Ridley Scott

[so sorry]

Can't believe there isn't a specific thread about 'ol Ridley....


anywho, new NEWS Scott fans!

Scott announces Blade Runner Sequel/Prequel

[Cpt Kirks 2pay]

People always bang on about Ridley Scott's visual style. Blah blah Alien, Blade Runner, in his latter day, is Gladiator to generic to be noticeable as Ridley Scott blahzee blahzee...

But hardly anyone gives this guy specific credit for what great and articulate performances he gets from his actors. They seem to take this for granted, or consider this to be effortless how he does it as to not reward Scott enough in their discussions of him. Despite need a casting director ScareCrowe and being 'forced(?)' to cast a too youthful lead in Kingdom of Heaven, Scott has done brilliant castings too. Marion Cottilard in A Good Year was pretty much the first time I saw this up and comer. And ME in A Good Year and Gladiator too, even though I am not Roman!

[SilentScream]

For such a 'machismo' director he does draw some very good performances from his female stars too....though Demi Moore's G.I Jane ain't one of them I grant you. The same goes for Christopher Nolan too. Yes, his flicks are pervaded with a stylistic intellectualism but, boy, can he get some top drawer performances from his cast.

[Cpt Kirks 2pay]

Yeah, and it's not just the Sigourney Weavers in Alien we're talking about here. The whole Thelma and Louise, the ultimate female rebel movie of it's time - directed by a cockney old geezer? Also in Kingdom of Heaven, Eva Green's scenes, mostly in the director's cut where she has to kill her own child.

You know we all here about Scott's techniques in how he makes his films but they're always talking about his visual style or how great technically he is.

Apart from how he had to push Sigourney Weaver into wetting herself with fear and vulnerability in the evacuation of the ship at the end of Alien - who up to that point in her life coming from sheltered parents and hence her own background, apparently, had not a great deal of 'experience' to draw from that Ripley was to go through - I've seen very little light shone on the methods Ridley uses to get his actors do a certain thing, how he persuades them to bare their soul or weaknesses which could result in possible humiliation on screen if done wrong. How he gets the actors to trust him and then how he walks them through how to deliver that scene. His 'technique' or 'technical' process not for a film's cinematographical look or pyrotechnics in an action scene etc. but this time in the flesh and blood human side of it with his actors.

So you useless Zoners - DISCUSS!!!

[SilentScream]

Sigourney's performance in that flick has been well underrated I think. She deserved far more kudos than she actually got. It's a deceptive role with far more complexity to it.

[Peven]

bullshit. Weaver did solid work, but nothing exceptional, and the role didn't call for it either. "Alien" was all about direction with acting coming in a far distant second.

[Nachokoolaid]

One thing I like about Ridley Scott, but he knows how to do an epic, and it actually feels like an epic. Plus he always gets great personal stuff from his actors. Naysay all you want, but his director's cut of Kingdom of Heaven is great. And Gladiator is great as well.

[Cpt Kirks 2pay]

Kingdom of Heaven director's cut is the greatest epic of recent years and yeah, one of the greatest epics of all time. For what on paper looked very complicated and looked to get religions very angry, it ended up being very simple and linear, and safe!

[SilentScream]

bullshit. Weaver did solid work, but nothing exceptional, and the role didn't call for it either. "Alien" was all about direction with acting coming in a far distant second.

And a good day to you, as well.
The reason was Weaver was underrated in that flick?
Simple.
She imbued Ripley with a real sense of character - a woman driven to extremes, a woman whose battle was almost existential cause she was ulitmately alone in a godless forsaken universe at war with something beyond her control.
In other words, Weaver gave this horror/sci fi/effects movie a human face, without which the flick for me would've been run of the mill. I'm not saying she was 'exceptional' - but the great success of the movie (for me) is in large part down to her portayal which went far beyond some feminist action heroine prototype.

[Spandau Belly]

I really liked KINGDOM OF HEAVEN too. I actually thought Bloom was good and only failed to deliver during the big Braveheart speech moment, but not in any embarassingly bad way, just a little underwhelming. But yeah, Eva Green and Ed Norton were both in top form and I like the guy playing Saladin who didn't even speak English and had to learn his lines pheonetically.

