R.I.P Tony Scott (1944 - 2012)

Sad news for the Blade Runner family. According to press releases Sir Ridley Scott's younger brother, director Tony Scott, has commited suicide by jumping off the Vincent Thomas Bridge in the San Pedro port district of Los Angeles, CA.

Whatever his motives, he made a decision that fills us film lovers with sorrow. May he rest in peace, and may his family find the strenght to go through these hard times.

I took the liberty to copy one of the comments I found when I was confirming the news:

- by Josh Elliott
So many Tony Scott stories. Where do I begin. Such a badass director. Did a movie called "The Fan" with him. Learned so much from him, laughed my ass off too. I smoked a few cigars with him at the end of our 15+ hour days which was, well, pretty much everyday . He was a renegade, a loner, an artist and a trailblazer. He has his vision and he followed through with it. He knew what he wanted, which is sometimes rare for a director. The studios tried to own him, inflict their ideas on how to make his films different or better... in the end he would tell me what he did to get away from their grasp and how he would evade them in the most delicate ways. Worked for him every time. He knew how to beat the system.

Yes he hijacked cameras and had his friends, the crew, shoot on weekends when the studios wouldn't pay them for that partic
ular picture. His crew was loyal to him and vice versa. Some of them were with him from "Top Gun" until the end. On a separate occasion he personally funded the last day of "The Fan" when the studio said "no more money" to get what he needed for the film, I heard it was upwards of $1 million for that day. That was my first 26 hour day. We (his crew) did it for him, because when you work with someone like that who is driven and HAS to get that footage and those scenes because it's burning a hole in him and he believes it will truly make his film better, you get caught up in it. Backing someone with that kind of drive is everything. It makes filmmaking fun in my opinion and adds to the heart of what it is that we do by working in entertainment. THAT drives us!

Oh yeah, and he wore a pink hat, a pink vest and pink shorts everyday on set.

I'd say RIP but I know he's just raising hell someplace else.

Source: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2 ... death.html

That's a really touching excerpt.

Tony Scott like older brother Ridley was a visionary film maker. He may not have reached the critical heights of Sir Ridley but he does leave behind a body of work which has his unique stamp on them, be it True Romance, Top Gun or Man on Fire. And in True Romance, the first film which gave me a heart pounding thrill as a 13 year old boy. An experience I shall never forget.

He will be sorely missed.

Poor, poor Ridley.... : (

R.I.P Tony