in a film career that spans six decades, sir ridley scott's made some of the biggest blockbusters of all time. he cut his teeth making high—profile adverts, like this one for hovis... it was a grand ride back, though. just do a spin and walk backwards there without sliding and falling over. ..before turning his attention to the big screen. the duellists in 1977 was his first film and was set in napoleonic france. his second feature — alien — made a star of its lead actor sigourney weaver, and opened doors in hollywood for its director. blade runner, thelma and louise, gladiator, black hawk down are just some of the film credits to his name. and now, in his 80s, ridley scott has returned to napoleonic france for his 28th movie, the epic napoleon. don't listen to advice, is that your advice? yes. you can only be your own critic. you can't say, "what do you think?" that's a disaster. i'm the bbc�*s culture editor, katie razzall, and i sat down with the acclaimed director ahead of the film's opening. your majesty, we are discovered. good. .ce! - it's a trap! i'm the first to admit when i make a mistake. i simply never do. what is it about napoleon for you? you probably don't know this — there's been 10,400 books written about napoleon bonaparte. you know that? i didn't, but i knew there were a lot, but that is a lot. and that's one book every week since he died. wow. are you kidding? you need me to really go into it? he is so fascinating — revered, hated, loved, and people want to kill him. as to who he was, no—one really knew who he was. and more famous probably than any man or leader or politician in history. so how could you not want to go there? and you talk about history, you talk about all those books. clearly, you have a fascination with history, whether it's gladiator, black hawk down, now napoleon. people are saying, some people are saying, "0h, but you know, marie antoinette — he wasn't at marie antoinette�*s guillotining" or "she had short hair, not long hair". you really want me to answer that? i do. i'll answer it. it'll have a bleep in it! well, i heard someone on the radio today, who was a historian, saying, "it's not a documentary, it's a film, it's entertainment, it's fantastic". did he? good. she. great. and also my answer, any historian, the first thing is, "excuse me, were you there? oh, you weren't there. how do you know?" "well, because. i say, "well, there's 10,500 thousand books, you can't tell me there's not 98% conjecture. give me a break". as he researched the film, scott took inspiration from renowned artworks depicting napoleon. this one, la sacre de napoleon was painted in 1807 by jacques—louis david and influenced the palette and look of the coronation scene. i picked it up with the tip of my sword and placed it atop my own head. there's so many portraits of napoleon. how much did you look at them and think about them before? i live with books. i don't... i tend not to read, i tend to look at pictures. i mean, i will read as and when i have to, but the picture says everything because the paintings of those days were like taking a six foot plate camera shot of bonaparte and everything around him and all the people around him — there it is. so my imagination runs riot and i'm away, and i need a writer to do it. ready! wait. let them think they have the higher ground. send in the infantry, take their position on the higher ground. cavalry from the west. here's their flank. and for us, we really want to get a sense of you as a director, and when i watched your film, i mean, those scenes particularly austerlitz, i mean, just completely stunning and beautiful. they're epic. they're works of art. how do you carry something off like that, for example, the battle of austerlitz over the ice? how do you make that? well, the battle — the ice, the lake was an airfield just outside of london. and the reverse angle in the trees was where i made gladiator. so i managed to blend them together digitally, and so you get the scale and the scope of what would be a lake outside — i think, was it austria? but what i'm also fortunate to have done in my life, i spent a long time at a very good art school. it was a brilliant little art school in the north of england called west hartlepool college of art. and i learned more there than i did at the royal college of art. and then i got into the royal college of art and from that, i started to study. there was no film school. and so there were no film schools in england at that point. so i didn't know how to get in, but i knew i wanted to be a director, but i was too embarrassed to discuss it with anyone cos people say... why were you embarrassed? well, because only guys in hollywood directed. how do you get to hollywood to direct a movie? and i was engaged notjust in hollywood movies, but i was totally taken with european movies — italians, french, ingmar bergman, particularly, and then, of course, kurosawa. so there are these guys who were all kind of either far east or european, and i could feel the difference between these films and hollywood films, but they all were to be enjoyed and embraced. who did this? they did. no, they did not. be sensible. who set these fires? your majesty, they did. he'd rather burn his own city than negotiate with me. i didn't think he had the courage. did all routes lead to napoleon? you know, your first film was set during the napoleonic wars, the duellists. well, you know what, the duellists was more discovered by accident because we started a company called scott free year one and the guy who was running it, i'm afraid i beat him and said, "you got me a period film to do and i want to make a modern film. period films don't work". that said, upshot was we kind of got it financed and i had to make a film called the duellists. could you just hit the map, please? 0k, just boom, crunch. 