BEVERLY HILLS – Ridley Scott may still be looking for his first individual Academy Award, but with his 8th decade almost over, the legendary filmmaker is starting to receive an inevitable number of lifetime achievement honors. On Friday night, the American Cinematheque saluted both Scott and Warner Bros. worldwide marketing and distribution president Sue Kroll in a star studded ceremony that was remarkably candid and classy at the same time.
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Kroll received the Sid Grauman award for her contributions in marketing at Warner Bros. For over 20 years, Kroll has been an integral part of some of the studio’s most successful box office blockbusters and long run of Best Picture winners and nominees (since 2003, there has only been one year WB has not landed a Best Picture nominee, 2008, and it still had international rights on one of that year’s nominees’ “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”). Warner Bros. prepared an impressive tribute reel for Kroll that featured on camera appearances by Ben Affleck, Sandra Bullock, Clint Eastwood, Chuck Roven, Denise Di Novi, Kathleen Kennedy, Phil Lord and Chris Miller, Tom Hanks, George Miller, Ryan Coogler, Deborah Snyder and Zach Snyder, David Heyman, Eddie Redmayne and Gal Gadot. Affleck referred to Kroll as a “filmmaker’s champion” and Bullock smiled and said Kroll’s best advice has been, “Always make time for shopping when you are doing press.”
Both Christopher Nolan and Bradley Cooper appeared on stage to praise Kroll before she accepted the honor.
After Kroll’s presentation, Russell Crowe took over as host for Scott’s lengthy tribute and the “Gladiator” star set the tone for the evening by immediately asking the crowd, “O.K. American Cinematheque, let’s grab this event by the p***y.” Needless to say, Crowe was a big hit and here’s hoping the HFPA members in the audience send a note to Dick Clark Productions when looking for a Golden Globes host in 2018, because he’d clearly knock it out of the park.
Matt Damon presented Scott with his award, but that was only after a long line of the filmmaker’s famous stars appeared on stage, including Sigourney Weaver (“Alien”), Josh Hartnett (“Black Hawk Down”), Sir Ben Kingsley (no, “Exodus: Gods and Kings” was not conveniently forgotten), Noomi Rapace (“Prometheus”), Kristen Wiig (“The Martian”) and Katherine T. Waterston (“Alien: Covenant”). Each actor spoke before some impressively edited clip reels, featuring some of Scott’s greatest achievements, were revisited. Taped congratulations from former collaborators, such as Michael Douglas (“Black Rain”) and Harrison Ford (direct from the set of the new “Blade Runner 2049”), were also included (Ford noted that there had been a lot of “water under the bridge” between the two).
Accepting the honor, Scott’s remarks were heartfelt, but brief. He reminisced about his art school days and how he taught himself how to use a 16 mm camera, which he eventually used to shoot his first film, “Boy and a Bicycle,” which starred his brother, Tony.
Impressively, the stars that made appearances to congratulate both Kroll and Scott didn’t mail it in whatsoever. Here are some of the more memorable moments of the night.
Crowe shares a memory from shooting ‘Gladiator’
“A day on a set with Ridley sometimes feels more productive than a week on someone else’s. Here’s an example of how organized he can be and what he thinks of. There is a sequence in ‘Gladiator’ we called in stunt speak the ‘six-man fight.’ And there was one option that we were working towards, but I thought it was a little bit lumpy so I was also choreographing a different option that was a little more linear and significantly more violent. We shot it in what was the organized fight and he wasn’t completely enamored by it and [we said] there was another option. And it finished with me chopping this bloke’s head off. And he said, ‘You just can’t add a decapitation! This is hours of conversations I’m going to have to have with people. If I’m going to suddenly decapitate somebody it’s going to affect how the movie comes out, how it’s perceived.’ And I said, ‘Just let me show it to you.’ So I showed it to him and it’s pretty slick and all that and you chop off the guys head. And he’s sort of starring at it. And he’s scrunching up his face a little bit. And he turns to his first assistant, Terry Needham, and he goes, ‘Terry. How many heads do we have left?’”
Christopher Nolan on why “The Prestige” wasn’t released in the U.S. by Warner Bros.