The movie is an excellently paced political drama that juggles several plotlines, character arcs, and very different chapters well.


My local grindhouse is showing a doublebill of ALIEN and ALIENS at the end of September. I look forward to seeing them again. I've never seen them on the big screen.

[Cpt Kirks 2pay]

I think the gift that actors bring to the overall power of a film is very underappreciated, unknown and completely overlooked. Why Alien does work is directly and mainly down to the performances, not so much in part the camera tricks, lighting, disguising the Alien or the pace build up to it's attack, all those things are great, I'm not taking anything away from that, but any director will tell you that what makes fear work in a film is how well fear is portrayed by the actors involved.

If Sigourney or any other other cast were weak or gave rather flat performances then we wouldn't have Alien, we wouldn't have it's terror and power. All of that comes from the actors, without them all the technical aspects of that film wouldn't work at all.

To say that the actors have nothing to do with the scariness of that film is to deny Directing Workshop Rule 1 - it's all down to the actors. Without them NO film would work.

[Cpt Kirks 2pay]

I really liked KINGDOM OF HEAVEN too. I actually thought Bloom was good and only failed to deliver during the big Braveheart speech moment, but not in any embarassingly bad way, just a little underwhelming. But yeah, Eva Green and Ed Norton were both in top form and I like the guy playing Saladin who didn't even speak English and had to learn his lines pheonetically.

The movie is an excellently paced political drama that juggles several plotlines, character arcs, and very different chapters well.

To be honest, Bloom does get better everytime I watch him. At the end of the day the guy is in over his head, but I put that down to mostly him being too young and not mature enough to play some guy who comes across as being around a good 10 years longer and has seen enough of war or violence or whatever to make his words and actions have more conviction. But not only that, but the same for Orlando himself. He also seems to lack a certain amount of life experience as well as physical development to deliver say, those powerful speeches at the end. Without being unoriginal, he's no Viggo.

No I don't think he's a great actor, but in this, a lot of the time he's adequate and does his job, sometimes with great conviction, sometimes he's merely OK, sometimes though I don't believe in him. But yeah, take away the age issue and I'd accept him a lot more.

That Saladin dude had no experience of acting in English???? Coulda fooled me. Well done Sir, if you're reading this. Well done.

[SilentScream]

I think the gift that actors bring to the overall power of a film is very underappreciated, unknown and completely overlooked. Why Alien does work is directly and mainly down to the performances, not so much in part the camera tricks, lighting, disguising the Alien or the pace build up to it's attack, all those things are great, I'm not taking anything away from that, but any director will tell you that what makes fear work in a film is how well fear is portrayed by the actors involved.

If Sigourney or any other other cast were weak or gave rather flat performances then we wouldn't have Alien, we wouldn't have it's terror and power. All of that comes from the actors, without them all the technical aspects of that film wouldn't work at all.

To say that the actors have nothing to do with the scariness of that film is to deny Directing Workshop Rule 1 - it's all down to the actors. Without them NO film would work.

Well said. This is a movie about human fear, human loneliness and being at war with not only forces outside one's control but forces within one's self as well. And Weaver carries that all the way.

[Spandau Belly]

[
To be honest, Bloom does get better everytime I watch him. At the end of the day the guy is in over his head, but I put that down to mostly him being too young and not mature enough to play some guy who comes across as being around a good 10 years longer and has seen enough of war or violence or whatever to make his words and actions have more conviction.

I guess the problem is the character has a huge arc. At the begining, he's just a small village blacksmith living in a shack and getting taunted by his bully of a half-brother. He has to seem somewhat weak and naive so that when Liam Neason shows up, it is believeable that he would look up to Neason and be learning from him. When he arrives in Jerusalem, he has to seem somewhat naive and out of his class among all these royal types with complex political agendas.

But then later he has to become gradually more empowered by finding his moral centre and in some ways bitter towards the pettyness and selfishness of those around him. It's more here where Bloom doesn't completely sell the transformation. He seems stronger and with a better sense of who he is and what's right and wrong, but he doesn't quite stick the landing when going all the way into Leader Of Men territory. Like we've said, he's never awful, he's adequate enough at this stuff that it definately doesn't sink the movie. He just ain't Heston.

