Current Events > Ridley Scott regrets directing Alien: Covenant over Blade Runner 2049

(+) Yeah! (+)

https://www.ign.com/articles/ridley-scott-regrets-not-directing-blade-runner-2049

"I shouldn't have had to make that decision," Scott asserted. "But I had to. I should have done Blade Runner 2."

when was the last time Ridley Scott directed a good movie?

2049 would have been terrible if he directed. Denis Villenueve blows him away.

chitown82 posted...

2049 would have been terrible if he directed. Denis Villenueve blows him away.

100%
Ridleys loss is our gain

Personally I'm glad he made the decision he did.

Only if he took out Jared Leto

I regret watching alien covenant

Thank god he let a good director make 2049

Denis did a great job. I absolutely love the original Blade Runner but Ridley would have messed up the newer one.

DeadBankerDream posted...

Thank god he let a good director make 2049

unintentional Based Ridley lol

He actually didn't have to make Alien: Covenant as shitty as it was... not sure why he's crying for.

Funny, I regret him directing Alien Covenant as well.

Wait, does he believe he wouldve made 2049 better?

ridley scott ain't hittin these days, and denis is one of the best doing it currently. so i don't regret it.

Aw hell no, Blade Runner 2 was so much better than expected and a great sequel that I surprisingly enjoyed more than the original movie it was a sequel to. And it's all thanks to it NOT being directed by ridley scott

DoomsSD posted...

If I had one complaint about Blade Runner 2049, it's that we never find out what happens to the dog after Deckard's place gets raided.

Don't you mean Jared Leto?

refmon posted...

when was the last time Ridley Scott directed a good movie?

The last duel and the Martian

refmon posted...

when was the last time Ridley Scott directed a good movie?

never

People forget that the 2049 script was approved and sealed, DV directed a complete storyboard that RS wrote/approved. The only difference is the Deckard stuff; release 2049 made it ambiguous, RS version would have had male/female replicant baby as the next step in evolution. A lot of what RS wanted the story to tell got carted over to Jared Letos dialog, iirc.

He's in such a weird spot I don't even know how to feel about it. He went all-in on the Prometheus trilogy at first, let Fox walk all over the project, rewrote it numerous times with wacky religious intonation in mind before abandoning it all to make Covenant. He got rug swept, went on to produce Raised by Wolves which more or less finished the story he had in mind in a different IP.

The Last Duel was solid, but buried in the pandemic and surrounded by heavy competition.

Napoleon has allegedly been his dream project for twenty years. The trailer and marketing don't look too hot, though.

On the one hand we would have lost Blade Runner 2049 but on the other, we'd have most likely gotten Blomkamp's proper sequel to Aliens that ignores the events of Alien 3 (as it should be). Tough call because I love 2049 but Aliens is my favorite movie of all time and I hate how Alien 3 ruined the ending of it.

ArsGoetia posted...

never

Alien, blade runner, legend, Thelma and Louise, GI Jane, gladiator, black hawk down, matchstick men, the Martian, the last duel

I also liked Prometheus

MICHALECOLE posted...

Alien, blade runner, legend, Thelma and Louise, GI Jane, gladiator, black hawk down, matchstick men, the Martian, the last duel

I also liked Prometheus

are you just trying to prove my point or something
listing a dozen shitty movies isnt a counter argument

Id say BHD is the last time Scott directed a truly great movie, with a few minor ejaculations of alright/fun stuff like The Martian since.

ArsGoetia posted...

never

Do you wake up deciding to make the most contrarian and wrong-headed hot takes possible, or does it happen naturally, in the spur of the moment?

DeadBankerDream posted...

few minor ejaculations

I'd recommend using the thesaurus to pick other words.

ArsGoetia posted...

are you just trying to prove my point or something
listing a dozen shitty movies isnt a counter argument

Not our faults you got shit ass taste pal

ArsGoetia posted...

are you just trying to prove my point or something
listing a dozen shitty movies isnt a counter argument

I guess I have my answer.

