Ridley Scott Blames Millennials for THE LAST DUEL's Box Office Flop

Director Ridley Scott seems like a really fun guy. He was recently in the news complaining (again) about how terrible superhero movies are. Now he is saying that the reason his film The Last Duel, which hit theaters last month, did poorly in the box office is because of “young people and their cellphones.”

While appearing on the Marc Maron podcast “WTF” on Monday, Maron asked Scott if he believed Disney didn’t do a great job promoting the film. Scott replied:

“No. Disney did a fantastic promotion job. The bosses loved the movie — because I was concerned it was not for them — but they really liked the movie, so their advertising, publicity, et cetera, was excellent.”

He went on to explain:

“I think what it boils down to — what we’ve got today [are] the audiences who were brought up on these fucking cell phones. The millennian do not ever want to be taught anything unless you are told it on the cell phone. This is a broad stroke, but I think we’re dealing with it right now with Facebook. There is a misdirection that has happened where it’s given the wrong kind of confidence to this latest generation, I think.”

Maron said that he thought the time period and action in the film would have been a draw for younger audiences. Scott responded:

“I agree with you. Particularly with Matt Damon, Ben Affleck and Adam Driver and this new girl called Jodie Comer. That’s the call you make. That’s the call that Fox made. We all thought it was a terrific script, and we made it. You can’t win all the time. As far as I’m concerned, I’ve never had one regret on any movie I’ve ever made. Nothing. I learned very early on to be your own critic. The only thing you should really have an opinion on is what you just did. Walk away. Make sure you’re happy. And don’t look back. That’s me.”

He then went on to look back at his film Blade Runner, which also performed poorly in theaters, and that’s apparently the fault of a critic at the time. Scott explained:

“[In 1982], I made a film called ‘Blade Runner.’ It was my third movie. Pretty fuckin’ good. I was killed. I was killed by [film critic] Pauline Kael, who didn’t even meet me. She had never met me and I suddenly read this article in the New Yorker, which is a very classy magazine. I read it, and there’s a four page series of insults. I framed it. It’s in my office right now. I never read criticism. I never read critique ever again, because she was so wrong. I was just way ahead of her.”

Ridley Scott makes some good movies, and some that aren’t as good. But, boy is he a whiner.