It’s never a pleasant thing to report on the death of anyone but today the film world weeps as the news of Tony Scott’s departure spreads across the web. Brother of Ridley, half of their Scott Free Production company and director of some of the most beloved and iconic films in the last few decades, Scott has reportedly taken his own life at 68. The maverick director took us to the Danger Zone, showed us what True Romance is and put us in the shoes of a Beverly Hills (well Detroit really) Cop in addition to helming multiple pulse-pounding films for Jerry Bruckheimer.
What is perhaps a little more difficult to swallow is the reason behind his death. At the current time, authorities say Scott died after jumping off the Vincent Thomas Bridge in Los Angeles on Sunday, Aug. 19, 2012. Deemed an apparent suicide,Yahoo reports that, “Investigators found a note in Scott’s black Toyota Prius, which was parked on the bridge, according to the Los Angeles Times. That note listed contact information. A suicide note was later found at his office.”
Scott has had his hand in a number of projects following his last directorial efforts with the Denzel Washington led Unstoppable in 2012. But Scott’s films in a way echeod the personal life as he was know as an avid thrill-seeker. Rock climbing, fast cars and motorcycles were but a few of his passions beyond filmmaking which, considering the source material and subject matter, was what really thrilled him. On a personal note, as a film fan I was pretty much raised on Top Gun and Days of Thunder so this comes as a real blow. Scott made such a unique and incomparable impact on film with his visual an narrative style and will be sorely missed. R.I.P. Tony.
UPDATE: It has been revealed Tony Scott had inoperable brain cancer, no further medical details have been made available.
UPDATE: Scott family denies reports of brain cancer
2 Comments
Andrew Crump
Really big loss, this. Recently Scott has been an invaluable champion for smartly crafted studio fare and small-time indie pictures alike in his production efforts (The Grey, Cyrus); couple that with a body of work containing Top Gun, True Romance, The Last Boy Scout, and Man On Fire (a personal favorite of mine from his oeuvre), and we begin to see just how much the man left behind. He’ll be missed.
RidgeRacer4
You said it Andrew, he’ll be sorely missed. Even now it’s still just so shocking, not just the news of it but the loss of the great things he was and would, in the future, be working on. At the very least we have so many great things he’s given the film world.