Biografie

His stunning visuals - he personally sketches most of his own storyboards, left-handed, with great artistic style (Die Duellisten (1977), Alien: Das unheimliche Wesen aus einer fremden Welt (1979), Der Blade Runner (1982), Legende (1985), Black Rain (1989), Thelma & Louise (1991), 1492 - Die Eroberung des Paradieses (1992), Gladiator (2000), Black Hawk Down (2001), Königreich der Himmel (2005), American Gangster (2007), Der Mann, der niemals lebte (2008)).

Strong female characters, including Sigourney Weaver in Alien: Das unheimliche Wesen aus einer fremden Welt (1979), Susan Sarandon and Geena Davis in Thelma & Louise (1991), Alison Lohman in Tricks (2003), all the female characters in Ein gutes Jahr (2006), Cate Blanchett and Eileen Atkins in Robin Hood (2010), Noomi Rapace in Prometheus - Dunkle Zeichen (2012), Jessica Chastain in Der Marsianer: Rettet Mark Watney (2015) and even the female athlete in the Superbowl commercial "1984" for Apple.

Being the actors' director that he is, Scott favors extensive use of the two-camera 'V' set-up, thus enabling his actors to play more fluidly off one another without being constantly interrupted by calls to "Cut!".

He frequently works with composers Hans Zimmer and Marc Streitenfeld and with cinematographers Dariusz Wolski and John Mathieson.

He begins most films with an info card sequence or montage (Alien: Das unheimliche Wesen aus einer fremden Welt (1979), Der Blade Runner (1982), Gladiator (2000), Black Hawk Down (2001)).

Directed a Maxwell House coffee commercial that starred Shakira Caine. Michael Caine saw the commercial and was so taken by her beauty, he desperately searched for her. They have been married 30 years.

He cast his partner in life, Giannina Facio, in nearly all of his films since Gladiator (2000). They finally married in June 2015.

He has dedicated several of his films in memory of his family: Der Blade Runner (1982) to his brother Frank, Black Hawk Down (2001) to his mother, and The Counselor (2013) and Exodus: Götter und Könige (2014) to his brother Tony. Ridley also paid tribute to his late brother Tony at the 2016 Golden Globes, after Der Marsianer: Rettet Mark Watney (2015) won Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy.

Estimated in an interview that he operated on roughly 2,700 commercials.

Directed 7 actors in Oscar nominated performances: Geena Davis, Susan Sarandon, Russell Crowe, Joaquin Phoenix, Ruby Dee, Matt Damon and Christopher Plummer. Crowe won for his performance in Gladiator (2000).

[on why his movies don't have sex scenes] Sex is boring unless you're doing it.

I'm a moviemaker, not a documentarian. I try to hit the truth.

A friend of mine says, "Art's like a shark. You've got to keep swimming, or else you drown." Keep bouncing around. People always ask me, "What's the plan?" There is no plan. I go to what fascinates me next.

When I first said I wanted to make a film about Rome and cast Russell Crowe, everyone had a good old snigger. I thought, "You wait." They've done the same with Königreich der Himmel (2005) and Orlando Bloom. I now say, "Take a look at this.".

Balian [Orlando Bloom's character in Königreich der Himmel (2005)] is an agnostic, just like me. I am not fighting another holy war here, I am trying to get across the fact that not everyone in the West is a good guy, and not all Muslims are bad. The tragedy is that we still have a lack of understanding between us, and it is 900 years since the Crusades. We have never truly resolved our differences.