Ridley Scott admits harsh review once 'broke' him

Ridley Scott is a celebrated filmmaker. His Blade Runner was regarded as a masterpiece. But there was one review about it which he could never forget.

Over 40 years ago, the renowned late Pauline Kael tore down the sci-fi epic in The New Yorker.

The Alien filmmaker said the impact of her writing was so negative on him — that he never read a review about his work after it.

“Pauline Kael in The New Yorker killed me stone dead with her ‘Blade Runner’ review. It was four pages of destruction,” he told THR. “I never met her. I was so offended.”

Interestingly, the auteur shared he had a copy of her review in his office for the last three decades.

“I framed those pages and they’ve been in my office for 30 years to remind me there’s only one critic that counts and that’s you,” he continued.

“I haven’t read critiques ever since. Because if it’s a good one, you can get a swollen head and forget yourself. And if it’s a bad one, you’re so depressed that it’s debilitating.”

Pauline, in her review at the time, penned that Scott had a “creepy, oppressive vision” in “Blade Runner,” deeming the film a “suspense-less thriller” that was “unpleasant [and] ugly.”