Ridley Scott isn’t getting set to retire any time soon. The director, who turns 77 in November, is gearing up to receive laurels from the critics when his Moses epic Exodus: Gods and Men opens at the end of the year (even though there has been some complaining about “whitewashing” of Egyptians in it, early word is good, and the trailer does look amazing.) If a shouty Christian Bale in the desert is your sort of thing, then this is the movie for you. Scott could get an Oscar nomination for it (the director has never won.) The Moses tale won’t be the last time Scott goes Biblical; he is producing (and possibly directing) a version of the David and Goliath story.
But before that he’s looking for a chance to begin again in the Off-World. Currently Scott is preparing his next film, the science-fiction epic The Martian, starring Matt Damon as an astronaut stuck on the Red Planet. The film will also feature Jessica Chastain and Sean Bean (who we assume is going to die in it.) He also still plans on making a sequel to Prometheus (which was a prequel to Alien: Prometheus 2, therefore, will be a presequel?) I don’t know anybody who liked Prometheus, but Scott is convinced the alien tale needs another go-around. Even more astonishingly, he is still hoping to persuade Harrison Ford to reprise the role of Deckard for a sequel to Blade Runner. “It’s written and it’s damn good. Of course it involves Harrison, who is a survivor after all these years—despite the accident. So yes, that will happen.” Ford has not confirmed if he wants to do it; he’d be pushing 75 by the time production starts. I’m not sure what the ‘damn good’ script involves. It’s been more than thirty years since Blade Runner, which would make Deckard very old for a cop at this point. Besides, replicants only live for four years.
