Ridley Scott is long “overdue” for an Oscar

Denzel Washington is determined to get Ridley Scott his long-awaited Oscar.

Washington, who reunited with Scott for “Gladiator II” nearly 20 years after 2007’s “American Gangster,” told The Hollywood Reporter that Scott’s failure to win best director is almost criminal.

“Ridley is late,” Washington said. “How can he not have won an Oscar? It doesn’t even make sense. Actually, I don’t believe it.

Scott’s original film Gladiator, released in 2000, won Best Picture, while star Russell Crowe won Best Actor. Scott was up for best director, having been nominated in the category previously with “Thelma & Louise” and again with “Black Hawk Down.” Scott has won BAFTA Awards, Golden Globe Awards and Primetime Emmy Awards, but not yet an Oscar.

And Washington is ready to make 2025 the year of Scott.

Washington told “BBC Radio 1” that Scott’s lack of an Oscar is proof that the Academy can’t do its “job” in recognizing talent.

“Would you tell anyone how can this man not have an Oscar? Do your job,” he said. “I mean seriously, though…. Trust me, and I’m not talking about a trick, he doesn’t care… He’s got them lined up like planes over Cleveland, and he’s excited about it, and he knows what he’s going to do Next. I mean, I want to be him when I grow up.

Washington later told Esquire that after his own Oscar losses for “The Hurricane” and “Malcolm X,” he asked his wife Pauletta Washington to start voting for him at the Oscars.

“I lived through a time when (my wife) Pauletta watched all the Oscar-winning movies — I told her I don’t care,” he said. “’They don’t care about me? I don’t care. You vote. You look at them. I don’t watch that. I gave up. I became bitter. My pity party.

Washington won “Training Day” and has since landed four more Oscar nominations.

At least Washington and Scott share this sentiment about the Academy: Scott told The New Yorker in 2023 that if he won an Oscar, he would say, “It’s about time!” »