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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Entertainment

Ridley Scott: superhero movies have no story

Ridley Scott on the set of Alien: Covenant
No plot, no Scott … Ridley Scott on the set of Alien: Covenant. Photograph: Allstar/20th Century Fox

Ridley Scott, the British director famous for Alien, Blade Runner, Gladiator and The Martian, has said he would never direct a superhero movie. Speaking to Digital Spy, Scott, 79, said the genre is “not my kind of thing”.

He said he has turned down several offers. “I can’t believe in the thin, gossamer tightrope of the non-reality of the situation of the superhero,” he said.

Scott conceded that Blade Runner – the 1982 sci-fi starring Harrison Ford – is not wholly dissimilar to today’s superhero films, but that it boasted elements that they lack.

“Blade Runner really is a comic strip when you think about it,” he said. “It’s a dark story told in an unreal world. You could almost put Batman or Superman in that world, that atmosphere, except I’d have a fucking good story, as opposed to no story!”

Scott added: “Cinema mainly is pretty bad.”

A sequel to Blade Runner, directed by Denis Villeneuve and starring Ryan Gosling, is scheduled for release this year. Scott is currently putting the finishing touches to Alien: Covenant, a follow-up to 2013’s Prometheus and a prequel to 1979’s Alien.

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