My thoughts are with his poor kids, only twelve years old. What a tragedy.
As a film maker, Tony Scott seemed criminally underrated. Besides his outstanding technical visual ability, always pushing the boundaries, he had a great eye for a script: True Romance, The Last Boy Scout, Crimson Tide. He always seemed to get truly impressive performances from actors, which perhaps explains why so many big names wanted to work with him more than once. Denzel Washington memorably collaborated with him five times. with sub thriller Crimson Tide being my personal favourite. It's the perfect mix of smarts and action, dripping with tension, with Hackman and Washington at the peak of their game. It's a film that thrills you then leaves you debating the issues, which is the perfect mix.
The US Navy wouldn't cooperate with the filming of their submarines, so Tony just hired a speedboat and got the shots he needed guerrilla style. It's that indomitable spirit I'll remember: a kid from North Shields whose dreams propelled him to make incredible movies.
