Ridley Scott struts off the Bee Gees biopic because Paramount "changed the goalposts"

Ridley Scott continued his endless press tour in a new interview with GQ today, where he proudly talked shit about the studio behind his most recent success, Gladiator II. But while one would think the studio was happy enough with the returns of that movie, they’d let this guy keep making these massive, unwieldy films that care not for historical accuracy. Alas, Scott has paused the movie due to a disagreement with Paramount. Using the working title You Should Be Dancing, Scott’s film was ready to start filming until “the studio changed the goalposts,” and Scott strutted off the film. Scott is unusually tight-lipped about what happened, but apparently, Paramount altered his deal, leading to Scott’s brief exit. “I said, ‘You can’t do that.’ They insisted. I said, ‘Well, I’m going to warn you, I will walk, because I will go on to the next movie.’ They didn’t believe me, and I did.”‘

Scott teased that the film would examine the “working-class side of the Bee Gees” and the “competition between them.” “And then they lose Andy—Andy OD’d at 30. It’s more about the gift than the luck, right? It’s a fantastic story.” Scott certainly has a way with words. Nevertheless, despite these issues with the studio, Scott “signals” to GQ that he doesn’t think the film is dead and will likely solve whatever is going on between him and Paramount. He’s waited long enough to make a Bee Gees movie.

In the interview, Scott talks about the only time he met the Bee Gees. After having the bright idea to adapt First Blood until he learned someone else was already making it, Scott met with Bee Gees manager Robert Stigwood. The group was a mess at the time and was “refusing to work together.” Stigwood thought they might get back on track if they made a movie together, presumably because the Gibbs had such a good time on Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. One afternoon, Scott drove his Rolls-Royce to Stigwood’s mansion, where Stigwood told the director that the film would be “something medieval.” Stigwood gave the boys a call. “Then one, two, and three Rolls-Royces appeared, and all the Bee Gees got out. They were incredibly agreeable—wouldn’t speak to each other, but were charming to me.” The movie, then called Castle X, went as far as Scott scouting locations in Budapest when he got the call that the movie was off. That was the last time he saw any of the Bee Gees until last year when he met Barry Gibb to discuss You Should Be Dancing.

According to IndieWire, Scott will direct the recently announced The Dog Stars instead of the Bee Gees movie and then return to the dance floor.