Ridley Scott Laments ‘Drowning in Mediocrity’ of Modern Cinema
A new wave of self-reflection has washed over acclaimed director Ridley Scott, prompting him to revisit his own extensive filmography—and reaffirm its quality—amidst a perceived decline in contemporary filmmaking. The 87-year-old filmmaker shared his candid assessment while speaking at the BFI Southbank, as reported by UK Yahoo News, revealing a search for fresh talent often leads to disappointment in current cinematic offerings.
Scott’s talent scouting recently led him to Paul Mescal, who he cast in Gladiator II after being impressed by the actor’s performance in the BBC miniseries Normal People. However, such discoveries are increasingly rare, overshadowed by what Scott describes as a pervasive lack of quality.
“Well, right now I’m finding mediocrity, we’re drowning in mediocrity,” Scott explained. He estimates that of the “millions” of films produced globally, a significant portion falls short of artistic merit. “80-60 percent ‘eh,’ 40 percent is the rest, and 25 percent of that 40 is not bad, and 10 percent is pretty good, and the top 5 percent is great.” While acknowledging the imprecise nature of his calculations (“I’m not sure about the portion of what I’ve just said”), Scott remains firm in his overall critique.
The director believes an overreliance on digital effects is masking a fundamental flaw in many modern movies: weak screenwriting. “I think a lot of films today are saved, and made more expensive by digital effects,” he stated. “Because what they haven’t got is a great [script] on paper first. Get it on paper.”
This dissatisfaction with the current state of cinema has led Scott to an unexpected practice: re-watching his own work. “So what I do—and it’s a horrible thing—but I’ve started to watch my own movies, and actually they’re really good,” he admitted. He cited Black Hawk Down as a recent example, marveling at its enduring quality. “I watched Black Hawk Down the other night and I thought, ‘How the hell did I do that?’”
Looking back at his earlier work, Scott holds particularly fond memories of the 1982 science fiction film Blade Runner. He acknowledged the challenges of bringing his vision to life, noting that its innovative nature may have initially hindered its success. “It was a great movie. Doing it was very hard because, understandably, I think why the film wasn’t successful either was because it was so different and such a new universe,” he said. “I hadn’t seen this before, either, [a movie] getting into the social realms of science fiction.”
Conversely, Scott recalls a less positive experience making the 1979 sci-fi classic Alien, attributing the difficulties to interference from studio executives. “Between my producers, everyone had an opinion, and I was not used to opinions,” he explained. “I’d been on my own boss for years. I had to literally draw the line in the sand and say, ‘Back off. Watch me do this, okay?’ And so it was not a good experience.”
Despite his criticisms, Scott remains optimistic, believing that pockets of excellence still exist within the current film landscape. “I think that occasionally there’s a good one that will happen, it’s like a relief that there’s somebody out there who’s doing a good movie.”
