Tony Scott: Encyclopedia II - Tony Scott - The 1980s

Tony Scott - The 1980s

Grieving, Scott nevertheless persisted in trying to kickstart a feature film career. Among the projects interesting him was an adaptation of the Anne Rice novel Interview with the Vampire then in development. MGM, however, had a vampire yarn of their own that they wanted Scott to direct, and after failing to convince the company to drop their project and tackle Interview instead, Scott instead decided to accept the MGM project, and pour into it all of the visual design concepts he had bandied about for Interview. In 1982, Scott began production on The Hunger.

A sensual, downbeat, self-consciously "arty" endeavour, The Hunger starred David Bowie and Catherine Deneuve as chic Manhattan socialite vampires, desperately searching for a medical cure to arrest Bowie's rapid aging. With its remarkably beautiful photography and sumptuous production design, The Hunger was altogether unlike any other picture at the time of its release in 1983. Perhaps not surprising, the picture failed to find an audience, being mauled by critics and ignored at the box-office. Finding himself largely unemployable in Hollywood for the next two and a half years, Scott returned to commercials until his next shot at feature success presented itself.

That opportunity presented itself in the form of an offer from producers Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer to direct a picture called Top Gun. Among the few admirers of The Hunger during its initial release (the film has, however, subsequently earned cult status on home video), Simpson and Bruckheimer had settled upon choosing Scott largely on the basis of a commercial he had done for Swedish automaker Saab in the early 1980s: in the spot, a Saab 900 Turbo is shown racing a fighter jet. Sensing they had found their man, they offered the project to Scott. Scott, however, was initially reluctant.

"I kept talking about it in terms of movies like Apocalypse Now and The Road Warrior, which scared the hell out of them. Having come from an arts background, my sensibilities tended to be a little dark. I kept thinking of it terms of 'Apocalypse Now on an aircraft carrier'. They (Simpson and Bruckheimer) kept saying, 'No, no, no.' Then, one day, it hit me. I understood what they were after. It wasn't Apocalypse Now, it was silver jets racing against bright blue skies. It was rock 'n' roll in the skies." Simpson and Bruckheimer's instincts proved correct. Scott's visual talents helped make Top Gun one of the highest-grossing films of 1986, taking in more than $176 Million, and making a star of its young lead, Tom Cruise.

Following Top Gun's success, Scott found himself on Hollywood's A list of action directors. Reteaming with Simpson and Bruckheimer in 1987, Scott directed Eddie Murphy in the highly anticipated sequel Beverly Hills Cop II. A critical failure, the picture nevertheless became of the year's highest grossers. His next film, Revenge, was something of a change of pace for the director. Starring Kevin Costner and Madeleine Stowe, the film was a lurid, brutal thriller of adultery and (not surprisingly) revenge set in Mexico. The production, however, was not a pleasant one for Scott, as the film was taken out of his hands in post-production, and re-cut at the insistence of producer Ray Stark. The film was both a critical and commercial failure, although like The Hunger, its reputation began to improve as the years passed.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "The 1980s", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki