Ridley Scott blames millennials who ‘were brought up on these cellphones’ for The Last Duel’s box office failure

Ridley Scott recently spoke about the box office failure of The Last Duel and blamed millennials for it. The historic-drama, which released in October 2021, was backed by Disney and starred Matt Damon, Adam Driver, Jodie Comer and Ben Affleck. 

Speaking on a podcast recently, Ridley Scott said that Disney loved the film and left no stone unturned in the promotions but it was the generation ‘who were brought up on cellphones’ to be blamed. 

“The bosses loved the movie — because I was concerned it was not for them — but they really liked the movie, so their advertising, publicity, et cetera, was excellent. I think what it boils down to — what we’ve got today [are] the audiences who were brought up on these f**king cell phones,” he said on comedian Marc Maron’s podcast WTF. 

“The millennial do not ever want to be taught anything unless you are told it on the cell phone. This is a broad stroke, but I think we’re dealing with it right now with Facebook. There is a misdirection that has happened where it’s given the wrong kind of confidence to this latest generation, I think,” he added. 

Ridley added that he has no regrets about making the movie, despite it being one of the biggest commercial flops of his career. Through his years in the industry, Ridley has directed a number of movies. These include The Duellists (1977), Alien (1979), Blade Runner (1982), Legend (1985), Thelma & Louise (1991), Gladiator (2000), and The Martian (2015).

Also read: Russell Crowe says the script for Gladiator was ‘so bad, it was just so bad’

He is currently gearing for his second release of the year – House of Gucci. The film stars Al Pacino, Lady Gaga, Salma Hayek, Jared Leto, Adam Driver and Jeremy Irons. The movie is based on the murder of Maurizio Gucci, which shocked Italy and its fashion industry in the 1990s.