What's Creative?: Sir Ridley Scott: Sci-Fi Mastermind

Born in northeastern England in 1937, Sir Ridley Scott would go on to transform his advertising career into one of cinematic stardom, earning numerous accolades in the film industry along the way. Scott is probably one of the most versatile directors in the film industry at the moment, having directed loosely-religious-based epics like Exodus: Gods and Kings to historical-military adaptations such as Black Hawk Down. However, I’d argue that his most creative works have to be within the science fiction genre, for reasons I hope you all will see as this blog progresses.

From a young age, Scott was inundated with the genre of science fiction in both literature and film. He recalls having read multiple novels from H.G Wells when he was a child, and having viewed films such as It! The Terror from Beyond Space, The Day the Earth Stood Still, and Them! when he was slightly older. Scott also claims that the boom in the industrial architecture surrounding the town in which he grew up (Hartburn, County Durham) allowed him to form mental images in his mind for a screenplay taking place in the future, equating industrial growth with societal advancement. All of these convergent elements, catalyzed by their combination with the general dystopian attitudes present in the population in the face of World War II—which sometimes seeps its way into Scott’s films—it is no surprise that much of Scott’s creative process stems from his childhood history.

After graduating with a degree in design from the West Hartlepool College of Art, Scott went on to study at the Royal College of Art in London, and ultimately went on to join the BBC as a trainee set designer, getting his feet wet in designing many notable British TV shows at the time such as Z-Cars and the science fiction series Into the Unknown. He later would create his own film and production organization, titled Ridley Scott Associates (RSA), where he would first get his feet wet in directing a myriad of advertisements that would be shown on national television.

Scott had originally wanted to go down the route of adapting historically correct adaptations of plays in the middle ages and well-known military battles throughout history, but after viewing the success of many sci-fi films such as Star Wars and 2001: A Space Odyssey, he became convinced that he should focus on the realm of science fiction in film. He finally got his chance when he was approached to direct what would become one of the most popular science fiction horror films of the 1970s, and one that still holds a vast following today, the one and only Alien.

Scott recalls going against many of the producers’ opinions on how Alien should have been filmed. For starters, he actively selected the film’s central protagonist to be female and as such, be played by an actress. The name that he settled on was Ellen Ripley, who would be played by Sigourney Weaver. This was something that went against the status quo in the sci-fi genre at the time, even in the 1970s. He set the narrative for the mysterious “Weyland-Yutani Corporation” in the film, which serves as partial antagonists in the film and is portrayed as a firm with mysterious ulterior motives that attempts to create a suspicious “perfect life-form” through either ethical and unethical routes. In developing the set for the film, Scott spared no expense in coming as close as possible to a functioning form of “futuristic” technology, so that it would seem real to the audience and to the actors as well. He ordered tons of fiberglass, sand, wood, gravel and molding materials be sent to the film’s production area to make every set as realistic as possible for filming the spacecraft and planet the film takes place on. He even went as far to incorporate some industrial architecture into his design for the main ship the film takes place on, the Nostromo.

Finally, Scott set about integrating a horror element that he had seen in some of the sci-fi movies during his childhood. He states that he felt that such scenes often prioritized raw action at the expense of theatrical elements, resulting in something that often looked ridiculous. Scott attempted to incorporate more psychological horror into Alien, and actually measured the fear that some members of a test audience felt in the film’s preview to judge what points he should work on. One of the said scenes became such a poignant part of the film that it has attracted a large cult following separate from that of the film. The scene portrays a baby Xenomorph (the alien species that serves as the primary antagonist in the film) bursting from the chest of an unsuspecting crew member. To enhance the fear factor of the scene, Scott only instructed the actors that something would burst out of the chest of one of their colleagues, and didn’t specify how the said creature would do so and at what time it would do so, in addition to many details about the scene. As a result of Scott’s purposeful omittance, many of the shocked and horrified reactions that can be witnessed by the crew of the Nostromo in this scene are completely real and had a very noticeable effect on the test audience, which was seen to cower in fear and even move to the back of the theater in some cases.

Combining elements of dystopian science fiction mixed with hyper-technological elements and finally, mixing the two with elements of horror allowed Scott to introduce a novel concept to the aspect of sci-fi horror, one that resonates with audiences even today. I believe that Scott and his respective works emphasize middle-C creativity, as he is able to combine various aspects of established genres in the film (horror, sci-fi, action, thriller, etc.) and create an amalgamation showcasing the positive aspects of said genres, which proves to be very captivating to watch. While it may not be industry or world-changing, it’s a very unique take that many people appear to value, judging from the vast following that his films have generated, one they continue to do so.

Scott’s prowess in the field of sci-fi isn’t just limited to big-screen motion pictures, however. While trying to detox from the stressful midterm exams I’ve encountered over the past couple of weeks, I stumbled upon a recent television series titled Raised By Wolves (the first episode is free through HBO Max’s youtube channel, I’ve attached the link below and suggest you guys check it out). Having just finished it’s the first season, I thought it would be a good show to binge. From the first ten minutes of the movie, I noticed distinct aspects of Scott’s film style, and it was no surprise to find that his name was listed as one of the directors and producers of the series, one that has received enough positive reviews to net a few more seasons down the line. The series centers around two androids sent to the Earth-like planet Kepler 22-b to help repopulate humanity after a war between a militant atheist movement and a monotheistic cult known as the Mithraic destroys the Earth.