The Visual Effects Society has named multiple award-winning director-producer Sir Ridley Scott as the recipient of the VES Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of his enormous contributions to filmed entertainment. The award will be presented at the 14th Annual VES Awards on February 2, 2016 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.
Bestowed by the VES Board of Directors, the Lifetime Achievement Award recognizes an outstanding body of work that has significantly contributed to the art and/or science of the visual effects industry. VES will honor Scott for his vision and dedication to storytelling that blends iconic visual effects and unforgettable narrative on an epic scale. Scott’s fiercely innovative direction of groundbreaking films, including science fiction classics Blade Runner and Alien and the sweeping chronicle Gladiator, has given rise to a new era of storytelling and had a profound impact on future generations of filmmakers.
“Ridley Scott is a defining voice of the feature, broadcast and commercial forms, and a true master of his craft,” said Mike Chambers, VES Board Chair. “His vision and contribution to the art is incomparable and his impact upon the visual effects and technical fields is unparalleled. Ridley’s iconic films have entertained and inspired millions, and his oeuvre of groundbreaking work has been immensely influential. For this, and more, we are honored to award him with the prestigious Visual Effects Society Lifetime Achievement Award.”
Scott stated, “The best filmmaking has always been the result of collaboration between artists, craftspeople and technicians, both in front and behind the camera. Over the years I have been very fortunate to work on films that are visual at their core and thus I have always been immensely reliant on the expertise of our visual effects teams. To be honored by the Visual Effects Society with this Lifetime Achievement Award is indeed extremely gratifying.”
Scott has received Academy Award nominations for Best Director for his work on Black Hawk Down, Gladiator, and Thelma & Louise. All three films also earned him DGA Award nominations. In 2003 Scott was awarded a knighthood from the Order of the British Empire, in recognition of his contributions to the arts.
Scott’s current release, The Martian, starring Matt Damon and Jessica Chastain is a box-office blockbuster receiving widespread critical acclaim. His other recent directorial credits include Exodus: Gods and Kings starring Christian Bale, Prometheus starring Michael Fassbender, Noomi Rapace and Charlize Theron, and The Counselor starring Michael Fassbender, Brad Pitt, Cameron Diaz, and Javier Bardem.
In addition to his Academy Award and DGA nominations, Scott also earned a Golden Globe nomination for Best Director and a BAFTA nomination for Best Film for American Gangster, starring Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe. Scott also received Golden Globe and BAFTA nominations for Best Director for Gladiator, which won the Academy Award, Golden Globe and BAFTA awards for Best Picture.
In 1977, Scott made his feature film directorial debut with The Duellists, for which he won the Best First Film Award at the Cannes Film Festival. He followed with the blockbuster science-fiction thriller Alien, which catapulted Sigourney Weaver to stardom and launched a successful franchise. In 1982, Scott directed the landmark film Blade Runner, starring Harrison Ford. Considered a science-fiction classic, the futuristic thriller was added to the U.S. Library of Congress’ National Film Registry in 1993, and a director’s cut of Blade Runner was released to renewed acclaim in 1993 and again in 2007. Scott’s additional film directing credits include Legend, Someone to Watch Over Me, Black Rain, 1492: Conquest of Paradise; White Squall, G.I. Jane, Hannibal, Body of Lies, A Good Year, Kingdom of Heaven, Matchstick Men and Robin Hood.
Ridley and his brother Tony formed commercial and advertising production company RSA in 1967. RSA has an established reputation for creating innovating and groundbreaking commercials for some of the world’s most recognized corporate brands. In 1995, they formed the film and television production company Scott Free. With offices in Los Angeles and London, Scott Free produced such films as In Her Shoes, The A-Team, Cyrus, The Grey, and the Academy Award-nominated The Assassination of Jesse James.
Scott also executive produces the Emmy, Peabody, and Golden Globe winning hit TV show The Good Wife and the team served as executive producers on long-form projects including the Starz miniseries The Pillars of The Earth, the A&E miniseries The Andromeda Strain, the TNT miniseries The Company, and the award-winning HBO movies RKO 281, The Gathering Storm, and Into the Storm.
Previous winners of the VES Lifetime Achievement Award have included James Cameron, Steven Spielberg, Ray Harryhausen, George Lucas, Robert Zemeckis, John Dykstra and Frank Marshall & Kathleen Kennedy.
As previously announced, master visual futurist and iconic artist Syd Mead is the forthcoming recipient of the VES Visionary Award.