0k. there's a general rush that won't be there yet, so it'll be a beat later, ok? then they start coming in. then harvey, just to look to see how bad it is, can you come camera left a touch, please? there. ok, then walk away again. 0k. that would work out. and i was very good at period because of my success as a commercial—maker. i'm blessed with a good eye, i think. that's my strongest asset. i think we can probably say that. very easy. and so i could turn something pretty rubbish into something good. the power of the visual images is as powerful as the written word, without question. so the duellists became a very beautiful film which circled the whole idealism and class structure of napoleon bonaparte. he had smartly decided after a quick start that he needed the old guard with the working class guys. so harvey keitel was working class, keith carradine was upper class. upshot was we got a prize at cannes and i ended the film on an image of napoleon bonaparte because it was the back view of keitel, who adored and revered bonaparte. shouts kill me. doing the film in the dordogne, doing a film about bonaparte with all the trappings, i couldn't forget him, so it started to come back to me. i said — you know, there's no long run in on this, it's about three or four years ago — you know what i want to do? napoleon, because i can, i can call it up and if i get the script right and there's a lot of argument about money and all that stuff, i can get things going. and that's how it began. ready? action, action! when you talk, i think back to your earlierfilms, you weren'tjust directing, you were also operating the camera. do you miss that? no. when i was... i did a lot of commercials personally. i'd do 100 a year, personally. and when you're doing two a week, the most powerful couple on the floor is the first ad and a camera operator. and i've been on the set of feature films where the director's gone off to his trailer and the operator and the first ad line up the shots. that ain't happening to me. so i started on commercials, commercials were my film school, so i was a very good operator. so there was one camera — duellists, me, alien, me. i couldn't do blade runner cos i was in hollywood and they wouldn't let me operate. legend, me — right through to thelma & louise. and then i started to get links through camera to digital pictures, so i suddenly started using four cameras. so it's better for me to be in a trailer with four monitors and i can watch and talk to each operator expert and say, "you missed the shot, you're too wide, you're too tight, that was good, change the lens". and now i do 11 cameras. was it 11 on napoleon? well, napoleon was shot in 61 days, so if you know anything about movies, that should mean 120. so in all my dialogue scenes, i always have four cameras, so it means that it frees the actor to come off piste and improvise. because once you improvise it, when you improvise with one camera and it doesn't work, you've got to say, "cut". improvise with four cameras, just keep moving. if the other actor's fast as well, you get great freedom. so four cameras would give actors freedom for me and save repetition, which is disastrous. hey, marco! charlie! so usually you're sitting where? in your trailer? i have a trailer now. and you're directing all the cameras? airconned with. .. so they're outside in 180 degrees, i'm inside, coming outside, saying, shouting, "faster! " that sounds good, that sounds good. and on one of the battle scenes, i mean, how are you directing all those cameras through those incredible scenes? walkie—talkie — "camera 1, 2, 6, you missed it, change your lens". so i did a very brief time at the bbc as a director, so i experienced six cameras in the gallery at tc1, directing live six cameras on drama. so you're watching six cameras. so i'm cutting a scene in the trailer as i'm watching it. i'm not built like other men. and i'm not subject to petty insecurity. you're a beast. i feel sorry for you. you want to be great, hmm? you are nothing without me. you are just a brute - that is nothing without me. i hear there is a longer version, a director's cut for apple tv. is that happening? we're not allowed to talk about that. 0h! but of course, there always is. but also what you learn in commercial—making, there's a length to it. really, the big question in commercial, why i was successful was i was my own critic. i was always saying, am i communicating? am i getting through to you? do you get what i'm telling you in 30 seconds or 60 seconds? same happens in film, and you can bore the ass off people if you're running for three hours. there's a moment where i call the bum ache factor. you say, oh, another hour, you're kidding me? ithink you say, oh, another hour, you're kidding me? i think when you're cutting, you've got to constantly watch that and i always slightly stepped back of the cutting process. you can only do this with a very good actor. i let them cut when i'm filming. then in the weekend, they say i have real one, two, or have a look at the scene. i will go and have a look at it. it is a bit like if you write a book, probably what you need is a very good book editor. do you really need this, that and that? 0nce do you really need this, that and that? once i have cut it, shouted and boarded it, step back and let the editor get on set and look at it. so suddenly clean and they are embedded in looking at shots. they run it, i go, that, that, that. and when they agree, it means you're like a two—person computer. and that's how you get to it. so you get to it. and one thing i want to ask you, just about length of films. they seem —— did you watch the 5.5 hour abel gance napoleon? i watched 2 hours. i mean, it's quite magic costume and wardrobe and design and photography. but, you know, it's what's those victorian machines that have plate glass images and you flicking through and you get image after image is like that. beautiful. why are you