It’s Sir Ridley Scott To You As Legendary Director Holds Court On ‘All The Money In The World’

He actually didn’t call Plummer first
“I made a call to the availability of locations first [and] the availability of actors next, because I don’t want to have to go to a new location re-shoot everything. And because this film was so, well, I like to use the word geography. I’m lucky. I think one great American director that I’ve always admired dramatically again, again, again is Sidney Lumet. Much under-discussed, and I watch all of his movies because he can do a location hunt, which is what I do now, and I stand in the corner. I say, ‘O.K., I like the room, camera’s going to go here, here, and here.’ Next, we move out. Three months time, we come back in there, the camera’s going to go there, there. That never changes. And that sounded boring to be some bloody good movies. I’ve always taken a page out of his book, that way I’m saying, ‘O.K., I’ve got to stay in the location. I know exactly what I’m going to do.’ And I would line cameras up the way they were. Because why [not do it the same way]? It looks pretty good to me.”

Giving Plummer an opportunity and getting the band partially back together
“I will then protect Chris from having to watch Kevin’s performance because I wouldn’t show him that. I have to respect Chris as an actor and as an artist. And so he never knew what Kevin did, so that’s what’s really cool about it. And whoever’s in shot at that moment with the new Mr. Getty, had to be re-shot. But whoever wasn’t in the shot, they’re all so good. I can’t improve that. So, in that respect it was a bit of coordination and geometry.  I met Chris that night at the Four Seasons Hotel. And he said, ‘I have to read it, dear boy.’ I said, ‘Fine, of course you do.’ So he read it, and in the morning he calls me up, ‘I think it’s jolly good.’ And I was already on the way to see Mark Wahlberg, who was actually about to start a movie. And I said, ‘We’re going to do this, dude. Are you available?’  He said, ‘All right then.’  Michelle was ready to say, ‘I’ll go again in a heartbeat.’  And by then I knew the dates would fit the locations. Had to go back to Lord Saudry‘s house [in England to reshoot] and say, ‘Please let me inside.’ Because he owns this dramatically, spectacular house in 8,000 acres of just spectacular land. And the house is dramatically historic because that’s where Queen Elizabeth I was born. He showed me her original letters by her hand.  Do you want to hear this?”

[Quick break while Scott goes on a tangent about the first Queen Elizabeth.]

“[Lord Saudry] took me into the vaults underneath the house [which] were sealed and air conditioned, but ancient. He got out boxes with Queen Elizabeth I’s  letters. One of them to the government saying, at 18, beautifully penned, and beautifully phrased, saying, ‘In denial of the fact that the rumor says about that I’m pregnant,’ by that, she put a little thumbprint, ‘I’m going to have a medical person examining me to confirm that I’m still a virgin, not pregnant'” That’s how it was stated.  I went, ‘Jesus Christ.’ So Lord Saudry is always followed by about five fluffy dogs, and he has to actually never wash their dogs, so I fucking [can’t] stand it. Because if it rained, there’s nothing worse than damp dog, right? I said, ‘Come on, dude, let me in.’  Because I’m a knight, as you probably know.(Laughs.) Let me in.  I’m serious, I’m a knight. Even with the bad language.”

Why go through this just to make the release date?
“Listen. Dude. If you don’t enjoy stress, don’t do the job. I thrive on stress and the worst stress for me is having nothing to do on weekends. Because I’ve now found something to do which I picked up years ago. I’lI never stop, because that’s life, you know? So, the fact that this came in, I didn’t go exactly, ‘Yippee!’ But I thought, ‘Immediately go into battle mode.’  That’s how I direct. I go into battle mode.”

Why he shoots so few takes of a scene
“An actor said to me about Clint [Eastwood] — because I worked with the actor  and [he told me] ‘Geez. You’re worse than Clint Eastwood.’ He told to me what Clint had said to him over the phone [once].  He did a take and Clint said, ‘Terrific. Let’s move on.’ He said, ‘Don’t I get another word?’ And Clint said, ‘Well, if you really must waste everyone else’s time.’ (Laughs.) Did he mean that? Of course not. It’s meant to be humorous. But you know, you can go on for 15 takes [but] if you go on for nine to 13 takes, there’s something wrong with you [as a director]. You miscast, or you need to find another job.”

