At 85, British filmmaker Ridley Scott is working on his next film, scheduled for 2023, Napoleon, focused on the rise of Bonaparte, future emperor, with American actor Joaquin Phoenix in the title role. Following the movement launched by other great filmmakers, the director will not release his biopic in theaters but on the Apple TV + platform, which has acquired worldwide rights.
Author of twenty-eight films combining great spectacle and research, historical dives and futuristic odysseys, the filmmaker is one of the most famous in the world, having marked the spirits with, among others, Alien, Blade Runner, Thelma et Louise, 1492: Christopher Columbus, Gladiator, Kingdom of Heaven, Robin Hood, House of Gucci… Napoleon hasn’t come out that he’s already working on a sequel Gladiator.
This history buff and lover of France is also a wine lover. Ridley Scott has owned Mas des Infermières since 1992, a 21-hectare property located in the town of Oppède (Vaucluse), where he has been producing wine since 2009. Some 100,000 bottles come out of his cellars each year, in the three colours, in the luberon appellation, in the south of the Rhône valley. Ridley Scott is a very discreet amateur – difficult to identify by his tiny signature on the labels. It took a blind tasting at Monde to learn that he made wine, and of quality, his red being distinguished by its healthy, frank and sincere character. Always between two shoots and several cities, the filmmaker confided in his relationship to wine.
Your first glass of wine?
It was a very special moment. When I was just 18, I left with three friends from the north of England, where I lived with my parents, to Saint-Tropez. To make this long road, we took turns at the wheel of a very old car. It was in 1955, barely a year before the release of And God created the woman, which will propel the career of Brigitte Bardot and the reputation of Saint-Tropez. But, at that time, I only discovered a seaside town and a gathering on the beach of very small huts made of sugar cane stalks, barely protected from the wind.
When we arrived, we dined at a café terrace – steak and fries, accompanied by a green salad decorated with parsley and cheese. Coming from the North of England, we found this meal quite magical. So the little glass – a balloon of red – that we were served that evening was probably not as wonderful as my memory would have me believe. But, what matters is that my first glass of wine is linked to a moment of carelessness and sharing.
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