Ridley Scott doesn’t mince words, and says exactly what’s on his mind. So, when he was asked recently if he would ever consider directing a “Star Wars” movie, he bluntly stated he’d be “too dangerous” for the gig. The filmmaker noted he has a clear sense of his own vision, and the mega-budgets and moving parts of those kinds of blockbusters just isn’t his cup of tea. Well, it appears he’s been pulled to the Dark Side aka Disney anyway.
The pieces are all coming together for Scott to direct “The Merlin Saga,” which will be his next movie, for the mouse house. Disney has been trying to figure out a Merlin movie for a while now, and a couple years back hired “Game Of Thrones” writer Brian Cogman to write a live action “Sword In The Stone.” Scott actually considered that gig, but decided on this movie instead, which will tell the story of the mystical figure, as penned by Philippa Boyens, a veteran of epic fantasies, as the writer on “The Lord Of The Rings” and “The Hobbit” trilogies. She’ll be working off the books by T.A. Barron which tell the origin and story and rise of Merlin, so I’d imagine the word “franchise” is already being thrown around the conference table.
It’ll be interesting to see if Scott’s efficient, run-and-gun method will work inside the beast that is Disney. But I guess in a career that has seen him try everything (including fantasy with “Legend”), there’s only one way to find out. But let’s just hope he doesn’t find some way to tie this into the “Alien” universe…. [Variety]