Tony Scott’s Genius

The visionary director of the original Top Gun

Trigger alert: Aggressive language

Tony Scott (the director of the original Top Gun) was to have directed Maverick Top Gun. Tony had a signed contract with Paramount and was developing the screenplay. But, ten years ago this August, Tony jumped off a San Pedro bridge to his death. I am not certain of the whys behind the suicide, only that it is always a sad event when someone checks out early. It’s especially sad when it is someone as sunny, bull-headed, and easy-to-laugh as Tony. He silently battled cancer for 40 years but kept it quiet. There was no sign of it in the coroner’s report or any other underlying health issues. His brother, Ridley, called his suicide “inexplicable.”

I first met Tony on the screen. He was a lad of 15 years. He starred in his older brother’s first experimental film. It was shot with a Bolex in Hartelpool England. The movie was called Boy & Bicycle — 45 minutes of Ridley Scott doing fancy camera moves while Tony rode around. It was not as powerful as Truffaut’s first film which also tackled the subject matter of bicycles, but it showed the daring and power of the film language that Ridley would later command in movies from Alien to Bladerunner to Gladiator. Tony had a sweet demeanor in that short movie. While he was 8 years older than I, I always treated him like a younger brother. What does that mean? I was kind but firm with him because he could be prone toward mischief and disobedience even whilst smiling and hugging you.

In the flesh, I first met Tony in an interview with Ned Tanen, the head of the studio, at Ned’s house in Malibu on Channel Road. The meeting was to determine if Tony should direct Top Gun. During the high-tension meeting, Tony fell asleep. In mid-sentence. Explaining his vision in Ned’s favorite chair.

35 Hollywood directors had turned down Top Gun. The producers, Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer, were anxious to keep the project alive. But NO ONE wanted to get near it. Don and Jerry had a monster hit with Flashdance. BUT when first viewed, Flashdance was a hot mess. After the preview, the theatre…