Ridley Scott’s least favourite Russell Crowe movie: “I’m going to get a horrible email”
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In recent years, Ridley Scott’s patience for people criticising the historical inaccuracies in his films has reached an all-time low. In fact, he once got so aggravated with critics poking holes in the likes of Napoleon, Gladiator II, and The Last Duel that he implored one journalist to go fuck himself. This dismissive, foul-mouthed attitude isn’t for everyone, obviously, and it tends to get people’s backs up. It also sounds more than a little hypocritical, especially when you consider Scott’s reasoning for disliking one of his good buddy Russell Crowe’s movies. You see, Scott mightn’t be a stickler for historical accuracy – but Biblical accuracy? That’s another thing entirely.
When Darren Aronofsky signed on to make a Biblical epic, everyone knew it wouldn’t be a straightforward adaptation designed to please religious scholars. In fact, Aronofsky proudly broadcast that he wasn’t a man of faith, so he approached the story of Noah’s Ark as a character study of a man who experiences devastating survivor’s guilt after the flood. However, this character study would also be a rip-roaring action-adventure that would cost $130million to make and feature fallen angels named Watchers who take the form of giant rock monsters.
Naturally, Paramount Pictures began to get cold feet about Aronofsky taking such creative license with the Bible, especially when testing screenings received low scores from religious audiences. Before the film’s release, a disclaimer was even added to marketing that read, “The film is inspired by the story of Noah. While artistic license has been taken, we believe that this film is true to the essence, values and integrity of a story that is a cornerstone of faith for millions of people worldwide.”
Aronofsky didn’t back down from his vision, though, and Noah was released in 2014, complete with Russell Crowe as the title character doing battle with plenty of rock monsters. Even critics who were fond of the film noted that the Watchers were its wackiest, most distracting inclusions – and this included Scott, who had his own Biblical epic lined up for release nine months after Aronofsky’s.
Fascinatingly, even though Scott has publicly stated his atheism many times, he became interested in making a Biblical story for much the same reasons as Aronofksy. His movie, Exodus: Gods and Kings, centred on Moses (Christian Bale) leading the Israelite exodus out of Egypt via the parting of the Red Sea. It also featured a number of scenes that can’t be explained with a modern scientific eye, but because they were in the Bible and he claimed to approach them from a science-fiction perspective, Scott felt they were fair game. However, he did not feel the same way about Aronofsky’s Watchers.
“Because I never believed in it, I had to convince myself every step of the way what made sense and what didn’t make sense, what I could reject and accept,” Scott told the National Catholic Register. He then took aim at Noah’s “rock men,” which he believed belonged in the high fantasy realm of Tolkien and “the Hobbits” instead of a Bible movie.
He mitigated his criticism slightly by saying he thinks Aronofsky “is a great director” before scoffing, “But rock men? Come on. I could never get past that. The film immediately kicked off as a fantasy. I’m just telling you what I think.”
Amusingly, only after shooting his mouth off did Scott seemingly begin to worry about what his Gladiator and American Gangster star Crowe would think of his comments. “Russell Crowe is a good friend of mine; I know I’m going to get a horrible email from him this afternoon!” he joked.
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