C-zom posted...

I'd recommend using the thesaurus to pick other words.

Its a good word for Scotts filmography.

DnDer posted...

Do you wake up deciding to make the most contrarian and wrong-headed hot takes possible, or does it happen naturally, in the spur of the moment?

idk
the only thing natural were discussing ITT are the bowel movements ridley scott commits to film

C-zom posted...

I'd recommend using the thesaurus to pick other words.

"HE GOT OFF HE GOT OFF" Ron and Ginny ejaculated, loudly.

Unless Denis Villeneuve would've been put in charge of the Alien film, I'm glad this didn't happen.

Covenant was so lazy that it stinks of Ridley just doing it for a paycheck and having no passion for the movie. He needs to realize that he's always been hit or miss (but he's also got a huge ego, so I'm sure he'll never face reality) and that he no longer has it in him to make another Alien or Gladiator. I suspect that even a film like Legend would be beyond him now.

mercurydude posted...

Covenant was so lazy that it stinks of Ridley just doing it for a paycheck and having no passion for the movie. He needs to realize that he's always been hit or miss (but he's also got a huge ego, so I'm sure he'll never face reality) and that he no longer has it in him to make another Alien or Gladiator. I suspect that even a film like Legend would be beyond him now.

He was in this really weird relationship with Fox. Always has been the guy to put the script next to the toilet and just film beautiful shots instead, so he's had handlers and exec interference. I'm not saying you're wrong, it's just... odd. You've got this 80 year old titan of a director running around making sci-fi projects worse than most film school projects.

He smashed the Prometheus 2/3 plans and made Covenant because the fans were violently against the engineers and wanted the Xenomorph.

SimulationSwarm posted...

Not our faults you got shit ass taste pal

ass taste would ofc be of shit
and ridley scott movies

Leave it to a gaming board to reduce a prolific director down to his science fiction movies. People in this topic are acting like he's awful because he made some bad sci Fi flicks recently like he hasn't directed nearly 30 films with some absolute stunners in there. Even recently, he's got fantastic films to his name like The Last Duel and The Martian, which are amazing films to still be putting out in the last decade of a career that began in the 70s.

Damn is it really that hard to create the magic that was Aliens? They kept on wanting to push the android and human engineering bullcrap.

Villeneuve is the new king of sci fi. Please step aside gracefully, Ridley.

TendoDRM posted...

Villeneuve is the new king of sci fi. Please step aside gracefully, Ridley.

Not even sci-fi, hes just the king. Easily the best new director of the millennium.

Prisoners was shit, though

C-zom posted...

Napoleon has allegedly been his dream project for twenty years. The trailer and marketing don't look too hot, though.

Napoleon will be awful because a lot of what we know about Napoleon's personality has only recently come to light. Napoleon III heavily redacted his letters and journals in order to mythologize the man. But the mythologized Napoleon doesn't fit certain decisions he made, like enthroning his family. Recent scholarship and biographies show Napoleon to have been an awkward incel type that really only engaged in the military out of obligation to his mother and siblings, whom his father left impoverished.

mercurydude posted...

Unless Denis Villeneuve would've been put in charge of the Alien film, I'm glad this didn't happen.

Covenant was so lazy that it stinks of Ridley just doing it for a paycheck and having no passion for the movie. He needs to realize that he's always been hit or miss (but he's also got a huge ego, so I'm sure he'll never face reality) and that he no longer has it in him to make another Alien or Gladiator. I suspect that even a film like Legend would be beyond him now.

But that's the thing, he had plenty of misses when he was putting out movies like Gladiator and Alien (Black Rain, Someone to Watch Over Me, 1492, White Squall all came out between those movies and are all pretty bad), and he's still putting out his hits today. Movies like The Last Duel and The Martian might not be S+ tier films like Gladiator and Alien, but they're fantastic films that show he's still every bit as capable as he's ever been to put out a great movie.

alphagamble posted...