[Nachokoolaid]

Nice to see Kingdom of Heaven getting some love. I thought I was one of the only people to like that film.

[King Of Nowhere]

Thread needs moar poll!

Robin Hood (2010)
Body of Lies (2008)
American Gangster (2007)
A Good Year (2006)
Kingdom of Heaven (2005)
Matchstick Men (2003)
Black Hawk Down (2001)
Hannibal (2001)
Gladiator (2000)
G.I. Jane (1997)
White Squall (1996)
1492: Conquest of Paradise (1992)
Thelma & Louise (1991)
Black Rain (1989)
Someone to Watch Over Me (1987)
Legend (1985)
Blade Runner (1982)
Alien (1979)
The Duellists (1977)

[TheButcher]

From Coming Soon:
Ridley Scott & Fuji Television Team for Japan in a Day

[so sorry]

There's a few threads on the mother site regarding Sir Ridley and his desire to do a Blade Runner sequel. And this doesn't sound like an old man just mumbling about something he'd be interested in doing...sounds pretty legit at this point. Check it out BR fans!

[Ribbons]

I think whether this movie actually happens will depend on whether Prometheus is successful, but he does seem pretty serious about it right now.

It'll be interesting to see what he and Hampton Fancher come up with if it does, because as I recall they were split on the interpretation of the original film. Personally I welcome it; I like Blade Runner a lot and really don't think it needs a sequel, but I'd like to see Scott return to his most visually engrossing work with all the new tools at hand.

[Spandau Belly]

I think Scott wishes he had made a movie about a replicant who, oblivious to the fact that he is a replicant, is programmed to hunt other replicants. Scott has tried to reshape the film he did make to tell this story and even convinced himself he made this film.

I think BLADE RUNNER's greatest strengths and weaknesses all come from the chaos in which it was made. Everybody working from radically different scripts; ideas, plotlines, and characters being popped in and out during filming; Scott indulging his various aesthetic whims without concrete narrative reason for doing so; Rutger Hauer unsupervised and off the chain. It all adds up to a movie that I find fasincating and unique to watch, but I can't say it all comes together 100%.

So would a better film come about if they all planned a lot more and everybody involved was on the same page creatively and they stuck to their plan throughout the making of the movie? Maybe. I'm not sure. But I am interested in seeing him try. And if he wants to finally tell this story about a replicant who hunts other replicants, I would be happy to see that story.

[Ribbons]

I think Scott wishes he had made a movie about a replicant who, oblivious to the fact that he is a replicant, is programmed to hunt other replicants. Scott has tried to reshape the film he did make to tell this story and even convinced himself he made this film.

I think BLADE RUNNER's greatest strengths and weaknesses all come from the chaos in which it was made. Everybody working from radically different scripts; ideas, plotlines, and characters being popped in and out during filming; Scott indulging his various aesthetic whims without concrete narrative reason for doing so; Rutger Hauer unsupervised and off the chain. It all adds up to a movie that I find fasincating and unique to watch, but I can't say it all comes together 100%.

So would a better film come about if they all planned a lot more and everybody involved was on the same page creatively and they stuck to their plan throughout the making of the movie? Maybe. I'm not sure. But I am interested in seeing him try. And if he wants to finally tell this story about a replicant who hunts other replicants, I would be happy to see that story.

There's a funny story in Future Noir, the book about the making of Blade Runner, that indicates very few people involved with the film knew about the "unicorn" scenes or what exactly Scott was trying to do with them. When people would bring up what a waste of time they were and whether or not to cut them, he would just cryptically go "...leave it alone."

There are probably easier ways to make a movie, I'll give you that.

[TheButcher]

Watch a concept clip from Ridley Scott's aborted 1997 I Am Legend


Richard Matheson's 1954 novel I Am Legend has been adapted for the big screen a few times, most recently in the 2007 Will Smith flick of the same name. But did you know Ridley Scott tried to get a Legend movie off the ground in 1997, and got so far along that some freaky vampire concept footage was made?

[so sorry]

Watch a concept clip from Ridley Scott's aborted 1997 I Am Legend


Richard Matheson's 1954 novel I Am Legend has been adapted for the big screen a few times, most recently in the 2007 Will Smith flick of the same name. But did you know Ridley Scott tried to get a Legend movie off the ground in 1997, and got so far along that some freaky vampire concept footage was made?