Wait, what movie was Scott asked to replace someone on? “Bohemian Rhapsody”? “Han Solo”?
Yeah, I nearly did a third [movie] this year because I was asked to…I’m not going to say on what, but I was asked to replace somebody. I seriously considered thinking, ‘I’d do three films this year.’  I decided I mustn’t do that.”

Scott proves it’s never too late to become a filmmaker and there’s no time to stop
“I never did a movie until I was 40. When ‘Alien’ came out, I was 40-years-old. Nearly 41, actually. But, I was inordinately successful as a commercial director. Because honestly, from 27 to 38, I was flying and I didn’t even think about wanting to do a film because when you’re being successful and making money, why would you decide to start a rock and roll band, you know?  I just adored every second, and I was flying and working. What I didn’t realize, that I was becoming so skilled. I liked sport, but I loved tennis. I like to think I’m like Roger Federer. He is perfect in that sense. And at 42-years-old, got a good shot at Wimbledon this coming year.  And [I’ve] got a good shot probably going for another 10 years. The thing to do is not ponder because when I’d done one movie, [“The Duellists”], it was a good film, won a prize at Cannes, did no box office whatsoever, because Paramount, God bless them, didn’t know what to do with it. Had Miramax –  did I say that? Been around in those days, it would have known what to do. If you got a prize at Cannes, that the clever thing about Harvey and his brother was, they knew how to sell low-budget movies. Without question, you got to give them that. And they didn’t exist then.  What I thought had been a good movie had wallowed and then disappeared. Seven prints in the United States. My print was on the classical theater on West Wilshire Boulevard, which I still drive past and go, “Yeah, here.” This [was] our only theater in the United States. So, the next one.  Out of the blue, six weeks later, a call from a guy called [at Fox named] Sandy Lieberson who said, ‘Listen, they’ve got this script called ‘Alien.’ You want to read it?”  Because Sandy had seen my film at Cannes.”

[Scott pauses for a moment as we begin an ‘Alien’ tangent.]

Let’s talk about “Alien,” “Blade Runner” and live action cartoons
“Anybody see ‘The Duellists ‘?  Yes. O.K., Pretty good film. Dude, by the way. Even then, that’s low-budget. So, I read ‘Alien,’ because I’m very much a designer and had been a very, very good art director before Lieberson asked me to direct. So, I loved designing and I was very much into Girard’s movies. Anybody know what that is? Mœbius? He is the best of all comic strip artists and futurists that I know and I always stared at in his work and admired his work. So, when they sent me this Alien, which was about a future spacecraft, I thought, “I’m going to make it grubby and grungy, and I’ll do a Moebius on it.  To that extent, I got Moebius to come and design the costumes. Then I got H.R. Giger to come and do the monster. Once I did that, I was flying, but then I pondered too long after that, almost 18 months, before I decided to do ‘Blade Runner.’ Then ‘Blade Runner’ took [too long]. I was impressed it [took] two and a half years to do bloody ‘Blade Runner.’ Then after that, I was so damaged, I then had planned another, which I thought was a pretty good movie, and still runs today, called ‘Legend.’ That failed as well, so I thought, ‘Maybe I should find another job, you know?’  But all these films are, I think they were just early. ‘Blade Runner’ was 30 years too early. Disney now lives on films like ‘Legend.’ They don’t do that [exactly]. That’s not quite right, but they do live action cartoons, because all I was doing was a live action cartoon. Because I was the biggest fan. I would walk down the street at Christmas time to see ‘Fantasia‘ was on or ‘Snow White.’ I’d look left, and look right, and sneak in like I was going into a sex cinema. I’d sit there in this room with maybe three or four people and [spend] an afternoon to watch the cartoons.”

And with that Scott was done. Sure, he has many more days of press for “All The Money.” He’s got the Golden Globes on Jan. 7. He might even stop by the Academy Awards in March, but all the while he’ll absolutely be thinking about what’s next. And what’s next after that and so on.

“All The Money In The World” opens nationwide on Dec. 25.