Ridley Scott, 86, is not resting on his laurels.
In a new interview with THR, Scott says he knows “what I’m doing for the next three years.” He has three scripts ready to be filmed. Given the vast amount of projects he has in development, it’s not easy pinpointing what those three scripts might be.
News to us, a Battle of Britain film is being written by Joe Penhall, tackling the 1940 air campaign in which the RAF and the FAA defended the UK against the Nazis. With Steve McQueen’s “Blitz” set to be released in a matter of days, Scott might want to wait and see how that film does before embarking on this one.
A certainty is his Bee Gees biopic, which is rumored to have Harry Styles and Paul Mescal attached to star; It’s called “You Should Be Dancing,” and an “early next year” production is being eyed for that film.
Scott also mentions how he would love to finally direct a Western. “I’m a Western fanatic,” Scott says, “and I haven’t done that yet.” He had one ready to be shot this past March, titled “Freewalkers,” but it had to be postponed for unknown reasons. Don’t be surprised if he goes back to that one soon.
There’s also mention of a previously announced thriller, titled "Bomb," from Kevin McMullin, although the scheduling for this film is still unclear. I haven’t even mentioned that Scott has started writing “Gladiator III,” but that seems to be in the very early stages of development and will depend on how well “Gladiator II” does next month.
Also in development, the Wall Street thriller “Big Dogs” and the spy movie “Queen & Country.” In total, that’s seven projects that Scott is currently working on. He’s obviously not going to be directing all of these films, unless he’s still healthy and active at 100 years old, but there’s definitely a lot of work ahead for Scott who will be turning 87 next month.
While James L. Brooks teased last year that "we'll soon be seeing" Jack Nicholson, 89, act again, and that he was "reading scripts," that idea has now been shut down by his close friend Michael Douglas, 82.