Ridley Scott has revealed that he has been asked on several occasions to direct a superhero movie, but he declined.
Over the years, various legendary directors have helmed comic book or superhero movies including Tim Burton, Richard Donner, Sam Raimi, Ang Lee, Kenneth Branagh and Christopher Nolan.
It seems like most of Hollywood is involved in the Marvel Cinematic Universe or DC Universe in some capacity these days, but the studios won't convince Scott to helm a comic book movie as, in his opinion, he has directed superhero-esque movies before with better stories.
"Yeah, been offered, but just said, no, thank you. Not for me," he told Deadline.
"I’ve done two or three superhero films. I think Sigourney Weaver’s a superhero in Aliens. I think Russell Crowe‘s a superhero in Gladiator. And Harrison Ford is the super anti-hero in Blade Runner. The difference is, the f***ing stories are better."
While promoting House of Gucci in 2021, Scott went on a rather infamous rant about superhero movies, saying:
"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 f***ing crush it. They’re f***ing boring as sh**. Their scripts are not any f***ing 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…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 enjoys Batman and Superman
Scott was a fan of comic books growing up and by no means hates every comic book movie as he enjoyed Richard Donner's Superman and some adaptations of Batman, for example.
"I’m not a superhero fan, even though I used to love the comic strips," he explained.
"I think there’s a couple of pretty good Batmans, and that Superman movie by Dick Donner captured the tradition of the comic strip. As we’ve enlarged upon our capabilities visually, I think funnily enough, everything gets less real and less real. And now it seemed to become an excuse for actors to make a lot of money on the side playing superheroes."
Scott is one of a number of iconic directors who have criticised the emergence of superhero movies, including Martin Scorsese and Quentin Tarantino.
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