Recently, there have been quite a few reports about how “difficult” Joaquin Phoenix can be before production begins. This all stems from the news that said Phoenix dropped out of a Todd Haynes film at the very last minute, leaving the project to die without his involvement. Since then, we’ve seen reports about him doing a similar thing quite a few times before. And according to Ridley Scott, he had to deal with Phoenix’s insecurities dating back to the first “Gladiator” film.

Continue reading Ridley Scott Says Russell Crowe Called Joaquin Phoenix “Terribly Unprofessional” On ‘Gladiator’ at The Playlist.

One of the best aspects of the classic “Top Gun” is the visual style of the movie, which is thanks to legendary filmmaker Tony Scott. Sadly, Scott passed away well before they made “Top Gun: Maverick.” But according to Tony Scott’s famous directing brother, Ridley, the folks behind ‘Maverick’ were interested in keeping it in the family. 

READ MORE: ‘Gladiator II’ Review: Paul Mescal Gives A Mostly Worthy Fight In Sequel That’s Timelier Than It Seems 

Speaking in a recent interview with THR, where he talked about his career and the upcoming film, “Gladiator II,” Ridley Scott also talked about an offer he received to direct “Top Gun: Maverick.” According to the filmmaker, they approached him as a potential director of the blockbuster film, but Ridley turned it down because he didn’t want to follow his brother. 

Continue reading Ridley Scott Turned Down ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ Because He “Didn’t Want To Follow” His Late Brother at The Playlist.

Not long ago, scores of women on social media discovered that, apparently, a large swath of heterosexual men recurrently think about the Roman Empire. An endless source of shared fascination. For many of those adult men such interest probably emerged from watching Ridley Scott’s original “Gladiator” more than two decades ago and not from textbooks. The honor-driven, kindness-laced heroism of Russell Crow’s Maximus represented an admirable brand of manhood to aspire to, that of a grieving, unwavering individual fighting for a just cause. 

Continue reading ‘Gladiator II’ Review: Paul Mescal Gives A Mostly Worthy Fight In Sequel That’s Timelier Than It Seems  at The Playlist.

Ridley Scott‘s next film after “Gladiator II” is his Bee Gees biopic, right? Not so fast. Deadline reports that Scott has another upcoming project in the works, and this one sees him potentially reteam with his latest star, Paul Mescal.  

READ MORE: Ridley Scott Laments Not Having Ownership Of ‘Alien’ & ‘Blade Runner’ Franchises: “Someone Was Careless”

Mescal is in final talks to star again for Scott in “The Dog Stars,” a near-future thriller over at 20th Century.

Continue reading ‘The Dog Stars’: Ridley Scott & Paul Mescal To Reunite For Near-Future Thriller At 20th Century at The Playlist.

Ridley Scott has created multiple franchises over the years. Unfortunately for him, he didn’t secure ownership of them. That means, ultimately, he has very little say about what goes on in the “Alien” and “Blade Runner” universes. And that’s something he regrets to this day.

Speaking to THR, Ridley Scott talked about his new film in the “Gladiator” franchise, but he also talked about how he lost the rights to both “Alien” and “Blade Runner.” And he’s pretty bitter over the situation.

Continue reading Ridley Scott Laments Not Having Ownership Of ‘Alien’ & ‘Blade Runner’ Franchises: “Someone Was Careless” at The Playlist.

We are still more than a month away from the release of “Gladiator II,” but that isn’t stopping filmmaker Ridley Scott from teasing what’s to come in the future. Namely, he’s already started working on a third film in the franchise.

READ MORE: Ridley Scott Says ‘Gladiator 3’ Ideas Are Already In The Works With A ‘Godfather’-Esque Scope

Speaking to TotalFilm, Ridley Scott teased the progress he’s already made on a possible “Gladiator 3.” While he was a bit short on details, he did shed some light on what’s to come. 

Continue reading Ridley Scott Is Already Writing ‘Gladiator 3’: “I’ve Got The Beginning Of A Very Good Footprint” at The Playlist.

