By KYLE BRAUN

VERY few filmmakers make movies on the scale of Ridley Scott. In 1979, Scott made fans stand up and take notice after directing the now classic "Alien." In 1982, Scott stunned audiences in a million more ways with "Blade Runner" before going on to give fans such films as "Thelma & Louise," "G.I. Jane," "Gladiator," "Hannibal," "Black Hawk Down," "Matchstick Men," and "Kingdom of Heaven" to name a few. Now Ridley is going back to his action roots with a story of drug smuggling, corruption, and the life of a kingpin in "American Gangster," starring Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe. While doing early press in LA for "American Gangster," Ridley talked about working with both Russell Crowe and Denzel, and pushing the boundaries of filmmaking.

Scott Ridley: He’s the best. I mean, he and Denzel (Washington) are, I better say two of the best, because I’ll piss off everybody else.

Ridley: That’s a great Zaillian line. Remember, everything in there, Zaillian wrote. So, Zaillian’s special because he really thinks it through intellectually, psychologically. He’s a minimalist, so from my point of view as a director, he’s perfect; maybe the best for me. Not one of the best, the best right now. I’m talking about people who keep coming back consistently, because some people come up with a good screenplay, and then that’s good for like 10 years and then nothing really happens. But these guys keep coming up with great material."

Ridley: Great script. It’s always in the material. It’s always on the page. I mean, I develop everything I do, basically, except for the occasional– this one, or as Steven said to me, ‘Look at this one’ about four years ago, and I said, ‘It’s good, but I’m doing something else right now.’ Steve was a producer with (Brian) Grazer, and then I’d realized that nothing had happened, so when I finished "Kingdom of Heaven" and "A Good Year," Russell and I were talking about this particular piece of material and I called Brian up and I said, ‘What the hell’s happening to it?’ He said, ‘It’s not happening, it’s on the shelf.’ So then there was a history, so I said, ‘Hey, we could get this going again,’ and that’s what happened."

Ridley: You know, it’s something that the corruption or the cat and mouse, describing it that way– which is fine and a gangster movie, on a one-page report, I’d say, ‘No, not for me, because it’s all been done every time.’ Every time it’s about that, but my job is about reading. You have to sit down and read everything. You can’t read a reader’s report, you’ve got to do it yourself, and that’s why, if I’m going to engage in a piece of material that’s a book, I’ve got to read the bloody book. It’s all about reading. My job’s about reading.

Ridley: It’s similar, actually, because they’re both very smart and exceptionally intelligent. You get a lot of that ego out of the way, very often, just sitting around a table, talking about it. It’s always, I can say, ‘I don’t like this. I’m not going deep enough here.’ I need a ramp to get in, and I’ve gotten used to that with Russell now in terms of what he needs to feel comfortable. I’ve got to address that to make him fly at his best. Then Denzel was new for me. With Denzel, I had heard from Tony (Scott)– Tony has worked with Denzel four times, actually – and Tony always said Denzel was one of the best. He’s a method actor who absolutely gets into his role, so he’ll be carrying that all the time, so you can’t misconstrue grumpiness for anything other than that he’s in the role."

Ridley: (Laughs) That’s another film! The CIA? That’s a movie in itself. You’ve got to cut your divisions down, otherwise, it’s like, ‘Were the CIA involved?’ Absolutely. Somewhere in there, you’ve got pilots, a two-star general – we can’t say who – but there they are. Were they arrested? No, because the trial was all about Frank, who was defended by Richie Roberts, who swapped from being a prosecutor, because between arrest and first trial, it’s about two months. So in that time, Richie flipped - went from prosecution certificate, whatever that is - passed the bar for the prosecution, he decided he wanted to be on the defense, so he could just do that. By doing that, he could say to Frank, ‘right, we’re going to talk turkey. You’re going to get 72 years, you’re going to die in jail. Otherwise, I’ll get you out in 15, but I want all the corrupt cops.’ That’s what Frank did. So he did 15 years."

Ridley: I always like to stretch the boundaries. That’s why I did three comedies and I like doing comedy. We got beaten for "A Good Year." And I keep getting told how good it is by actors and it drives me crazy. I was told by somebody how much they enjoyed it, I said, ‘Holy sh*t. Did you write about it?’ He said, ‘No,’ and I said, ‘That’s really annoying.’