Researching Thriller Films - Sir Ridley Scott

Ridley Scott was born in South Shields, near Newcastle, in 1937. He has been nominated for 3 Academy Awards, was knighted in 2003, and his films have grossed over $1billion.

His brother, Tony, also a director, started a film production company with Scott in 1968, the year he left the BBC. He started by developing TV advert - most notably the Hovis advert in 1974. Scott then decided to move to Hollywood to pursue his big screen dream.

His first big film was released in 1977, called 'The Duellests'. It won an award at the Cannes Film Festival, but didn't make a big commercial impact. It was, however, enough to get Scott noticed.

His first major film was 'Alien', in 1979. He was offered several jobs at the time, but after seeing how big 'Star Wars' had become, he decided to enter the sci-fi market. It was an 'effect' film - one that uses special effects wherever it can, and this seemed to work, as it earned over $100million in the box office.

'Blade Runner' came along in 1982, and crashed at the box office - it didn't make as much as expected. Scott put this down to it being rush-released, so created some 'director's cuts', and since then, it has received a mass cult following, and has been voted one of the greatest films of all time.

In 1984, Scott was approached to create the advert to launch the Apple Macintosh, merely entitled '1984'. They had nearly $1m to spend, and it was only broadcast on TV twice. Despite this, the ad has been voted the best of all time.

After some box office failures, Scott decided to try and stop getting stereotyped as the sci-fi/fantasy genre director. 'Thelma & Louise', in 1991, reignited Scott's media reputation. After another failure, he decided to take a 4-year hiatus.

It wasn't until 2000, when Scott released 'Gladiator' that his reputation as one of the great directors came about. It was massively successful, earning over $450million at the box office. He was then asked to direct 'Hannibal' in 2001, which followed 'Gladiator', and also raised over $350million. Scott was beginning to gain a title of having 'gold dust in his camera.'

In the same year, 'Black Hawk Down' was released, and earned, again, over $200million - Scott has earned nearly $1billion dollars in the space of 18 months. 2005 saw the release of 'Kingdom of Heaven', a film about the crusades. Just like his previous 3 films, most of it was filmed in Morocco, and earned over $200million. In 2007, he released 'American Gangster, based on the true life story of a drugs gang. Again, this earned over $200million at the box office.

Over the next couple of years, Scott will release 'Robin Hood', and 'The A-Team', plus an 'Alien' prequel, and a film linked to the 'Red Riding' trilogy. These films should prove that Sir Ridley Scott is one of the best directors of modern times.

Researching Thriller Films - Martin Scorsese

Martin Scorsese was born in 1942, in New York City. An Academy-Award winner, he has directed over 20 feature length films, and has been named the 2nd best director of all time.

In early life, his parents used to take him to the cinema, and Martin took a big interest in historical films. This obviously influenced his future choice of career, and also what type of films he made. Originally, he wished to be a priest, but decided to attend film school instead.

After passing from film school, Scorsese released his first feature-length film with a friend from school, in 1968 - 'Who's Knocking At My Door?' The next 5 years was spent learning, experimenting and creating 3 more films, but it wasn't until 1974, when Martin released 'Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore', that he suddenly hit the big stage. The film was nominated for 3 Academy Awards, and won 1, for Best Acress.

'Taxi Driver' came next, in 1976.It was nominated for 4 Academy Awards, but won none. However, this did catapult Scorsese into the spotlight, and suddenly he was offered parts within films. It was his second collaboration with Robert De Niro - a man who would become very closely associated with Scorsese.

'New York New York' followed in 1977, and was Scorsese's first venture into musical cinema. De Niro returned, with Liza Minnelli appearing. It flopped massively at the box office, and was known for its Frank Sinatra-covered theme tune. It was almost like a baby for Scorsese, and with the film being so poorly received, he went into a state of depression, and developed a cocaine addiction.

This addiction continued all the way until 1980, when Robert De Niro returned to 'save' Scorsese's life. He told him to kick the addiction, and when he released 'Raging Bull', it became his masterpiece. It received 8 nominations at the Academy Awards, of which it won 2 - Scorsese won his only Best Director Oscar. It has been voted the best sports film of all time.

It wasn't until 1986, however, that his run of blockbusters began. 'The Colour of Money' (1986), 'The Last Temptation of Christ' (1988), 'Goodfellas' (1990), 'Cape Fear' (1991), 'The Age of Innocence' (1993), 'Casino' (1995), and 'Kundun' (1997) all received Oscar nominations - 23 in total. It only won 3, but made Scorsese one of the best known directors of all time.

More recently, 'Gangs of New York', from 2002, gained Scorsese critical acclaim for a stunning work. Some say it is his best ever film. It gained 10 Academy Award nominations, but didn't win any. 'The Aviator' came next, in 2004, and this was another film that was said to be one of the best films ever made. It won 5 Oscars from a possible 11. 'The Departed' was released in 2006, and towards the end of February this year, 'Shutter Island' will be released, in time for Oscars in 2011.

Researching Thriller Films - Directors

Quentin Tarantino

Tarantino is a well-known director, specialising in thrillers. He is known for his very violent films, and was named the 12th best director of all time by 'Total Film' magazine in 2007.

Thrillers directed include:

- Reservoir Dogs (1992)

- Kill Bill franchise (2003-04)

- Death Proof (2007)

Alfred Hitchcock 
Hitchcock is the 'Godfather of Film'. He is known for his quirky films, with most being psychological thrillers. In the 'Total Film' list, Hitchcock was listed as the best director of all time.

Thrillers directed include:

- The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956; 1 Academy Award)

- North by Northwest (1959)

- Psycho (1960; 1 Golden Globe)

Christopher Nolan

Nolan is only 39, but has created two of the best thrillers of all time - reviving the Batman saga. His achievements as a director have led to him being named as 32nd best director of all time in 'Total Film.

Thrillers directed include:

- Batman Begins (2005)

- The Prestige (2006)

- The Dark Knight (2008; 2 Academy Awards, 1 Golden Globe)

Martin Scorsese

Scorsese is one of the most renowned directors of all time. He was listed as the 2nd greatest director of all time by 'Total Film', and his work has included some of the great films of the last century.

Thrillers directed include:

- Goodfellas (1990; 1 Academy Award)

- Cape Fear (1991)

- Gangs of New York (2002; 2 Golden Globes)

Stephen Spielberg

Spielberg is one of the best directors of the last decade or so, and has made billions of dollars in revenue from his films. The 'Total Film' list named him as the 3rd best director of all time.

Thrillers directed include:

- Jurassic Park (1993; 3 Academy Awards)

- Minority Report (2002)

- Munich (2005)

 











(clockwise from top left: Tarantino, Hitchcock, Nolan, Spielberg, Scorsese)


The 'Total Film' director list can be found here.