staring at me? i was not. 0h, oh, you weren't? i was. i was staring at your face. the movie comes in atjust over two and a half hours, which is considerably shorter than the latest offerings from scott's film—making peers. that comes under the heading of bum ache when you start to go, oh my god, christ, we can't eat for another hour! it is too long. you should be fully engaged. the moment where engagement bends, you have to spot that moment and say, why is it bending? and you close it up and say, oh, we passed over nicely. and of course, the danger is by the time we get cut in such a long movie, people get weary. and the danger is you're listening to advice. don't listen to advice, is that your advice? yes. you can only be your own critic. you can see what you think? that's a disaster. whose country are we in? are you the kind of director who wants your film in cinemas for a long time before it gets on tv? there was a bit of a tug of war on this one. there were saying streaming, i was like, no! ., ., , , ., ., like, no! how long is it question at all, it's nothing _ like, no! how long is it question at all, it's nothing to _ like, no! how long is it question at all, it's nothing to do _ like, no! how long is it question at all, it's nothing to do with - like, no! how long is it question at all, it's nothing to do with the - all, it's nothing to do with the length., no, i mean how long before it comes on tv. 0h, probably six months. that has a long time, you won that battle?— months. that has a long time, you won that battle? yes, you have to. great respect _ won that battle? yes, you have to. great respect for _ won that battle? yes, you have to. great respect for anybody - won that battle? yes, you have to. great respect for anybody who - won that battle? yes, you have to. | great respect for anybody who gives me the money to do what i do, we will respect. i tend to end up under budget, right. ithink will respect. i tend to end up under budget, right. i think we were under budget, right. i think we were under budget on the bullying, quite a lot, because of the multi—camera, it is so efficient. they were shocked at 61 days, so it was a big saving. and so also you've got to make sure you get it. there's no point in going fast if you don't get it. but i got everything, you can tell that. napoleon. i'm destined for greatness. but those in power only see me as a sword~ _ do you care what the critics say? clearly, you've got amazing reviews here and not such good ones in france. how do you feel? did we have bad reviews in france? barbie and ken under the empire. vive la france with american accents. and they're saying it's very anti—french and very pro—british. the french don't even like themselves. 0k. live very much enjoyed your film. what's interesting is the audience i showed it to in paris, they loved it. great. we'll see. but then you're talking about the people. once this publicity round for napoleon is finished, scott will be back on the set of gladiator 2. filming on the sequel to the hugely popular 0scar winning movie is just starting again after it was interrupted by the actors�* strike. how how many films are you juggling at the moment and how do you keep going? well, i'm doing gladiator now. i return next week to finish. and then i've already recced and i've written and i've cast the film i'm going to do next year. so i work that way and when i'm already in the post, and they flying in the editing, there's no problems, i'm already prepping. i mean, it is incredible. i hope you don't mind my raising your age, but you are 85. a lot of 85—year—olds might be slowing down, but you're not. how are you planning on spending the rest of your years? are you going to just keep working? yeah. i mean, i go from here to malta. i shoot in malta, finish there. and i've already recorded what i'm doing next. what are you doing next? i'm not going to tell. no, but i've already cast it all. so it's cast, written and prepped it. and in terms of gladiator, you mentioned it, why did you want to go back to gladiator? why not? you kidding? my name is maximus decimus meridius, commander of the armies of the north general of the felix legions. loyal servant to the true emperor, marcus aurelius. father to a murdered son, husband to a murdered wife, and i will have my vengeance — in this life or the next. it is one of your best films. i love that film. yeah, but i mean, we had a... we circled the wagons on the story. and you know any story's a good story depending how it's conceived. and i know that's a big, broad statement, but dickens would do it, make a story about a guy who sold shoelaces and it was fascinating. so it really is where you're coming from. and we just circled the wagons. i thought, why not? and you get in there. finally, the biggest challenge of all is getting it on paper first. once on paper, it's relatively straightforward. you know, as you say, you trained at art school, you're very visual. you storyboard everything yourself. totally. you can publish them as comic strips and literally draw... give you an example. i did the duellists and they made seven prints in the united states. so i said to david puttnam, lord puttnam, isaid, is this normal? he said, no, it's not normal. they obviously don't like the movie. so he'd won a prize at cannes. they didn't know what to do with it. so someone at cannes saw the film and bizarrely said, this guy might be good for alien, sir. i don't know what the connection was, but i was given an alien script. i thought, wow. said yes, went there, met them, and he changed. no, never say give notes because you can turn a go film into a development deal. you just shut up and say, i love it. so then i went home and the budget was 11.2 million, which is four times more than duellists was. i did boards for about months a month, went back to america and the budget doubled 8.4. so suddenly they see the