Sure, Steven Soderbergh and Steven Spielberg work fast, so does Guy Ritchie, but none of them are 86 years old and Ridley Scott is arguably the oldest director working at the pace he does, a film every two years at least. But that clip has sped up recently. 2021 delivered two films in one year, “The Last Duel” and “House Of Gucci,” 2023 gave us “Napoleon” and Scott returns in 2024 with the long-awaited sequel to “Gladiator” with “Gladiator II.”

READ MORE: 2024 Fall Film Preview: 50 Movies To Watch

Twenty four years after “Gladiator” in 2000, Scott has finally cooked up a long-discussed sequel.

Continue reading ‘Gladiator II’ Trailer: Ridley Scott’s New Epic Stars Paul Mescal, Denzel Washington, Pedro Pascal & More at The Playlist.

You crazy for this one, Ridley. Yep, despite “Gladiator II” not coming out in theaters for two months and reportedly costing a super mint, filmmaker Ridley Scott already intends to make a “Gladiator III” as a trilogy caper. In a new magazine interview with France’s Premiere, Scott says he’s already dreaming up a third ‘Gladiator’ movie with dimensions of Francis Ford Coppola’s “Godfather” trilogy.

Continue reading Ridley Scott Says ‘Gladiator 3’ Ideas Are Already In The Works With A ‘Godfather’-Esque Scope at The Playlist.

Will there be director’s cut justice for Ridley Scott’s “Napoleon”? Released in November via Apple Films and Sony Pictures, “Napoleon” cost a ton (estimates are as wide as $120 million to $200 million) and only made $220 million at the global box office. Moreover, Rotten Tomatoes and Audience scores were all rotten, which didn’t help. Scott seemed disappointed early on and talked about potentially releasing a four-hour director’s cut.

Continue reading ‘Napoleon’ Trailer: Ridley Scott’s Director’s Cut Is Nearly 3 Hours & 30 Minutes & Available Now at The Playlist.

Filmmaker Ridley Scott is famously gruff, speaks his unvarnished mind, and is DGAF, but generally, he isn’t one lacking from a big ego. So perhaps it’s in keeping with his style that the filmmaker has claimed that his “Gladiator II” sequel is one of his greatest films.

READ MORE: 2024 Fall Film Preview: 50 New Movies To Watch

In a recent interview with Empire Magazine, he wasn’t shy about how good his new ‘Gladiator’ sequel is in his mind.

Continue reading Ridley Scott Says ‘Gladiator II’ Is The “Best Film I’ve Ever Made” at The Playlist.

One of the biggest controversies in Hollywood this past week is the news about Joaquin Phoenix abandoning Todd Haynes’ new film just several days before filming was to begin. The project was left in a lurch since no one could replace Phoenix, and therefore, people lost jobs and financiers lost a lot of money. But according to a new report from THR, this isn’t the first time in recent history that Phoenix has threatened to leave a job right before filming. 

Continue reading Joaquin Phoenix Demanded Paul Thomas Anderson Rewrite ‘Napoleon’ Script Before Production at The Playlist.

Ridley Scott is a filmmaker who isn’t known for biting his tongue. If he doesn’t like something, he’ll tell you, especially when it comes to one of his babies such as the “Alien” franchise. Thankfully, for filmmaker Fede Alvarez, when he showed “Alien: Romulus” to Scott, it wasn’t the end of the world. 

Speaking to THR, while on the red carpet for the “Alien: Romulus” premiere, filmmaker Ridley Scott, who produced ‘Romulus,’ talked about what he was feeling when director Fede Alvarez let him watch the new ‘Alien’ film for the first time. 

Continue reading Ridley Scott Was “Hugely Relieved” When He Saw ‘Alien: Romulus’ For The First Time at The Playlist.

Filmmaker Ridley Scott has never shied away from filming a massive action sequence. He’s done plenty of action-heavy epics in his time. However, according to the filmmaker, all of it pales in comparison to what people will see in the opening scene of “Gladiator II.”

