Ridley Scott Quotes

Being a kid growing up with Kurosawa films and watching Sergio Leone movies just made me love what it could do to you, and how it could influence you - make you dream.

I happen to be one of those rare actors that actually loves very intelligent and well-acted science fiction.

I'm pretty sure my love affair with science-fiction started with ET.

I remember watching Jodie Foster in Contact, and that kind of opened my eyes.

The reason I make movies now has a lot to do with having seen Star Wars when I was seven years old. That's the formative movie-going experience of my life.

It seems like there's a real appetite for science fiction in the States.

As a child I always steered clear of science fiction, but in the autumn of 1977, the bow-wave of publicity for the first 'Star Wars' movie had already reached me, so I was eager for anything science-fictional.

'Transformers' was important and defining for me because it taught me about what kinds of movies I want to make and the kind of actor I want to be, and I have a long way to go before I become that actor.

I have a few friends that have inspired me since I was a young kid. When I watch old films or modern movies - particularly 'Gladiator,' 'New Jack City' and 'The Skin I Live In' - I'll also get ideas.

Ultimately, with every film I'd done before, there was a reference. They have their own uniqueness, but there was always a precedent.

My parents are both huge science-fiction and fantasy fans - I was fed it.

I'm really into sci-fi. The reason I'm an actor is because of 'Star Wars' - I saw that and I knew that's what I wanted to do. But most of the projects I'm offered as an actor are straightforward dramas, so I haven't really been given a chance to do that kind of role.

I wasn't a big science fiction aficionado, there were a few films like 2001 or Blade Runner that were favorites of mine, but since I started this series I have gained more respect for the genre and become more of a fan myself.

I've always been a fan of science fiction films, and I've never been able to put my particular spin on it.

'Amores Perros' and 'Once Were Warriors' had a tremendous visceral quality that really influenced me.

I meet people on the street who literally chose their careers because they saw 'Back to the Future' and decided they wanted to be scientists or astronomers or engineers.

Honestly, I would never say, 'Oh, I've decided not to read 'The Left Hand of Darkness' because I've seen 'Blade Runner.' I've decided not to read 'Neuromancer' because I've seen 'Blade Runner.''

Without science fiction, without the influence these books have had on me over the years, I'm not sure I would care much about reading or writing today.

We all steal, but if we're smart we steal from great directors. Then, we can call it influence.

2001: A Space Odyssey was a wonderful conundrum when I was a boy, with its giant concepts thrown across the giant screen at Indian Hills Theater. That movie woke me up in ways that I hadn't imagined, and I went searching for book versions of the same drug.

Other than life experience, nothing left a deeper imprint on my formative self than the movies.

I watch 2001: A Space Odyssey every time it’s on. I made the kids watch it every time, too, and now they just love watching it. Stanley Kubrick’s great. And Blade Runner is one of my top three science fiction films. A lot of it has come true.

I remember one day when Juan Gris told me about a bunch of grapes he had seen in a painting by Picasso. The next day these grapes appeared in a painting by Gris, this time in a bowl; and the day after, the bowl appeared in a painting by Picasso.

It comes down to trying to expose yourself to the best things humans have done. And then try to bring those things in to what you're doing.

At age 12 I had an obsession with Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange and then proceeded to watch all the other Kubrick films I could including a doc called Stanley Kubrick: A Life in Pictures in which it was revealed to me that he started as a photographer...I got a camera sometime shortly after, but spent many years just photographing flowers in my neighborhood.