Ridley Scott has a colorful response for a journalist who tries to compliment The Last Duel by calling it more realistic than the director’s previous movies. The mind behind classics like Alien and Gladiator, Scott is one of the most prolific directors working today. Thanks to back-to-back titles this fall, Scott’s been in the news quite a bit recently. His latest release, House of Gucci, has been drumming up awards talk, but October’s The Last Duel hasn’t been without major conversation either.
Historical epic The Last Duel arrived exclusively in theaters after debuting at select film festivals. It earned mixed-to-positive reviews, with many praising Ridley’s visual approach to the medieval tale. The Last Duel tells the story of a 14th century duel from the perspectives of the three people at the center of it: Jean de Carrouges (Matt Damon), Jacques le Gris (Adam Driver), and Marguerite de Carrouges (Jodie Comer), Jean’s wife who was raped by le Gris. Though it received much buzz ahead of time thanks to Scott’s place as director and the onscreen reunion of Damon and Ben Affleck, The Last Duel struggled to make an impact at the box office.
Scott is known for being protective of his movies, and The Last Duel is no exception. The director recently spoke with Russian journalist Anton Vladimirovich Dolin about The Last Duel, and when Dolin tried to compliment the movie, Scott got a bit blunt. The journalist started to say The Last Duel looks more realistic than some of Scott’s previous movies, specifically citing Kingdom of Heaven and Robin Hood. Scott’s response was swift: “Sir, fuck you. Fuck you. Thank you very much. Fuck you. Go fuck yourself, sir. Go on.”
This is hardly the first time in recent weeks Scott has gotten a bit outspoken over one of his movies. Following the Gucci family’s public condemnation of House of Gucci just last week, Scott called them “alarmingly insulting” and defended how he chose to depict the real life events that the film is about. Going back to The Last Duel, the 84-year-old director raised some eyebrows when he blamed the movie’s box office failure on millennials’ inability to look up from their phones.
At this point, any hopes that Scott will adopt a more subdued public persona is probably wishful thinking. He stands by his work, and he isn’t afraid to call out those who disagree with what he’s done. Both House of Gucci and The Last Duel have revealed unique examples of this, and there will surely be more whenever Scott returns with another movie (Gladiator 2, perhaps?). Just remember that, if you start to criticize one of his movies, he might not respond very kindly.
