Influential Film Directors

Tony Scott 

Tony Scott was a film director and producer who was born in the UK. He was the youngest of three brothers, one of whom is fellow film director Ridley Scott. He was born in Northumberland, England to parents Jean and Colonel Francis Percy Scott. His father's career in the British military meant his family moved around a lot. At the age of 16, Tony was cast in his brother's directorial début, the short film Boy and Bicycle. In 1969, Tony directed his own short film One of The Missing about a soldier in the American civil war. 

He attended Leeds college of arts for a year and then went on to study for his masters of fine arts degree at the school of art at the University of Sunderland.  After university Scott spend several years as a painter, but when he grew sick of that he joined with his brother and formed Ridley Scott Associates and it was there that he shot his first commercial.  

His directorial début came when ue he created The Hunger in 1983, which attracted interest from Hollywood and he was asked by Don Simpson and Jerry bruckheimer to direct Top Gun (1986) starring Tom Cruise.  He also worked with Tom Cruise later on in another movie called Day of Thunder (1990) which was less successful. He followed Top Gun with Beverly Hill Cop 2 with Eddie Murphy. 

In 1993 he directed True Romance with Quentin Tarantino. Tony worked five times with actor Denzel Washington with Crimson Tide (1995),The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 (2009), Deja Vu (2006), Man on Fire (2004) and Scott's final film in the director's chair Unstoppable (2010).

Tony Scott passed away at age 68 on August 19, 2012 in California, USA.

His Trademarks

• Has used dogs in many of his movies including Top Gun (1986), True Romance (1993),Crimson Tide (1995), The Fan (1996), Enemy of the State (1998), Man on Fire (2004) and Domino (2005).
• Constantly wore a faded red baseball cap. It often appeared in his films.
• Often ended a film with a shootout. See True Romance (1993), The Last Boy Scout (1991), Enemy of the State (1998).
• Frequently had sunlight flashing at characters to make the picture more effective.
• camera pan across a large tower] The "top of the world" tower at the casino in Domino and Beat The Devil, the tower in Mexico City at the start of Man on Fire.