Ridley Scott's serene passion

Sir Ridley Scott brings his passion and talent to his latest film, A GOOD YEAR, set close to his second home in Provence, France. The British director has been dreaming of making this movie for years, and joined forces with Academy Award winner Russell Crowe and best-selling author, Peter Mayle, an old friend, who wrote the book that became the basis for this original comedy.

Acclaimed director Ridley Scott joins forces with Academy Award winner Russell Crowe in a sparkling comedy A GOOD YEAR. As Max Skinner in the movie, Crowe is a ruthless ambitious London financier inherits a French vineyard and discovers that life is about far more than financial success.

Sir Ridley Scott brings his passion and talent to his latest film, A GOOD YEAR, set close to his second home in Provence, France. The British director has been dreaming of making this movie for years, and joined forces with best selling-author, Peter Mayle, an old friend, who wrote the book that became the basis for this original comedy.

It is a story that is partly autobiographical for Mayle, who gave up a successful advertising career himself and moved to France. And it had a real resonance for Ridley Scott, a self-confessed workaholic, who finds peace at his own French retreat and vineyard, which he has owned for 15 years.

In the following q&a, the director discusses A GOOD YEAR as well as his love for filmmaking.

Q:How did the film come about with author Peter Mayle since the two of you are good friends?

A: "I have had a lovely house and a vineyard in Provence for fifteen years and love being there. Peter Mayle has lived there for thirty years and he is an old friend of mine from advertising. He has been very successful with his books about Provence. Four years ago I went to see him said: ' I have an idea, we should make a film about this place'. I was at his house at the time and we talked about it, half drunk. I convinced him about the project and the upshot was that he wrote the book A GOOD YEAR and we then devised the screenplay."

Q: Why were you so passionate about this story?

A: "I do like to make films with a political theme, but sometimes it's nice simply to make people laugh. That is the hardest thing to do in fact. The film is fun; it is about lightening up and enjoying life. I love that region of France, it is beautiful. If I am feeling stressed I often go down there, I sometimes go by myself, get off the plane and drive to the house. When I arrive, I walk in, slam the door and there is absolute silence, I love it and the housekeeper has always made a great lunch or dinner for me. It's magical, the smell, the sounds everything."

Q: Why do enjoy working with Russell Crowe?

A: "I like to work with Russell, we get on very well and that makes my job a lot easier. Some actors - you work with them once and don't even think about working with them again. I always feel that there is an endless depth to what Russell is capable of doing in his work, he has a very natural talent and I don't know where it comes from, but it is always very real and wonderful."

Q:A lot of people may not realize that Russell Crowe had comic potential, he's very funny in this film, had you seen that in him before?

A: "I had seen it many times with Russell, off screen. People probably don't know how funny he is, he is actually amusing and very cheerful, that is the kind of person he is. Everything is real with him, the drama, the comedy and telling the organic story. In this film you see a vulnerable side to him too - eventually eventually."

Q: What made do you do something with such a contrasting pace to many of your big action dramas?

A: "I love different themes, different venues, different movies. I love to jump about and tackle different subjects. I have no intellectual master plan. For example, what appeals to me next is to go back to the Middle East to make a story about religion. It is taken from an existing novel by a journalist, that will come out next year. I am also working on a Western and a story about the Gucci family, (not Prada!). There was a murder in that family and I am looking at it, it is an interesting, human story."

Q: What about the difference for you as a director, in terms of structure and logistics between A GOOD YEAR and some of your epic films?

A: "Of course there is a huge difference logistically. For KINGDOM OF HEAVEN, we had three thousand people for breakfast every morning on location, literally, we had eight hundred troops every day plus twelve hundred extras, plus the film crew and Moroccan workforce. As you can imagine, A GOOD YEAR was much more relaxed. But on both films it is all about organization and knowing exactly what you want to achieve, so that you do not waste the day.

Q:What is 'a good year' for you?

A: "A good year for me is when me and my own, my family are in good health. I am just lucky to have good years doing something I like to do."

Q: Have there been particularly good years in terms of your films?

A:"Like all my children I love them all, I've got no regrets, I'm sure people have movies that they hate of mine, but I don't care."

RIDLEY SCOTT (Director, Producer) earned consecutive Academy Award nominations as Best Director for his stunning recreation of the deadly 1993 battle in Mogadishu, Somalia, in "Black Hawk Down" (one of 2001's biggest box-office hits) and for the epic adventure "Gladiator," his vivid and dramatic evocation of ancient Rome that won five Oscars (out of twelve nominations), including Best Picture and Best Actor for Russell Crowe (as well as directing nominations for Scott from the DGA and BAFTA). "Gladiator" also won both the Golden Globe and British Academy Awards as Best Picture, and has earned over $800 million at the global box office. Both motion picture triumphs further solidified his reputation as one of contemporary cinema's most innovative, influential and versatile visual stylists.

A GOOD YEAR opens December 6 in theaters nationwide from 20th Century Fox to be distributed by Warner Bros.