Beaks here...
Tony Scott, the brilliant director of TRUE ROMANCE, THE LAST BOY SCOUT, CRIMSON TIDE, ENEMY OF THE STATE, TOP GUN and many more first-rate studio films, has committed suicide at the age of sixty-eight. According to KTLA, he jumped to his death from the Vincent Thomas Bridge near Long Beach.
I can't process this news at the moment. Scott was a vital filmmaker with several projects in development. His sleek visual style was hugely influential in the 1980s, and he refined it in the early '90s as he began to work with media savvy writers like Shane Black and Quentin Tarantino. Critics decried Scott as a style-over-substance commercial director, but the glitzy "Friday Night Football" opening of THE LAST BOY SCOUT set up a sharp critique of our blind idolization of sports stars. Scott was a skilled smuggler. He was also an amazing storyteller. All told, he was one of the most talented filmmakers of my lifetime.
A part of me was holding out hope that Scott would ultimately convince Gene Hackman to come out of retirement for POTSDAMER PLATZ. I had no idea Scott was the one on the clock. I'm heartbroken. My condolences to the Scott family.
