Working in the industry for more than 45 years, Ridley Scott has earned the privilege of being outspoken about the state of film. However, that may not stop people from being shocked by his statements on a specific set of blockbusters released these days.
The House of Gucci director recently sat down with Deadline to speak about his career and upcoming projects, as well as offering takes on the current state of the film industry. When asked about his upcoming Napoleon biopic, Scott stated that characters are an essential part of any film that he feels that superhero movies don’t offer that.
“Almost always, the best films are driven by the characters, and we’ll come to superheroes after this if you want because I’ll crush it. I’ll fucking crush it. They’re fucking boring as shit,” says Scott.
When pressed on what exactly makes superhero movies dull and why Scott doesn’t look at them very fondly, the filmmaker boiled it down to scripts.
“Their scripts are not any fucking good. I think I’ve done three great scripted superhero movies. One would be Alien with Sigourney Weaver. One would be fucking Gladiator, and one would be Harrison Ford [in Blade Runner]. They’re superhero movies. So, why don’t the superhero movies have better stories? Sorry. I got off the rail, but I mean, c’mon. They’re mostly saved by special effects, and that’s becoming boring for everyone who works with special effects if you’ve got the money.”
Scott is far from the first filmmaker to have this type of opinion on superhero movies. While it’s never received nicely by fans of the films, it’s perfectly within Scott’s right to feel this way. He’s had a long career filled with hits and flops, crafted some of the most prominent genre works, and has plenty of awards on his shelves. Sadly, if someone was hoping to see the 83-year-old filmmaker tackle an Iron Man or Superman film, it would seem that ship has likely sailed.
Ridley Scott’s next film is House of Gucci, which stars Lady Gaga, Adam Driver, Jared Leto, Jeremy Irons, and Al Pacino. The film opens on November 24th, 2021.
