Star Wars is a Video Documentary included in the 2004 DVD of the Star Wars Original Trilogy. It explained the impact of "Star Wars" on various directors and actors.
The Force Is with Them: The Legacy of 'Star Wars'
2004 · 2 votes
Movie6.3DocumentaryScience FictionIn 1979, Alien burst onto the scene with a strong female lead in the form of Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) battling the ultimate biomechanical creature. The brilliant and terrifying result reinvented the horror and science fiction genres, creating one of the most successful and celebrated film franchises in Hollywood history. This award-winning, feature-length documentary explores the series.
The Alien Saga
2002 · 13 votes
Series7
TV6.2Talk ShowSome of this year's most talked about talent open up about the challenges and triumphs of creating critically acclaimed series and performances.
Close Up with The Hollywood Reporter
2015 · 19 votes
- TV5.1
The BBC's flagship cinema review TV program featuring reviews of new releases, news items and interviews. The title of the program changes each year to incorporate the year of broadcast.
Film '72
1971 · 8 votes
TV
TV6.8DocumentarySci-Fi & FantasyExplore the evolution of sci-fi from its origins as a small genre with a cult following to the blockbuster pop-cultural phenomenon we know today. In each episode, James Cameron introduces one of the “Big Questions” that humankind has contemplated throughout the ages and reaches back into sci-fi’s past to better understand how our favorite films, TV shows, books, and video games were born.
James Cameron's Story of Science Fiction
2018 · 51 votes
TV6.1DocumentaryDocumentary biography series featuring profiles of various famous film directors.
The Directors
1999 · 9 votes
TV4.7DocumentaryHollywood Greats was a BBC Television series, which began in 1977. The film critic Barry Norman wrote and narrated a series of in depth profiles on major Hollywood film personalities, in which he interviewed surviving associates. He later made a series called British Greats in 1980. A series of books, entitled The Hollywood Greats, The Movie Greats and The British Greats, which were authored by Norman were subsequently published. A series of the same name was later presented by Jonathan Ross from 1999 to 2006.
The Hollywood Greats
1977 · 3 votes
TV7.7DocumentaryThe series covers the life and work of leading science fiction authors of the last couple of centuries. It depicts how they predicted and, accordingly, influenced the development of scientific advancements by inspiring many readers to assist in transforming those futuristic visions into everyday reality.
Prophets of Science Fiction
2011 · 16 votes