Acclaimed Academy Award-nominee Ridley Scott was fêted in style as the 30th recipient of the American Cinematheque Award in Beverly Hills. Even A-list in Hollywood was beyond impressed.
“Are you kidding?” quipped noted cinematographer Paul Laufer, “Just look at his credits — ‘Alien,’ ‘Thelma and Louise,’ ‘Gladiator,’ ‘Blade Runner,’ ‘Hannibal’ — He’s huge.”
“Bourne Identity” series star Matt Damon awarded the honor, which concluded an evening of in-person tributes from host Russell Crowe as well as Noomi Rapace, Katherine Waterston and Sigourney Weaver.
Scott was born across the pond and ambition was in his eyes at a young age, as was some serious talent.
He joined the BBC in 1962 as trainee set designer working on several high profile shows.
A few years later, he began working with producer David Puttnam in the 1970s developing ideas for feature films. Their first joint endeavor, “The Duellists” won the Jury Prize for Best First Work at Cannes in 1977 and was nominated for the Palm d’Or, more than successfully launching Scott’s feature film career.
The success of “Star Wars: Episode IV — A New Hope” inspired Scott’s return to sci-fi. Next, he took the bold move to direct Dan O’Bannon’s low budget sci-fi horror movie “Alien,” a critical and commercial success that firmly established his worldwide reputation as a movie director.
“Blade Runner” followed in 1982 and was hailed as one of the most important sci-fi movies ever made.
Scott’s next major project was back in the advertising world, where he created another of the most talked-about advertising spots in broadcast history when his smashing “1984”-inspired ad for the new Apple Macintosh computer was aired during the Super Bowl on Jan. 22, 1984. Then things got really royal.
Sir Ridley was knighted in 2003 for his “substantial contribution to the British film industry.”
And there was Hollywood royalty to boot. The event’s co-chair list was Oscar worthy indeed, including locals like Jeffrey Katzenberg, Brian Grazer and Brad Grey, in addition to Hollywood heavyweights like Ben Affleck, Jerry Bruckheimer, Bradley Cooper, Matt Damon, Michael Douglas, Pauletta and Denzel Washington, and many more.
Now that’s what I would call a Scott’s honor!