For director, it’s all about the road taken

Ridley Scott really isn’t a braggart, but he sheepishly admits he tends to sound “extraordinarily self-confident” whenever he records commentary tracks for the DVD editions of his films. It’s just that he isn’t the kind of director who dwells in should-haves.

Or, in the case of his latest film to be released on DVD, the groundbreaking 1991 feminist drama “Thelma & Louise,” he had nothing at all new to add. The DVD features a comprehensive new “making of” documentary and several extended scenes and new commentary from writer Callie Khouri and actresses Geena Davis (Thelma) and Susan Sarandon (Louise). However, Scott felt he had nothing fresh to say this time. Instead, MGM used the commentary he recorded about six years ago when the film was released in a laser-disc version. Given how limited the market has been for that precursor technology to DVDs, chances are few people are familiar with his comments anyway.

Scott, who received his first directing Oscar nomination for the film (he’s since also been nominated for “Gladiator” and “Black Hawk Down”), says that he didn’t feel he needed to record a new track for this special edition of the film. “The recall is about the same,” he says.

Again, no bragging, no regrets.

That’s not to say he has entirely put the film behind him. The British director, known for his distinctive visual style (think “Alien” or “Blade Runner”) and sometimes outrageous storytelling (“Hannibal” anyone?), took a few moments recently to talk about the film.

Scott says he never saw the film as a feminist manifesto. “I just thought it was a great script. I loved the characters. I loved the husband who seemed to be dysfunctional. Yes, it’s about, in a broad stroke, in simple terms, women’s lib. But I already respected the process in dealing with women, whether in business or my personal life, so therefore never had the condition or problem [the men have in the movie].

“I was reading this in a rather bemused fashion. I was bemused by the men. I hope and think that I never have really been [like the men]. But I know people who are and are even worse.”

He lets on now that his ambition when making the film was to stress the more comedic elements of the script which, he says, wasn’t what Khouri had initially intended. “It seemed to be natural. It’s a funny thing about comedy, comedy is king when you get it right. The more amusing it is, the less it will be seen to be lecturing. I never want to be seen as a lecturer because it’s boring.”

“Thelma” was a turning point for the director, who began as production designer in Britain before segueing into directing TV shows and commercials. He made his feature directorial debut with the well-received historical epic, “The Duelists” in 1977. His first blockbuster, the sci-fi classic “Alien,” came in 1979, followed three years later by the landmark “Blade Runner.” These titles established him as one of the premiere directors, although they were followed by some less memorable efforts (“Legend,” “Black Rain”).

By the time “Thelma & Louise” was released, he’d become known as a visual stylist knocked by some critics for his lack of emotion.

But once “Thelma” was released and became a hot topic for talk shows, op-ed pages and dinner parties, Scott was suddenly taken more seriously.

At the time he made the film, though, there was little sense that he was working on something so significant. Reflecting on the experience now, he says that filming “was over in a flash, which is always a good sign. I enjoyed the whole experience tremendously, partly because I enjoyed the gals and I love the script. Everything fell together and it was over in 12 weeks.”

Davis and Sarandon both received best actress Oscar nominations for their portrayal of two best friends who set out on a liberating road trip. That ultimately tragic journey is prompted when the two women become wanted for murder after Sarandon’s maternal Louise shoots and kills the man who trieDavis’ naive Thelma in the parking lot of a bar.

The film brewed up a storm of controversy in its depiction of male-female relationships and especially over the ending, in which the two heroines find independence and self-worth as they drive off a cliff to their death. Over the years, Thelma and Louise have become part of our cultural lexicon.

The film also stars Harvey Keitel as the sensitive but determined police detective searching for Thelma and Louise; Chris MacDonald as Thelma’s odious husband; Michael Madsen as Louise’s exasperated boyfriend; and Brad Pitt, in his first big Hollywood movie, as the charming sociopath the girls pick up hitchhiking. Khouri won an Oscar for her script.

And while the film may have caused much of America to embark on serious soul-searching, he says that for himself, it was one of the few times he didn’t fall into any post-production depression.

“I think you carry home with you every night, or suddenly after the end of production, the kind of film that you have done,” Scott says. “With ‘Alien,’ I was killing everyone. I was knee-deep in blood always and that was the first time I really experienced post-production blues.”

From then on, he says, he’s always thought carefully about his projects. “Do I want to spend 10 or 15 months going down the chute with a particular project?” he says.

“Thelma and Louise” was modestly budgeted at $16.5 million. “It was very reasonable, even for those days,” says Scott. The film opened without a lot of fanfare in late May 1991 and went on to gross $45 million that summer.

Scott says the film would have made even more money if MGM had released it the day he initially wanted the studio to: Valentine’s Day -- the same day that year’s best picture Oscar winner “The Silence of the Lambs” opened.

Scott recalls being told there was some problem with the slot and he lost it.

“ ‘Silence’ couldn’t have been more different than us,” he says. “We would have had the whole marketplace between February and Easter. I think that would have been great.”

OK, so maybe he’s not entirely immune to regrets.