Director Tony Scott in his trademark red baseball cap. Photo credit: Jaguar%20PS%20/%20Shutterstock.com">Jaguar%20PS%20/%20Shutterstock.com" target="_blank">Shutterstock
The background
Director Tony Scott, best known for films Top Gun, True Romance, and Days of Thunder, jumped to his death from the Vincent Thomas Bridge in Los Angeles at around 12:30 Sunday afternoon.
Police report that they found a note in his car, which was parked in the eastbound lane of the bridge, containing contact information; a suicide note was later found in his office. His death has puzzled commentators, who have refrained, it seems, from speculating on what lead him to take his own life.
Celebrities, fellow directors, and fans alike are mourning the loss of the action auteur, who is survived by his wife Donna Scott, their twin sons, and brother, producer and director Ridley Scott.
Tony Scott
Scott was born in Newcastle in 1944, the younger brother of Ridley. After art school, where he became interested in cinematography, he earned a masters’ degree at London’s Royal College of Arts. In 1971, he directed Loving Memory for the British Film Institute; in 1973, he and his brother established a production company, Ridley Scott Associates. He began directing TV shows, and in 1983, directed his first feature, The Hunger, starring Catherine Deneuve and David Bowie. Just three years later, however, he was tapped to direct Top Gun, starring Tom Cruise. The film was a massive hit and Scott became one of Hollywood’s most prolific action directors. His frenetic style of filmmaking was reflective of his own life, The Telegraph reported: Though soft-spoken, he had a love of fast cars, needed only three hours’ sleep a night, and drank three cups of black coffee every morning. He had been married three times – his second wife left him after his very public affair with Brigitte Nielson.
His films
In addition to Top Gun (1986), Scott also directed Cruise in Days of Thunder (1990) – but Cruise certainly wasn’t the only major actor Scott worked with. He directed Bruce Willis in The Last Boy Scout (1991), and Will Smith in Enemy of the State (1998), and Denzel Washington in Man on Fire (2004). Scott didn’t always work in the action genre, though was perhaps his most successful arena: He also directed the Quentin Tarantino-penned True Romance.
His legacy: Action man
Scott was a man of action, commentators recall. “No one ever mistook Tony Scott for a great dramatist,” wrote David Germain at The Independent. “He was a director critics loved to hate for his slick barrage of images at the expense of story. The filmmaker did not dazzle the imagination with visions of lost or alien worlds, like brother Ridley Scott.” Tony Scott was a “populist”, Germain continued, noting that he, unlike his Oscar-winning brother, was never up for an Academy Award. The Telegraph remembered him as “A director with no interest in ideas or morality, he created a sheen that lingered in the memory long after narrative and characters were forgotten.”
Twitter reacts
Fans and celebrities alike took to Twitter, where several of his films were trending topics, to remember the director.
No more Tony Scott movies. Tragic day
— Ron Howard (@RealRonHoward) August 20, 2012
Such terrible news to wake up to re Tony Scott. You never know what’s in someone’s heart – we should all be better to each other.
— Brian J. Smith (@BrianJacobSmith) August 20, 2012
Tony Scott director of my favorite movie man on fire.” I wish you had moretime ”
— Chris Rock (@chrisrock) August 20, 2012
Tony Scott dies by jumping off a bridge in LA with depression. When are people going to realize depression is a disease?
— Luke Cowham (@LukeCowham) August 20, 2012
Shocking news about Tony Scott. He was a lovely man, and a true talent. R.I.P
— Jamie Dornan (@JamieDornan1) August 20, 2012
