Ridley Scott Names His Own Favorite Film – And It Only Cost £65 to Make

Ridley Scott, the legendary director behind hits like Alien and Blade Runner, has revealed that his favorite film is actually his very first one.

Long before he became a Hollywood icon, Scott made a short black-and-white movie called Boy and Bicycle while studying at London’s Royal College of Art. Remarkably, the entire film was made for just £65.

Scott shared with Letterboxd how the project began. “I discovered in a locker a box that said (16mm camera) Bolex on it,” he recalled. He borrowed the camera from his school after claiming he already had a script, though he later admitted he had to write it quickly.

The film starred his brother Tony Scott and was filmed entirely in West Hartlepool and Seaton Carew in the early 1960s.

Even in this early work, Scott says he already explored ideas that would later appear in his major films. Industrial landscapes, cooling towers, and blast furnaces in the background foreshadowed scenes in Alien, Blade Runner, and Black Rain. The central image of a boy on a bicycle even resurfaced in a 1973 Hovis TV advert Scott directed.

“At the time I was very influenced by the English filmmakers; Karel Reisz, Tony Richardson, that era of social realism,” Scott explained to The Observer. “I had no audience in mind but myself plus the challenge of making the film. There was no one to advise us – I didn’t know any filmmakers and this wasn’t a film school.”

“It was a one-man band with one actor. We humped and carried all the equipment everywhere we went. My father once drove his car with me in the trunk filming Tony behind. Very efficient and it worked great.”

Scott later received funding from the British Film Institute’s Experimental Film Fund to finish the editing and sound, including a music track produced by John Barry. Scott wanted to use an existing recording but couldn’t afford the rights, so Barry created a new version for the short film.

Boy and Bicycle may have been a humble student project, but it clearly set the tone for Scott’s career. Its visual style and resourcefulness would become hallmarks of his later work in big-budget films.

It’s inspiring to see how a simple, low-budget project can influence decades of cinema. It reminds filmmakers and fans alike that creativity and passion matter more than money. What do you think about Scott’s first film being his favorite? Share your thoughts in the comments.