Ridley Scott talks his underappreciated films & future of Alien franchise

Director Ridley Scott has been firing up the news wire of late while making the rounds to promote his latest film, ALL THE MONEY IN THE WORLD, and it's always fun to hear him rattle off his thoughts. One of the most prolific and influential filmmakers of all time, Scott, at age 80, just doesn't give a f*ck and I find that resoundingly refreshing. In an era where everyone is so guarded about everything they say (or apologizing profusely as soon as Twitter gets ahold of those words), Scott is, if nothing else, honest and open. While talking to the Toronto Sun, Scott was asked what films of his he felt didn't get their due from fans and critics, many of which I personally agree with. He's certainly a director with some hidden gems in his repertoire, although I don't think THE COUNSELOR was ever going to be a major hit given the bleak subject matter, no matter how many A-listers he packed in. Here's Scott's thoughts:

"There are a few. I loved White Squall, I loved Someone to Watch Over Me — those were inexpensive films, but they were really well done. I loved A Good Year, which should have been big. I really loved The Counselor, which should have been f—ing HUGE! With that cast, we should have had a $50-million weekend. After the marketing and advertising on that, I was ready to kill somebody. You don’t preview films like that. You keep them in a box … you’ve got Brad (Pitt), you’ve got Cameron Diaz, you’ve got Javier Bardem, you’ve got Penelope Cruz, you’ve got Michael Fassbender … are you f—ing kidding me? You don’t show it, you advertise and you put it out and you’ll have a $50-million opening weekend.

I also loved Legend and (the studio) f—ing killed that. I was 27 years ahead of Disney, that’s all."

Scott also commented on the ALIEN franchise and where it's headed after ALIEN: COVENANT disappointed at the box office (I quite enjoyed it myself). Would we see the continuation of David, Tennessee and Daniels?

"I think they have to. There’s no reason why Alien should now not be on the same level for fans as Star Trek and Star Wars. So I think the next step as to where we go is, do we sustain the Alien (series) with the evolution of the beast or do we reinvent something else? I think you need to have an evolution on this famous beast because he’s the best monster ever, really."

On whether or not he's planning more ALIEN movies, Scott sounds more doubtful than earlier in the year when a sequel to COVENANT sounded all but guaranteed with plans to continue indefinitely.

"I would like to; they’re crazy if they don’t. David is a fantastic villain. I love what (Michael Fassbender) did in Covenant. But it’s f—ing hard, dude. We lifted Alien out of a ditch and made Prometheus."

With Disney set to take ownership of the ALIEN franchise the question of what happens to the series going forward is certainly in the air. Will it be "Disneyfied" and rebooted or will the strange and intriguing new journey that started with PROMETHEUS be able to continue? A lot of questions hanging in the air, for sure, but one that we don't need answered is whether or not Scott will continue making films with THE BATTLE OF BRITAIN next on his plate.

ALL THE MONEY IN THE WORLD is now in theaters.