Ridley Scott is ready to end a 49-year-old directing streak.
The legendary director’s feature film directorial debut came 49 years ago with the British historical drama The Duellists. Since then, Ridley Scott’s movies have included the iconic Alien (1979), Blade Runner (1982), Thelma and Louise (1991), Gladiator (2000), and The Martian (2015). In just these five movies, he has explored the science-fiction, crime drama, buddy comedy, and historical epic genres in ways that continue to be praised and celebrated.
In an interview with ScreenRant‘s Ash Crossan for The Dog Stars, Scott was asked if there is “a film in the back of your mind that still permeates.” Scott shared that he still wants to make a Western, revealing that he already has a script, while explaining why studios are hesitant about it. He also breaks down how the story is set in early 1829 when the repeating rifle is beginning and the single shot is ending, along with focusing on two men on the Great Plains. Check out his comments below:
I’d love to do a Western. I’ve got the script, and the script is so challenging that studios are terrified about it. I’ve given it to somebody just now to see if they would say yes. I’m trying to start to knock the wall down.
It’s a Western, but more than that, it’s early 1829. It’s just at the beginning of the repeating rifle and the end of the single shot. When you have a single shot, it takes a minute to reload. Already, you’re getting scouts. So, you have to use it as a club. You’re going to die, anyway. It’s minus 20 degrees.
It’s all about that. Two guys on the Great Plains, and it’s about punishment by this tribe, after they do something they shouldn’t have done.
Scott has a career streak of never doing a Western movie, although he has actively tried to make the former happen with Freewalkers. A script was written and production was set to begin in 2024. The story is set in the snow, though, and with filming not ready until the summer of that year when the snow had already melted, along with other challenges, the project was shelved.
In 2025, Scott shared with Dazed Digital that Freewalkers was on his slate of upcoming movies again. However, its reported story of a Native American girl battling measles in the snowy Midwest sounds completely different from the Western he is now describing. While Thelma and Louise has Western elements to it, Freewalkers and the new Western he is describing are poised to be Scott’s first movie fully in the genre.
He is not the only acclaimed director making a feature-length Western for the first time, as Steven Spielberg is doing the same. No plot details have been revealed for Spielberg’s first foray into the genre, other than teasing at SXSW that “it kicks ass. There will be horses. There will be guns. There will be no tropes, I can tell you that. There’s going to be no stereotypes.”
Scott’s newest movie is the post-apocalyptic The Dog Stars starring Jacob Elordi, Margaret Qualley, and Josh Brolin. Paul Mescal, who previously worked with Scott in Gladiator II, was originally going to play The Dog Stars protagonist. He had to exit the project because of scheduling conflicts with Sam Mendes’ The Beatles – A Four-Film Cinematic Event, where he will play Paul McCartney. Elordi then took over the part of The Dog Stars‘ main character, a civilian pilot named Hig.
Along with The Dog Stars and diving into the Western genre, the upcoming movies that Ridley Scott is directing include a Treasure Island adaptation featuring Hugh Jackman as Long John Silver and the Bee Gees biopic You Should Be Dancing. He was also an executive producer for Blade Runner 2099, the miniseries starring Michelle Yeoh and Hunter Schafer coming to Prime Video on November 25.
The Dog Stars releases in theaters on August 28.
- Birthdate
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November 30, 1937
- Birthplace
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South Shields, County Durham, England
- Height
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5 feet 8 inches
- Professions
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Film Director, Producer