Sir Ridley Scott honoured with BAFTA Fellowship

With a high-flying film-making career that has spanned over 40 years, Scott has consistently pushed boundaries, collecting five BAFTA nominations and three Oscar nominations along the way. Now his achievements have been recognised once again by The British Academy of Film and Television Arts who honoured Scott with the Fellowship at the EE British Academy Film Awards on Sunday 18 February. The legendary director has been at the helm of over 25 feature films including Hannibal (2001), Black Hawk Down (2001), Kingdom of Heaven (2005), American Gangster (2007), Body of Lies (2008) and Prometheus (2012). Commenting on his award, Scott said: “It is a privilege to have been able to make a career for myself in this industry and to be honoured for my body of work is indeed very gratifying.” Amanda Berry, chief executive of BAFTA, said: “Ridley Scott is a visionary director, one of the great British filmmakers whose work has made an indelible mark on the history of cinema. His passion and unrelenting pursuit of excellence have provided cinema goers with a tantalising range of films, including Alien, Gladiator, Thelma and Louise and Blade Runner. “40 years since his directorial debut, his films continue to cross the boundaries of style and genre, engaging audiences and inspiring the next generation of film talent.”

“40 years since his directorial debut, his films continue to cross the boundaries of style and genre, engaging audiences and inspiring the next generation of film talent.”

Other fellows of film-making royalty status who have been previously honoured include Charlie Chaplin, Alfred Hitchcock, Steven Spielberg, Stanley Kubrick, Judi Dench and Martin Scorsese. Last year’s awards ceremony saw Mel Brooks receive the Fellowship. The day after receiving his fellowship at the BAFTA awards ceremony, Scott discussed film-making craft and his career at a special ‘BAFTA A Life in Pictures’ event at BAFTA’s headquarters in London.

Celebrating a high-flying career

After completing his studies at the Royal College of Art, Scott’s career began in the 1960s when he joined the BBC as a trainee set designer, working on police series Z-Cars and science fiction series Out of the Unknown. In 1968 Scott, founded production company Ridley Scott Associates (RSA) with his brother Tony. During the 1970s the company went on to produce notable commercials such as the 1973 Hovis advertisement. Scott’s feature film debut followed in 1977 when he directed The Duellists, set during the Napoleonic Wars. The film received cinematography and costume design BAFTA nominations and scooped the Award for Best Debut Film at the Cannes Film Festival. The cinematic success continued with Scott’s next film, Alien (1979), which became one of the most influential science fiction films and featured the iconic female lead, Ellen Ripley. The film won two BAFTAs for production design and soundtrack, and received a further four nominations. Staying within the realm of science fiction, Scott directed Blade Runner in 1982, the fased on Philip K. Dick’s novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep. Scott also served as an executive producer on the Denis Villeneuve-directed sequel Blade Runner 2049 which was released last year. In 1992, one of Scott’s biggest critical successes, Thelma & Louise, was released, landing him his first BAFTA and Oscar nominations for Director. Scott made the move from crime drama to historical drama with his next film Gladiator (2000). The film was a resounding critical success, winning four BAFTAs , five Oscars and a further 10 BAFTA nominations (including a Director nomination for Scott). In 2016, he received another Director nomination for The Martian. Most recently Scott directed and produced All the Money in the World (2017), a drama about the kidnapping of John Paul Getty III. Image credit: BAFTA/Gavin Bond.