Oh man, The Vicar would have shit his pants with glee watching that. He HATED what they did with Smif's I Am Legend, being a fan of the novella. And he was a Scott fan too....

[Spandau Belly]

That was cool, Butch. Thanks.

I had never heard about this. I wonder why the Scott version got scrapped. It would've been cool to see Scott's take on the material.

[TheButcher]

Your welcome

[TheButcher]

Fox 2000 And Ridley Scott Set ‘All You Need Is Kill’ Scribe D.W. Harper For ‘Forever War’

[TheButcher]

Exclusive: Damon Lindelof is Not Writing the PROMETHEUS Sequel; Explains Why

Damon Lindelof: I am not. Ridley [Scott] and I talked at great length during the story process of the first movie about what subsequent movies would be if Prometheus were to be successful. And I think that the movie ended in a very specific way that hinted at, or strongly implied that there were going to be continuing adventures worthy of writing stories. What those stories would be would not necessarily usurp or transcend the Alien franchise as we saw it because we know that the Nostromo hasn’t come along yet. So the idea was to set up a universe that… Is it a prequel? Okay. If that’s what we want to call it, sure. But the sequel to this movie is not Alien. The sequel to this movie is this other thing.

So Ridley and I talked about what that other thing might be, and he was excited about doing it. But then I think what ended up happening was that the movie came out, and there was a reaction to the movie. And I got really wrapped up in Trek, and really wrapped up in this movie that I’m producing and writing with Brad Bird. And I have a TV project that I was really passionate about. Ridley and I had a meeting after Prometheus came out where we started talking again about where this journey would go. And in that meeting I said to him, unfortunately, before he could ask me and go through the discomfort of whether he was going to ask me or not… It’s sort of like having a date where you’re letting the other person know, “I’m in another relationship.” So I can’t tell you that he asked me and I said no. But I did communicate to him that I was working on these other things.

The thing about Prometheus was it was a rewrite. Jon Spaihts wrote a script and I rewrote it. And still it was a year of my life that I spent on Prometheus, kind of all in. The idea of building a sequel to it—from the ground up this time—with Ridley is tremendously exciting. But at the same time, I was like, “Well that’s probably going to be two years of my life.” I can’t do what J.J. [Abrams] does. I don’t have the capability. I’m usually very single-minded creatively. I can only be working on one thing at a time. So I said to him, “I really don’t think I could start working on this movie until I do this other stuff. And I don’t know when the other stuff is going to be done.” And he was like, “Well, okay, it’s not like I asked you anyways.” He and I are on excellent terms and it was a dream come true to work with him. But much to the delight of all the fanboys, I don’t see myself being involved in Prometheus-er.

From THR 6/5/2012 :
'Prometheus' Writer Damon Lindelof on Rumored Sequel 'Paradise' and Whether He's the Man to Write It
The former "Lost" producer observes, "We have to be very careful about what we’re saving for later -– because there might not be a later."

Although expectations are high for Ridley Scott’s Prometheus, screenwriter and executive producer Damon Lindelof tells The Hollywood Reporter that a sequel is far from a foregone conclusion.

The Lost writer and producer said he and Scott had serious conversations about what would and wouldn’t go into Fox's Prometheus, which opens June 8 in North America.

“Ridley was very interested in talking about, ‘What are the answers to the questions that Prometheus is posing that are not necessarily definitively spelled out in the body of Prometheus?’ ” Lindelof says.

“I said to him, we should be prepared for people to feel frustrated if we’re going to be withholding, so we have to be very careful about what we’re saving for later," he continues. "Because it’s not a foregone conclusion that there are going to be sequels, and so if there isn’t a sequel, just be comfortable with what we gave them in this movie."

Lindelof says that his experience on the acclaimed but decidedly polarizing Lost attuned him to the opportunities -- and responsibilities -- of creating a mythology for Prometheus that audiences will care about.

“The audience is given a little more information than the characters in the movie have,” he explains. “And it’s our hope that fires the imagination up enough for them to say, ‘I might want to see Prometheus again’ or ‘I definitely want to see where this movie takes me.’ Because this movie has two children: One of these children grows up to be Alien, but the other child is going to grow up, and God knows what happens to them. And that’s what the sequel to Prometheus would be.”

