Yesterday at around 12.30 in the afternoon, film director Tony Scott drove his car onto the Vincent Thomas Bridge in Los Angeles, got out, scaled a fence and jumped into the harbor below. His body was found 3 hours later and he was pronounced dead at the scene. The younger brother of his more illustrious brother Ridley, Tony was still a huge name in the world of film, being responsible for such blockbuster films, as Top Gun, True Romance, Beverley Hills Cop II, Crimson Tide and Enemy of the State. He and his brother were also responsible for purchasing and ultimately saving Shepperton Studios which are just down the road from where I live, one of the foremost film studios in the UK. Why and what prompted him to make the ultimate sacrifice? Let’s look at his horoscope…
Tony was born on 21st July 1944 in South Shields, England. Now his chart as I don’t have a birth time causes a considerable amount of problems to the astrologer as it is so concentrated into a small area of the chart. As such, lacking a time prevents one from “expanding” the chart using the house cusps as guides to the character. We do know that Tony was a Sun sign Cancerian and had a Leo Moon, which confirms quite a few things. This man was somebody who needed to be loved and have some sort of emotional security, and the Leo Moon required that love be there for all to see. Tony wanted to be seen being loved and appreciated, and this would bolster his pride and his confidence. This thing about this combination is if that love or appreciation starts to fade or fail, as the Cancer Sun makes one fret and worry. As you will probably be aware, Cancerians are notoriously moody, although they rarely show it publically.
This chart also shows a lot of fire and planet in fixed signs, 5 in each showing a zest for life as well as a bit of a determined yet stubborn streak. In his film career, Tony found that he liked making big, wholehearted action movies accurately reflecting the nature of his Leo Moon, and once on a winning formula he would not stray from it often. There is a lot of Leo here, with Venus, Pluto and Mercury joining the Moon, the Cancerian Sun and the North Node in a wide stellium of planets; Jupiter is in Leo too. This conjunction shows an absolute love of life, proud, more than a bit pompous, dramatic and over the top. Yet the elephant in the room here was Pluto. Pluto sitting in conjunction to Venus and Mercury the Moon and the Sun brought intensity and change. Pluto with Mercury shows a very inquiring mind but prone to jealousy and dark thoughts, Pluto with Venus shows intense passions with amazing highs of joy and fun, and incredible lows as relationships disintegrate, Pluto with the Moon intensifies the emotions that go deep into the soul, and Pluto conjunct the Sun not only brought a need for recognition and for personal power but also strengthened the Cancerian Sun’s ability to worry and fret, I can imagine that Tony behind a sunny facade was boiling within with a multitude of good, bad & destructive thoughts & emotions. Tony married 3 times, so you can see a cycle of needing love and then it falling apart repeating itself.
It is widely known that Tony Scott suffered with depression, and the reason for those lows I think was not just down to the potent position of Pluto on his chart, although it’s effect on his emotions would have been a big contributing factor. Depression is a condition which is reliant on the person’s state of mind and so the position of Mercury also plays a huge part. There are only two major tension aspects on the chart, one of them being Saturn square to Neptune. On one level, this explains Tony’s career path and the planet of ambition and work (Saturn) energizes the planet ruling TV and film making(Neptune). This square however saps a lot of energy from the chart, makes one confused and sometimes disorientated, and it can also crucially lower the person’s self-esteem. Place Mercury at the midpoint of these two planets where Tony’s Mercury was positioned and that lack of self-esteem affects the mind. That deep incisive mind affected by Pluto could plunge the depths in self analysis and combining everything together, we have a cocktail which can induce severe depression. Now what would trigger such a depression? The position of Saturn and Neptune give a couple of hints. Saturn in Cancer either fears emotional dependence, unlikely seeing the love and adoration needed by the Leo Moon or fears not having it which in my mind seems a more reasonable. Neptune in the relationship sign of Libra adores peace and free love and there is a illusionary side of Neptune that can completely undermine the personality if that beautiful ideal of pure love is shattered. I have no proof, but I can imagine that relationship worries could well have been a major catalyst behind Tony’s actions yesterday.
