Tony Scott

“I make a movie because it's something that inspires me.”

“Mum was the matriarch and the patriarch of the family.”

“The real world has always been far more exciting and funny and dangerous to me than anything somebody could conjure up sitting in front of a computer.”

“It was very hard breaking into the film industry in Britain. I had been to art school, and I was painting and doing commercials. And I did some of the very first rock videos.”

“New York is vertical - all skyscrapers.”

“An established film director can just pick up the phone and say to a star, 'Hey, are you interested in doing a commercial?'”

“All my movies, like Revenge, are under two hours.”

“Dad never understood why Ridley wanted to go to art school, and then I came along six years later and wanted to do the same thing.”

“The true excitement comes from the actors - that gives you the true drama - and whatever I can do with the camera, that's icing on the cake.”

“My stories are pretty simplistic, but the characters are always complex and always right, and that comes from the script and my research and reverse-engineering what I find in the real world.”

“The scariest thing in my life is the first morning of production on all my movies. It's the fear of failing, the loss of face, and a sense of guilt that everybody puts their faith in you and not coming through.”

“Dad was a very gentle, sweet man. Mum was the matriarch and the patriarch of the family. She ran the roost with a steel fist, but at the same time there was respect and love for her.”

“I can't sit on my bum very long in a movie theater seat, and when I'm directing, I always want to move the camera or edit.”

“The world is sick of big IT things that don't work.”

“We come from a tough, working class background, so we're very tight.”

“Ridley and I talk every day. Our family is very close because we're from North England.”

“A lot of actors talk about doing their homework, but very few of them do it.”