When Scott originally launched the project with screenwriter Jon Spaihts, the director suggested that the title be Paradise, heralding the word’s “spooky connotations.”

After Lindelof took over the reins on the script, the title changed to Prometheus, though rumors linger that Scott might revive Paradise for a sequel.

“That’s only a title that was being tossed around at various stages in the development,” Lindelof says. “He did need to know what the answers to some of these questions are in Prometheus, just to shoot Prometheus. [But] Ridley was very confident and assured in saying, ‘I’m very comfortable with exactly what Prometheus is providing.’ ”

Lindelof’s next project is 1952, an epic tentpole written for Disney to be directed by Brad Bird that, like its predecessors, is shrouded in secrecy. But he admits that he’d be tempted to come back to write a sequel, even if he acknowledges that the fledgling series might benefit from some new blood the next time around.

“Right now my focus is doing this movie for Disney, and then I obviously want to do another television show, but if Ridley wants me to be involved in something, that would be hard to say no to,” he says. “At the same time, I do feel like the movie might benefit from a fresh voice or a fresh take or a fresh thought. Sometimes the baton should be passed, if that’s what the story demands.

“I had [Prometheus] for the period of time that I was running the race, and if that story continues, it could actually benefit going into someone else’s able hand," Lindelof adds. "Although, I feel like some of the iceberg below the water for any potential future movies in that storyline has already been constructed based on conversations that Ridley and I had about it.”

[TheButcher]

Christian Bale Eyeing Moses?

[Spandau Belly]

I had never heard about this. I wonder why the Scott version got scrapped.

I am currently reading Arnold Schwarzeneggars autobiogrpahy in which he says that he and Ridley Scott were scheduled to start filming I AM LEGEND, but then Arnie required heart surgery and the studio lost all confidence in him. They were worried he would die on the set or that audiences would no longer respect him as macho lead. He had to do END OF DAYS with an independent producer for a reduced fee in order to prove to the big studios that he could still make movies without dying of a heart attack, but by then everybody had moved on and I AM LEGEND was scrapped.

[TheButcher]

Joel Edgerton to Play Ramses in Ridley Scott's 'Exodus' (Exclusive)
The "Zero Dark Thirty" star is in talks to play the Egyptian ruler opposite Christian Bale's Moses in the 20th Century Fox film.

[Spandau Belly]

Edgerton as Ramses? I just don't see it. Maybe I'm just too attached to Yul Brynner's portrayal, but it just seems like a bad fit.

I hear 'Edgerton as Ramses' and all I can picture is Ramses strutting around the pyramids chugging Red Bull and blasting House of Pain on a ghettoblaster.

[TonyWilson]

Edgerton as Ramses? I just don't see it. Maybe I'm just too attached to Yul Brynner's portrayal, but it just seems like a bad fit.

I hear 'Edgerton as Ramses' and all I can picture is Ramses strutting around the pyramids chugging Red Bull and blasting House of Pain on a ghettoblaster.

How about Mark Strong?

[Spandau Belly]

I never really like Mark Strong's acting, at best I find him a neutral in a movie. But I agree that he would be a much more natural fit for the role.

[TheButcher]

Did Ridley Scott Just Confirm PROMETHEUS 2 For 2015?



Ridley Scott Talks Exodus, Prometheus 2 And Blade Runner 2
On parting The Red Sea and more...

[TheButcher]

Ridley Scott, Simon Kinberg to Remake 'Murder on the Orient Express' for Fox

[TheButcher]

Fox Sets Dates for 'Wolverine,' 'Fantastic Four' Sequels

An unnamed Ridley Scott film is set for March 4, 2016.

[Spandau Belly]

Yeah, it's probably PROMETHEUS 2. Fox never lets the Alien rest in peace for too long. Hope they have a script this time.

[TheButcher]

‘Wolverine 3′, ‘Fantastic Four 2′, ‘Taken 3′ and More Get Release Dates

Finally, the studio also set an unspecified Ridley Scott project for release on March 4th, 2016. The hard-working director previously indicated that his followup to his Biblical blockbuster Exodus (which opens December 2014) will be a sci-fi offering, though that only partially narrows the list of possibilities – as Scott currently has three projects that fall under that genre’s jurisdiction in development: a Prometheus sequel, a second installment set in the Blade Runner universe, and the novel adaptation The Forever War.