Only if he took out Jared Leto

If I remember correctly, David Bowie was the first choice for that role.

ArsGoetia posted...

ass taste would ofc be of shit
and ridley scott movies

Ridley Scott is wildly uneven but for you to not like some of those listed movies, yeah, you have shit taste.

a b or d movie or two in between genre defining masterpieces is a lot different than the ham farts he puts out between medium to good fare these days and acting like that isnt the case is silly. Nevermind that hes currently working on dismantling the legacy you praise so much. Alien did not need an origin story and it did not need to be as stupid as Prometheus. Nevermind whatever the fuck Covenant was. Now for some reason hes making a sequel to Gladiator, which for whatever reason is generally considered a good, even great movie. Theres no way current day Ridley Scott wont make Gladiator 2 an old man fart movie and theres no way he wouldnt have done the same with BR2049

PeteyParker posted...

On the one hand we would have lost Blade Runner 2049 but on the other, we'd have most likely gotten Blomkamp's proper sequel to Aliens that ignores the events of Alien 3 (as it should be). Tough call because I love 2049 but Aliens is my favorite movie of all time and I hate how Alien 3 ruined the ending of it.

I didn't see too many details on Blomkamp's ideas - what do we know of his direction?

DeadBankerDream posted...

a b or d movie or two in between genre defining masterpieces is a lot different than the ham farts he puts out between medium to good fare these days and acting like that isnt the case is silly. Nevermind that hes currently working on dismantling the legacy you praise so much. Alien did not need an origin story and it did not need to be as stupid as Prometheus. Nevermind whatever the fuck Covenant was. Now for some reason hes making a sequel to Gladiator, which for whatever reason is generally considered a good, even great movie. Theres no way current day Ridley Scott wont make Gladiator 2 an old man fart movie and theres no way he wouldnt have done the same with BR2049

You may dislike his more recent films, but that doesn't change the fact that I was replying to a poster claiming he could not ever hope to put out something meeting the quality of Alien or Gladiator again, despite the fact that he's put out multiple films on their level in the years since. Black Hawk Down, American Gangster, Kingdom of Heaven, The Martian, and The Last Duel are all acclaimed films that came out post-Gladiator. Even then he has strong films that aren't quite at that level like All the Money in the World, Body of Lies and Matchstick Men that are very good additions to his filmography.

But sure, Alien Covenant and Prometheus were bad, so he's awful, despite that being the general pattern found throughout his career. He releases 2-3 really good stand out film per decade (minus the 90s, since I hate GI Jane and only Thelma and Louise was good there), a few middling love-em-or-hate-em movies, and then some bad ones. Nothing about his output today is any different than his output at any other point in his career.

codey posted...

But sure, Alien Covenant and Prometheus were bad, so he's awful

Also Kingdom of Heaven, Body of Lies and American Gangster.

The Martian is also extremely much a cozy loveable old man fart movie.

DeadBankerDream posted...

Also Kingdom of Heaven, Body of Lies and American Gangster.

The Martian is also extremely much a cozy loveable old man fart movie.

Have you seen The Last Duel? This is an honest question. It's an excellent film, came out two years ago, and is every bit as good as Gladiator.

I have not. The trailer made it look it had three colour tones and they were all a shade of grey or brown and it's based on an uninteresting story so I can only assume it's largely fictional melodrama.

Also any interest I might have had died when Scott threw a babyface temper tantrum that people didn't go to see it.

MICHALECOLE posted...

The last duel

was terrible

DeadBankerDream posted...

I have not. The trailer made it look it had three colour tones and they were all a shade of grey or brown and it's based on an uninteresting story so I can only assume it's largely fictional melodrama.

Also any interest I might have had died when Scott threw a babyface temper tantrum that people didn't go to see it.

This isn't a knock, but I'd be shocked if you told me you even liked Gladiator. It really doesn't sound like anything you'd be interested in.