Ridley Scott is, perhaps unsurprisingly, unimpressed with the state of cinema today. “The quantity of movies that are made today, literally globally: millions. Not thousands, millions. … Most of it is shit,” he said during a career retrospective conversation Sunday at the BFI Southbank theater in London (via The Wrap). He figured that 60 percent of all films released are bad, and of the remaining 40 percent only the top 10 percent of it is “pretty good,” and only the top five percent is truly great. “We’re drowning in mediocrity,” the filmmaker lamented.
It’s safe to say Scott—well known for speaking his mind, no matter what—doesn’t really click with the streaming era. Back in 2023, IndieWire compiled a list of films that the director has recommended over the years, and not a single one was from the 21st century. (He has been known to enjoy some modern television, like Killing Eve and Normal People.) Instead, when seeking good-old fashioned cinema, “I’ve started watching my own movies, and actually they’re pretty good! And also, they don’t age,” he said, admitting “it’s a horrible thing” to do. Yet, “I watched Black Hawk [Down] the other night and I thought, ‘How in the hell did I manage to do that?'” He said. “But I think occasionally a good one will happen, [and] it’s like a relief that there’s somebody out there who’s doing a good movie.”
As one of the medium’s elder statesmen, Ridley Scott does have some helpful observations about moviemaking. “I think a lot of films today are saved and made more expensive by digital effects because what they haven’t got is a great thing on paper first. Get it on paper!” He said. However, when asked what advice he’d give up-and-coming filmmakers, he offered the contradictory sentiment: “Be relentless, don’t listen to any advice, be an absolute jerk.”