[TheButcher]

Microsoft Adds Another Live-Action HALO Digital Project; Ridley Scott to Produce, Sergio Mimica-Gezzan to Direct

[TheButcher]

Michael Fassbender Says PROMETHEUS 2 Is a Go
Doesn’t Know When They’ll Begin Filming

[TheButcher]

Fox, Scott Free and Chernin Reteam on Biblical King David Film (EXCLUSIVE)
Though their first collaboration on the Moses tale “Exodus: Gods and Kings” doesn’t bow till December, 20th Century Fox, Chernin Entertainment and Ridley Scott are already looking to reteam on another Old Testament character, King David.

[TheButcher]

Steven Spielberg Near Commitment To Direct Moses Epic For Warner Bros

Tom Hooper, Ang Lee, David Fincher And Steven Spielberg Eye Intriguing Movies

First up, Steven Spielberg has ended his long flirtation with directing Gods And Kings, the epic-sized Warner Bros film about life of Moses based on the script by Michael Green and Stuart Hazeldine. That puts Warner Bros in a bind because of the rival Moses project, the Adam Cooper/Bill Collage-scripted Exodus, which is gathering steam at Fox, with Ridley Scott looking to mobilize that as soon as he completes The Counselor. But Warner Bros is now out to Ang Lee, who just won the Best Director Oscar for Life Of Pi. I’m told he’s intrigued with the project but hasn’t had a formal meeting on the script. Imagine what either director can do with that subject matter, and with the ratings on History Channel’s The Bible miniseries, the audience is certainly there. Spielberg hasn’t dropped the project for another; while he postponed his next film Robopocalypse, he hasn’t replaced it with anything as he continues to develop that robot pic. Spielberg also recently told French TV he’s developing a Napoleon miniseries for TV based on Stanley Kubrick’s screenplay and research. for

Ridley Scott's 'Exodus' with Christian Bale gets a title change
Call it 'Exodus: Gods and Kings'

As one Biblical epic sets sail (so to speak) in theaters this weekend, news out of Las Vegas' CinemaCon is that another has undergone a title change.

Ridley Scott's "Exodus" starring Christian Bale is now known as "Exodus: Gods and Kings," a combination of a similar Warner Bros. project's title (which Steven Spielberg and Ang Lee were circling at one point) and "Exodus." The studio could not clear the rights for "Exodus" alone, I'm told, because MGM owns it in perpetuity.

Bale will star as Moses in the film. Last year he told HitFix to expect "shocking stuff" from the film. "It's an intriguing piece, because it's very few people that I've met that have actually read the Torah, the Pentateuch, the five books of Moses, all the way through," he said. "Most people read snippets. If you read it all the way through, it's harsh. It's really 'Old Testament.' And violence in the extreme. He was not a man of any half measures whatsoever."

The actor is coming off a Best Actor Oscar nomination for David O. Russell's "American Hustle" and also appeared last year in Scott Cooper's "Out of the Furnace." He also has Terrence Malick's "Knight of Cups" on the horizon.

"Exodus Gods and Kings" is set for release on Dec. 12.

[TheButcher]

‘Exodus: Gods and Kings’ Director Ridley Scott on Creating His Vision of Moses

[TheButcher]

Why Ridley Scott Hasn’t Directed a Comic Book Movie

“I’ve had a lot of opportunities and I tend not to do that. They’re the hardest single thing to write. Taking a comic strip character is very hard to write. Because comics are meant to work in one page, to work in frames with minimalistic dialogue. And a lot of it is left to the imagination of the reader. To do that in film you’ve got to be a little more explanatory. And that requires a good screenplay and good dialogue.”

[TheButcher]

Ridley Scott to Tackle Don Winslow's El Chapo Novel for Fox (Exclusive)
Just published in June, 'The Cartel' offers a fictional take on the notorious Sinaloa drug boss whose daring July 18 escape from a Mexican prison dominated international news headlines.