Mars sits conjunct to Jupiter which shows a propensity to act out one’s life in a dramatic and larger than life way (reflecting his films) and Mars was also square to Uranus, an impulsive connection that encourages one to take risks, act impulsively and do exciting spur of the moment things. Uranus also made a possible sextile to Tony’s Moon so this impulsive action might not have only been based around wanting to achieve new things and break new ground, it could have been emotionally based too. Despite such a set of dynamic connections on the chart, I think that Tony would have been quite modest despite it all. The reason is that Mars sits in Virgo, a placement where achievement is accepted in a quiet and gentle manner. You see, with Mars in Virgo, one can always do better, there are always ways to improve what one does and one is severely self-critical and diligent of one’s duties. Mars making a sextile to the Cancerian Saturn brought Tony a quiet determination and a logical, practical attitude to his work. This was a master craftsman, able to deliver the big projects, but never overlooking the details needed to turn a good piece of work into something special.
As ever, the outer planets had a huge effect on Tony’s chart yesterday. Working from the slowest planets inwards, Pluto had been opposing Tony’s Saturn, also being inconjunct to his Venus Pluto conjunction and trine to Mars. This tends to suggest to me that relationship problems may have been at the heart of any unhappiness in his life. Planets do hit parts of the chart where they make multiple hits to different planets from the same spot, and Pluto when it does this can affect and destroy many areas of one’s life at the same time. Neptune can be as equally as destructive but in a far more deceptive and undermining manner. Transiting Neptune yesterday was 0.01 degrees from an exact inconjunct aspect to Tony’s natal Neptune, a very disorientating aspect making one want to escape from reality. Neptune was also making an opposition to both Jupiter and Mars which suggests that some type of disappointment was affecting his life, and Tony may have been feeling a need to break away from any restrictions holding him back. One’s judgment can be severely impaired when Neptune opposes Jupiter. Neptune natally did have an effect on his Sun (his energy and personality) making a sextile, and so were these outer planetary aspects hitting all at the same time the reason for a depressive state, something he would have been prone to, to set in?
Transiting Uranus, was making a trine to that intense Pluto Venus conjunction, so something unexpected could have been happening within his relationships and was also making an inconjunct aspect to his natal Mars. This is a dangerous aspect which can lead to accidents or shocking events taking place. Remember too that natally, Mars and Uranus were already in a stressful aspect, so this would have been enhanced any desire to act unpredictably. It was also affected by transiting Jupiter which was conjunct to Tony’s Uranus, activating that Uranus Mars square urging him to make a big bold statement.
A couple of days before Tony took his life, Mars and Saturn had made a conjunction in Libra square to his natal Sun North Node conjunction. This conjunction brings frustration in whatever part of the part of the chart it lands in. Now as we do not have a birth time we I can’t ascertain where it hit, but being square to his Sun, this frustration would have hit him personally. As Mars and Saturn separates, that frustration releases and Mars can take action again. When he parked his car on the bridge, Mars was within half a degree of being exactly square to his natal Sun. With transiting Mercury conjunct natal Pluto and also inconjunct transiting Pluto in the heavens, whatever thoughts he had in his head would have been dark ones. As explained before, maybe his thoughts were affected by some type of disappointment (Neptune opposite Mars), coloured by a need to escape from reality (Neptune inconjunct Neptune) and to find freedom (Neptune opposed to and transiting Nodes square to Jupiter). He certainly acted impulsively and unexpectedly (Uranus inconjunct Mars) & maybe he was at a vital crossroads in his life and felt he had no more to give (Saturn square Sun and North/South Nodes)?
His passing robs the world of one of the most in tune action film creators of any generation. The man wearing the distinctive faded red baseball cap may no longer be behind the camera, but the library of wonderful films he directed and produced will live on to entertain generations of movie lovers to come.
My thoughts are with his family and friends…