READ MORE: Ridley Scott Was Never Asked To Direct ‘Alien’ Sequel After The First Film: “You Can Imagine I Wasn’t Happy”

Speaking to Empire, Ridley Scott talked about his upcoming film, “Gladiator II.” Apparently, the highly-anticipated sequel is going to begin with what the filmmaker is calling his biggest action sequence yet.

Continue reading ‘Gladiator II’: Ridley Scott Says The Film Opens With “The Biggest Action Sequence” He’s Ever Done at The Playlist.

Is there any hope for Fede Álvarez‘s “Alien: Romulus” in the disappointing 2024 summer box office? After all, the long-running sci-fi horror franchise isn’t exactly a hot property. It’s been seven years since Ridley Scott‘s ho-hum “Alien: Covenant,” and almost thirty years since a sequel not a part of Scott’s “Prometheus” saga. And harsher critics may be even more severe: has there been a good “Alien” movie since James Cameron‘s lauded 1986 sequel “Aliens“?

Continue reading ‘Alien: Romulus’ Final Trailer: Fede Álvarez’s Space Horror Sequel Hits Theaters On August 16 at The Playlist.

It’s been over two decades, with years of speculation and delays and a long development process that, at one time or another, had names like John Logan (“Gladiator,” “The Last Samurai, “Penny Dreadful”), singer Nick Cave, and actors Chris Hemsworth and Barry Keoghan attached. As well as story ideas that ranged from prequel to resurrection to depictions of the afterlife.

Continue reading ‘Gladiator II’ Trailer: Ridley Scott’s Highly Anticipated Sequel Arrives November 22 at The Playlist.

Filmmaking is a very different business now than back in the ‘80s. Nowadays, if you have a film that does really well and leads to a franchise, it’s most likely that the original filmmaker will get paid a lot of money to keep it going. But decades ago, that just wasn’t the case, which explains why Ridley Scott is still upset. 

Speaking to Vanity Fair, while promoting his long-awaited “Gladiator” sequel, the filmmaker talked about the real reason why he wasn’t the filmmaker for any of the ‘Alien’ sequels until decades later.

Continue reading Ridley Scott Was Never Asked To Direct ‘Alien’ Sequel After The First Film: “You Can Imagine I Wasn’t Happy” at The Playlist.

After being discussed for years, with it seemingly stuck in development, we are actually pretty close to seeing “Gladiator II” grace our theaters. So close, in fact, that it’s time for our first official look at the highly anticipated Ridley Scott sequel.

The images (via Vanity Fair) are exactly what you would hope for and expect from a “Gladiator” sequel. We see Paul Mescal, one of the best young actors working today, in his gladiator garb all bloodied.

Continue reading ‘Gladiator II’ First Look: Paul Mescal, Pedro Pascal & More Star In Ridley Scott’s Sequel at The Playlist.

Prime Video‘s Blade Runner 2099 has another lead. THR reports that “Euphoria” star Hunter Schafer joins Michelle Yeoh on the cast list of the upcoming limited series. Both actresses will co-star in the show, but their roles remain unspecified.  

READ MORE: ‘Blade Runner 2099’: ‘Shogun’s Jonathan Van Tulleken To Direct Episodes Of Upcoming Limited Series

It’s another starring role for Schafer as she waits to hear if “Euphoria” Season 3 will come to fruition at HBO.

Continue reading ‘Blade Runner 2099’: Hunter Schafer Joins Cast Of Upcoming Prime Video Limited Series at The Playlist.

Ridley Scott has never been a filmmaker afraid of an epic scale, but according to actor Joseph Quinn, he may have outdone himself on “Gladiator 2.” IndieWire reports (via GQ) that Quinn often filmed sequences of the upcoming sequel with eight cameras, sometimes even on single scenes. Scott would then piece together camera shots to get what he wanted.

READ MORE: ‘Gladiator 2’ Shows Its Teeth For Paramount Pictures At CinemaCon

“I was like, ‘Eight cameras?’ and he’s like ‘You gotta know where to f*cking put ’em,’” Quinn told the publication.