[TheButcher]

The Deadline Interview: Ridley Scott
EXCLUSIVE: The director, in Toronto to bow 'The Martian', on his career and what drives him to greater creative heights at a time when most helmers are slowing down

[papalazeru]

Oh my god you love Ridley a little too much/111

[Cpt Kirks 2pay]

Wow what a miracle. Someone actually replied TheButcher's endless link posts. "In the Zone people listen" my ass. What are you doing breaking tradition Paps?

[TheButcher]

The 12 Best Ken Takakura Movies You Need To Watch

10. Black Rain (1989)
While Ken Takakura’s stardom almost always remained confined within the borders of Japan, his relatively good English skills also made him suitable to play supporting characters in several Hollywood films. He acted as honorful Major in Robert Aldrich’s “Too Late the Hero” (1970) and as baseball couch in “Mr. Baseball” (1992), but he made his most memorable appearences in Hollywood films by playing versions of his honorific yakuza personality as in Sidney Pollack’s “Yakuza” (1974), written by Paul Schrader, screenwriter of “Taxi Driver” (1976).

The role he is probably best remembered for in the West, however, is that of the hardboiled detective Masahiro in Ridley Scott’s grim crime thriller “Black Rain”. While the hectic MTV-influenced visual style make the film seem rather dated, it is elevated by its multi-national cast, among them Michael Douglas and Tomisaburo Wakayama. Yet, it is Ken Takakura who makes the most lasting impression as Masahiro by successfully translating his heroic tateyaku personality to the completely different way of filmmaking of 1980s Hollywood.

Yusaku Matsuda: Lost Rebel

His obscurity is a paradox however, since millions around the world have seen Matsuda's final screen performance as the slippery villain Sato in Ridley Scott's Nihon-noir cop thriller Black Rain. An atypical role in many ways, it is the proverbial exception to the rule. In the part of his career that has come to define him, Matsuda played brash, cool, rebellious heroes, his tall figure and chiselled features furthermore lending him a virility and sex appeal that none of his forebears could match. As undisputably charismatic as Toshiro Mifune, Ken Takakura, Koji Tsuruta and Bunta Sugawara were in their prime, there was very little about them that would make women swoon or that would make scriptwriters decide that they should get the girl before fade-out.

Black Rain's release in 1989 created a storm of publicity for Matsuda, who due to his failing health (which had already bothered him during the shooting of the film) was unable to provide any of it in person. The news of his illness still not made public, TV appearances and magazine shoots were cancelled and the actor even had to forego attending the film's Japanese premiere on October 5, 1989. A day later, with an offer for another Hollywood movie already in his mailbox, Yusaku Matsuda truly joined the ranks of the immortal.

[TheButcher]

Hollywood Flashback: Ridley Scott on 1979's 'Alien' and His Goal to "Take the Audience to the Edge"
As the director revisits the horrors of space in May 19's prequel, 'Alien: Covenant,' he reveals that he was fifth in line to direct the original — behind Robert Altman — and reflects on the challenge of scary movies: "It's much harder to really frighten people than to make them smile or laugh."

In the late '70s, Fox had two big reasons to love sci-fi: 1977's PG-rated Star Wars and, two years later, the much more violent, R-rated Alien. Darth Vader looks almost cuddly compared to Alien's implacable star, designed by the Swiss surrealist painter H.R. Giger. "We used to say they were The Beatles and we were The Rolling Stones," says Alien producer Walter Hill of the blockbusters. "Our film had something people hadn't seen up to that point: the artifice of a B-movie done in an A-movie style."

THR called Alien "extremely effective and scary as hell," which is what director Ridley Scott wanted. "It's much harder to really frighten people than to make them smile or laugh," he says. "The two great films for that are The Exorcist, because possession by the devil has a certain credence to it, and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, which has flat-out horrendous violence that shocked the hell out of me. My goal was to take the audience to the edge of stress."

Scott, then 41 and with only one feature on his résumé, was fifth in line to direct Alien — behind Robert Altman. ("I could not see Bob doing this," he notes.) When Fox finally offered Scott the job, he declined to make any script changes. "You can easily give notes and turn a 'go' film into a development deal," he says. "I just said, 'I love it, I love it.' And we made it." He revisits the material in Alien: Covenant, a prequel out May 19.