Currently presiding over Gladiator 2 reshoots, 86 year-old director Ridley Scott has confirmed that he’s got his next three films lined up and ready to go.
Eighty-six years old. Eight cameras at a time. Three films lined up. At this point in his career, numbers don’t seem to mean a thing to Sir Ridley Scott – and why should they? Scott is still making major moves, with the legendary filmmaker revealing to the Financial Times that he already knows “what my next three films will be”.
But we’ll return to that in a moment. FIrstly, let’s talk about those eight cameras. Stranger Things' Joseph Quinn, one of the stars of the upcoming Gladiator 2 has told GQ that Scott was sometimes using up to eight cameras at a time on the set of the film, shooting the action from multiple angles and then figuring out how to assemble it later.
“I was like, ‘Eight cameras?’ recalls Quinn, “and he’s like ‘You gotta know where to f—-ng put ’em.’ Clearly, he does. Watching that puzzle, watching him harness all those pieces and put them together was fascinating, truly.”
‘You gotta know where to f—-ng put ’em’ is now one of our new favourite quotes and will duly be trotted out whenever somebody questions our placement of cameras, or anything in fact. Woe betide the next person who questions the arrangement of the cushions on our sofa.
Read more: Alien | Ridley Scott apparently working on his own TV series
Scott’s whirlwind style continues to be something to behold and that seems to be true of his future plans. The claim that his next three films are already lined up seems to endorse what we already knew about the filmmaker’s slate. Scott himself has confirmed that a Bee Gees biopic is definitely next on his list, whilst we’ve also covered reports that he would be making Bomb, a London-based dramatic thriller that is being backed by 20th Century Studios.
Before he gets around to that one, it’s likely that he’ll be tackling an adaptation of the S Craig Zahler novel, Wraiths Of A Broken Land which Scott optioned a few years ago. It’s a western he’s previously described as ‘period, with a script like perfectly distilled liquor’ and is already said to be in the early stages of production.
Whether that’s the way it will shake out for Scott, we’ll find out in due course. But the filmmaker’s enduring spirit and artfully-composed soundbites continue to be a source of fascination and inspiration. We’ll bring you more on Scott’s future moves as we hear more.