Continue reading ‘Gladiator 2’: Joseph Quinn Says Ridley Scott Used Up To Eight Cameras At Once While Shooting Upcoming Sequel at The Playlist.

Brian Cox has gained a reputation in recent years as being, well, frank and outspoken in his opinions. That goes for his stance on method acting in particular, which he deems “f*cking annoying” and blames Daniel Day-Lewis for its popularity. Cox’s 2021 book had some choice words about fellow actors, too, including Johnny Depp (“so overblown, so overrated”) and Edward Norton (“a bit of a pain in the arse”), among others.

Continue reading Brian Cox Criticizes Joaquin Phoenix’s “Terrible” Performance In ‘Napoleon’: “It Really Is Appalling, I Don’t Know What He Was Thinking” at The Playlist.

Both based on toys and animated series, Paramount’s “G.I. Joe” series has never been the blockbuster that “Transformers” were in their heyday. For years, Paramount toyed with the idea of making a film that would unite the two franchises, but it wasn’t until a post-credit scene in “Transformers: Rise of The Beasts” (2023). which teased a potential unification that this crossover seemed feasible.

Continue reading Paramount Makes ‘G.I. Joe’/’Transformers’ Crossover Film Official, Announces 2025 ‘Star Trek’ Film & Much More at The Playlist.

It’s been seven years since we saw the xenomorph on screen; Ridley Scott’s “Alien: Covenant” was not cutting it for audiences in 2017. But come August 16, the xenomorph (the terminology coined by James Cameron’s “Aliens”) returns in “Alien: Romulus” from horror director Fede Álvarez (“Don’t Breathe”). The first trailer arrived earlier today; apparently, all the “Alien” godfathers love this newest installment. Executive producer Ridley Scott (“Alien,” “Prometheus,” “Alien: Covenant”) watched an early director’s cut of the film and gave it a warm reception last year, saying, “Fede, what can I say?

Continue reading ‘Alien: Romulus’: Fede Álvarez Says ‘Aliens’ Director James Cameron “Loves It” & Connects To Other Movies at The Playlist.

$200 million dollar budgets are usually reserved for Marvel or DC blockbusters. $300 million dollar budgets are typically reserved for “Avengers”-level movies. But Ridley Scott’s “Gladiator 2”  sequel apparently has a budget that has ballooned up to $310 million, according to a new report in The Hollywood Reporter.

Initially budgeted at $165 million, Paramount insiders insist to THR the net cost of the 49-day shoot was under $250 million.

Continue reading ‘Gladiator 2’ Budget Balloons To $310 Million Amid Reports Of “Runaway” Spending [Report] at The Playlist.

There is good news for Sci-Fan fans this Monday afternoon. Despite the television industry fighting its belt everywhere it can, the “Blade Runner” limited series spin-off, “Blade Runner 2099,” is still happening. And it’s happening much sooner than you thought. Especially with the addition of director Jonathan Van Tulleken to the production team.

READ MORE: “Blade Runner 2099”: Live action limited series lands at Amazon Prime Video

According to Deadline, Tullkenen is coming on board to replace Jeremy Podeswa who is best known for his work on “Game of Thrones” and “Station Eleven.” The reason for Podeswa’s departure was noted as a “scheduling conflict” due to the recent WGA and SAG strikes.

Continue reading ‘Blade Runner 2099’: ‘Showgun’s’ Jonathan Van Tulleken New Limited Series Director at The Playlist.

As the world awaits “Gladiator 2” to hit theaters on November 22, Ridley Scott already has another project he’s in talks to direct. And it’s not exactly what audiences expect from the director either. Deadline reports that Scott is in final negotiations to direct a biopic about the popular disco group the Bee Gees for Paramount. Scott will also produce with Michael Pruss through his Scott Free Banner if the deal goes through.

Continue reading Ridley Scott In Final Talks To Direct A Bee Gees Biopic For Paramount at The Playlist.