Following the blindsiding news that director Tony Scott onto Twitter and you’ll see just how many people are weighing in with their thoughts on Scott.
It brings chills to read he left “several notes to loved ones” in his car as well as a suicide note in his office. For me, this is a little part of my adolescence passing away as Scott’s films were frequently on my must see list whenever he had something new on the horizon.
I only got to sit down and interview him once as part of a roundtable for his 2005 film Domino. In a curiously ironic sort of way, seeing how I’ve just redesigned the website, you can check out that interview right here where it remains in an old version of the site as part of a feature I did for that film.
That interview piece is specific to Scott’s directorial style. The word auteur is thrown around now as if it means the same thing as calling someone a director. No, not so, and to watch a Tony Scott film is to truly understand what an auteur is. For better or (at times) worse, Tony Scott was an action film auteur.
You watch a film and even without seeing the credits you’ll know if you’re watching a Tony Scott film. There’s also this progression in style that you can easily notice from Top Gun to Days of Thunder to True Romance to Enemy of the State, Domino, Man on Fire and onward to his final feature, 2010’s Unstoppable starring Chris Pine and Denzel Washington.
His films grew in their intensity over the years — the color, the cuts, the music. You knew you were watching a Tony Scott film due to this visual panache and could easily spot a copycat. In fact, Scott’s style became even more intense as the years went on with what now looks like tame filmmaking in Top Gun, to the growing intensity and black comedy of True Romance, the eye-in-the-sky, quick cuts and notable accompanying score of Harry Gregson-Williams on Enemy of the State and Spy Game. Gregson-Williams teamed with Scott on a countless number of films since the two first worked together on 1990’s Revenge.
Scott’s blistering vision of the world went sepia in Man on Fire and became all out madness in 2005’s Domino. I didn’t always like all of his films, but I anticipated each and every one of them. Only Scott could make me even mildly curious as to what could possibly happen when a train is loose on the rails, which I called “dumb” yet entertaining in my review.
As soon as I read the first headline saying Scott had committed suicide it didn’t seem real. He what?!?!
Thoughts go to questions of “Why?” Then my thoughts went to that pink hat he always seemed to wear, the Scott Free Productions logo and then to Top Gun, a film that made me want to join the Navy at the age of nine and the first film that had me rushing to the stores to buy the soundtrack. I had entered… “The Danger Zone.”
Top Gun is among my favorite films. So is Days of Thunder, a film many ridicule, but one I saw several times in theaters alone let alone the number of times I’ve watched it at home. I never hesitate at the chance to tell someone, “Rubbin’ is racin’.”
I love Spy Game and in a conversation of what I believe to be Scott’s best films that would certainly be a contender for the top spot. But beyond the specific titles, the one thought that remains is Scott was a director that was a true entertainer and his passion for his work was visible on screen, with his lust to entertain and electrify the audience.
It’s a sad day for movie lovers and my thoughts go out to his family and loved ones. Scott leaves behind wife Donna and sons Max and Frank and, as we all know, his brother and production partner Ridley Scott.
He was recently reportedly being seen this past weekend, researching for a return to the role as Maverick at the Naval Air Station in Fallon, Nevada. At the reporting of that news the question remained as to whether Scott would indeed return to direct. To think only hours later the world as we know it would change so dramatically serves as a reminder to appreciate the time we have and look out for those close to us.
I make no judgment on Scott and how he decided to live and end his life and only hope we can all remember him for what he brought to this world and the joys he can still continue to bring to us now that he’s gone.
NOTE: If you or someone you love is in need of help here is the phone number for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-8255.