“Sue has worked on all my films, even the ones that weren’t at Warner Bros. and that’s a long story. The short version is a highly placed Warner Bros. executive who will remain nameless holding up the script for ‘The Prestige’ saying, ‘We want to like it. (Laughs.) And Sue really wants it for International.’ The truth is the collaboration between the head of marketing and distribution is so profound for a filmmaker that any claim I have to be standing up here to be talking about any authority about this business is due to success that we share.”
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Bradley Cooper reveals a “Green Lantern” story you probably haven’t heard before
“One of my first and fondest memories of Sue dates back to when I screen tested for ‘Green Lantern.’ That’s right, I’m bringing up ‘Green Lantern.’ (Laughs.) The whole process was shrouded in secrecy. It was like a covert CIA opp. None of the actors were allowed to meet each other. I remember they had Ryan Reynolds coming in one way and Jared Leto leaving from another. And the person who broke through all of this noise was Sue Kroll. She was just so candid with me about the entire process from start to finish. I knew that in my heart it was going to be problematic for me to play a superhero. My face is asymmetrical and I knew a mask was going to look like some weird cubist painting at best. I was feeling a little, let’s say, ‘vulnerable’ about the mask and after the screen test – it was the second one by the way, they had to remake the mask to fit my face – I remember being in New York City with my parents and I got a call from Sue and I asked her right away, ‘How did the mask look?’ And she said, ‘Y’know, not great.’ (Laughs.) She was calling me because she wanted to let me know off the record that it probably wasn’t going to go my way. I remember it was a really windy day in New York City and I could barely hear her and she was trying to tell me the bad news and she stayed on the phone to try and tell me and it was so embarrassing and finally I understood. And, more importantly, she stayed on the phone because she wanted me to feel O.K. I remember hanging up the phone and immediately relaying the conversation with my father who immediately said, ‘Do you know how lucky you are? The president of marketing just took time out of her day to tell you personally. And I’ll never forget that moment and this was pre-‘Hangover 1’ by the way. When somebody takes the time to give you the real in this business you never forget it.”
Sigourney Weaver on whether “Alien” was a feminist film and more
“Ridley recently sent a black and white photo of the two of us on the set of ‘Alien’ in 1978 and Ridley is there directing and I’m off to one side making this terrible face. And Ridley wrote and said, ‘What were you thinking? Were you thinking when will this end? Is this fucker trying to kill me?’ Well, all of the above. [All over the world I’m always asked,] ‘Did we know we were making a feminist film? Was this intentional?’ Well, yeah. (Laughs.) Ridley and I never talked about it. It was just a given for Ridley that a [female lead could be] capable, smart, courageous, resourceful, monumental. We also never had one of those conversations where the director goes to me about making my character more sympathetic. (Laughs.) After blowing up the ship and kicking the alien’s ass maybe I should go over into the corner and have a little breakdown just to remind the audience that after all, I’m still a vulnerable woman.’ (Laughs and applause.)”
Sigourney Weaver brings a modern context to some of Ridley’s direction on ‘Alien’
“In another scene where Ash goes after Ripley and we’re in the lounge set with all the pin ups all over the walls and the girly magazines lying all around And Ridley said, ‘Now Sigourney. Ian is here going to push you down and then he’s going to roll up this magazine and shove it up your hooter.’ I said, ‘Up my hooter?’ I felt like I was in the bus with Billy Bush.” (Laughs.)
Kristen Wiig got some very important advice from Ridley Scott while shooting “The Martian”
“Sir Ridley Scott. Admired for his visionary work in film, director, producer, writer and, not to mention, inventor and founder of Scott paper towels. (Laughs.) In performing my groundbreaking role in ‘The Martian’ I got to fulfill two of the biggest dreams of any actress. One, I got to work with Ridley of course, and two, I finally got to play a woman described as ‘no nonsense.’ (Laughs.) All of the attention I got for that role and Matt Damon also got nominated for a bunch of stuff and Oscar, I can’t take credit for any of it. I owe it all to Ridley, why? Because he told me what to do, how to say things, where to stand, how to look and when to close my mouth. I will never forget two things he would say to me when shooting and I will take them with me throughout my career. He would say, ‘Can you try something else?’ (Laughs.) The second thing he would say, very important, was ‘Please don’t do that anymore.’ He did. Matt’s here. He said that to you too, right?”