vision go, wow. and so we went to double the budget. the power of a board, if you can get it right and it comes from the director, it's really... because a lot of people can't translate what's on paper to what it's going to be. and that's myjob. although gladiator won best picture at the oscars, scott's three nominations in the best director category have come to nothing. this why have you never won a best directing 0scar? you're such a great director. is it because they don't like big blockbusters and you make blockbusters? i've never thought. i don't really care. you wouldn't want one for napoleon? well, i'm a knight, so what else do you want? i'm a knight in morocco as well. i've been knighted in morocco as well, because the black hawk, of heaven because it was revered and appreciated and understood the muslims, so it's a big film in egypt, big film in north africa. one thing i just wondered is do you see yourself as a feminist director? because looking back at your work, clearly you cast sigourney weaver as a sort of action hero back in the �*70s. thelma and louise, an amazing film. you know, people have never mentioned the best woman's film i've made. it's called gi jane. and it didn't play because demi moore... she kind of got herself into trouble at that point. she was less popular at that point for various reasons. and you watch the film, its amazing. and she is amazing and the script is very, very good because it puts a far more stringent, in—your—face questions about the feminism in this film, about the army and the bad guys. anne bancroft plays a senator saying, "i want a woman up there in the bastion of men's, whatever it is". because she will win, hoping she's going to lose. of course she doesn't, she wins. i can't afford civility, sir. how am i supposed to fit in with these guys when you've got me set up as an outsider? your younger self, what advice would you have for you? no advice, i did pretty good. and you don't take advice, as we know. i got there. you did. you did get there. i promise you successes. well, thank you so much. it's been a real treat to speak to you. thank you so much, sir ridley scott. thank you. hello there. we've had some more rain around today but after today and perhaps tomorrow, the rest of the week is looking pretty dry. at the moment, we've got the rain because we've got low pressure sitting very close to the uk. that's brought some heavy rain earlier on in wales and across northern england. that rain moving away from wales but we'll keep the rain going into the night across northern england, perhaps southern scotland. some rain comes back into northern ireland and then we get this curl of rain sweeping eastwards across southern parts of england and wales. so a bit of a messy night. we will find some clearer spells developing through the midlands and lowest temperatures will be around 5—6 degrees, so a little bit chillier than it was last night. that rain in the south—east soon moves away and then, broadly speaking, it's going to be quite cloudy. there will be some showers around, maybe some sunshine, though, for a good part of the day across east anglia and the south—east. it will get windy, though, across northern ireland and across these western coastal areas. it will be a chillier wind as well, and on the whole, temperatures will be a little bit lower than we've seen over the weekend. but after monday, then, there may not be a great deal of sunshine but there probably won't be an awful lot of rain through the rest of the week, either. we're going to find this area of high pressure tending to build towards the uk. a northerly wind, though, is bringing in some chillier air as we head into tuesday. it may well bring in more cloud again and a few showers across england and wales — those should tend to move away. some sunshine for a while for scotland and northern ireland before it clouds over here, a little rain in the far north of scotland. those temperatures continuing to just slip away a little bit. so typically around 9 or 10 degrees. and it could be quite chilly overnight across england and wales. it may be the coldest night over the week ahead. things start to turn milder though across scotland and northern ireland, because the wind direction changes. there's that colder air, but this is the air we're going to get into through the rest of the week. it's a milder air coming around the top of an area of high pressure and it's broadly a westerly wind. it will bring in a lot of cloud across northern parts of the uk and some rain into northern and western areas of scotland. further south, a lot of dry weather. a bit of sunshine coming through now and again but as you can see, there will be a lot of cloud around. you can see how the temperatures are changing, back up to 1a degrees across many parts of scotland. that's wednesday. into thursday, still the high pressure to the south, still that westerly wind and most of the rain will be in the far north of the uk. abdulrahman al—thani live from london, abdulrahman al—thani this is bbc news. live from london, this is bbc news. the world health organization says 31 premature babies have been evacuated from al shifa hospital in gaza — they are now believed to have crossed into egypt for treatment. the prime minister of qatar suggests israel and hamas could be close to a deal to release some of the hostages being held in gaza. here in the uk, the chancellor insists he will be responsible when it came to any future tax cuts ahead of a key fiscal update later this week. airline passengers face hours of delays at heathrow airport after air traffic control imposes restrictions on how many planes can land or take—off. and at the cricket world cup, australia are chasing a victory target of 241 runs to beat india in the final in ahmedabad — with a live crowd of 100,000 spectators. hello, i'm rich preston. a very warm welcome to the programme.