Ridley Scott to Journalist Who Says ‘Last Duel’ Is More Realistic Than His Past Films: ‘Go F*ck Yourself’
Ridley Scott is mincing no words on his no-apologies press tour for his latest period piece, “The Last Duel.” The 84-year-old director took a journalist to task in a junket video that’s gone viral on Twitter when the interviewer remarked that his new film is “more realistic” than Scott’s past period efforts like “Robin Hood” (2010) and “Kingdom of Heaven” (2005). The Oscar nominee’s response? “Go fuck yourself.” Check out the clip, which originated from a larger Russian video, below.
“It’s a very realistic film. It looks more realistic than ‘Kingdom of Heaven’ or ‘Robin Hood’ if you’re talking about —,” the interviewer said, before Scott cut him off, saying, “Sir, fuck you. Fuck you. Thank you very much. Fuck you. Go fuck yourself, sir. Go on.”
Scott has two movies out this year, with the “Rashomon”-like rape-revenge odyssey “The Last Duel” and his soapy fashion murder drama “House of Gucci.” In a similarly gloves-off interview, Scott recently blamed millennials for the box-office failure of “The Last Duel,” which barely cracked $10 million on a $100 million budget.
Why was the film such a bomb? Scott shared his take during a recent interview on Marc Maron’s “WTF” podcast.
“I think what it boils down to — what we’ve got today [are] the audiences who were brought up on these fucking cell phones,” Scott said. “The millennian, [who] do not ever want to be taught anything unless you told it on the cell phone…This is a broad stroke, but I think we’re dealing with it right now with Facebook. This is a misdirection that has happened where it’s given the wrong kind of confidence to this latest generation, I think.”
Still, Scott stands by the movie. “That’s the call you make,” he said. “That’s the call Fox made. We all thought it was a terrific script. And we made it. You can’t win all the time. 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.”
Scott also recently slammed the Gucci family’s derisive response to the casting of “House of Gucci,” saying, “The people that were writing from the family to us at the onset were alarmingly insulting, saying that Al Pacino did not represent physically Aldo Gucci in any shape or form. And yet, frankly, how could they be better represented than by Al Pacino? Excuse me! You probably have the best actors in the world, you should be so fucking lucky.”
“The Last Duel” is now available on VOD, while “House of Gucci” is currently in theaters.
Thank you, Sir Ridley, for the ultimate answer to any and all people measuring “realism” and “historical accuracy” in period films.
That’s one for the books. pic.twitter.com/35JLcGsa0g
— Ilya Glazkov (@IlGlaz) December 3, 2021
