Michael Douglas Almost Played Christopher Columbus For Ridley Scott
Ridley Scott tends to make films that fall into one of three buckets. First, we have his science-fiction work, which features classics like "Alien" and "Blade Runner" and runs all the way up to "The Martian" and his two "Alien" prequels. Second, there are gritty dramas. Some of them have big scale action elements, like "Black Hawk Down," and others are much more stripped down, such as "The Counselor." But by far, the biggest bucket of Ridley Scott's career is for historical epics. From his very first film back in 1977 with "The Duelists," Scott has shown a consistent interest in history, especially if it involves fighting.
Just in the last decade, Scott has directed the masterful "The Last Duel," the decidedly un-masterful "Exodus: God and Kings," and his most recent film "Napoleon," all of which fall into this bucket. He does so many of them that a couple fall under the radar. After all, Ridley Scott has been known to be someone who just cranks out movies at lightning speed, and not all of them are going to have the cultural imprint that "Gladiator" does.
Back in 1992, he released "1492: Conquest of Paradise," and if that year tells you anything, you'll know this is a film centered on the exploits of Christopher Columbus. French screen legend and alleged sexual predator Gérard Depardieu plays the role in the film. Despite him being such a big international name, it was always a tossup whether he was the right person for the role. Scott had another actor in mind to play the Italian colonizer — Michael Douglas — and it was a back and forth battle between the two for the director.
Prepping one while editing another
Three years prior to the release of "1492: Conquest of Paradise," Ridley Scott and Michael Douglas worked together on one of Scott's more forgotten films, "Black Rain." The film was Douglas' big followup to his Oscar-winning turn in "Wall Street," and in this neo-noir, he plays a New York detective who gets caught up with the Yakuza. This was the late 1980s, y'all. You had a big movie star, and a film like that could get made.
Ridley Scott was in post-production on "Thelma & Louise" while he was prepping "1492: Conquest of Paradise." As I said, he works fast. Thom Noble was the editor on "Thelma & Louise," and he spoke with /Film's Ben Pearson about Scott's constant toggle between Michael Douglas and Gérard Depardieu during that time:
"I remember with Ridley, he said to me, 'Oh, we're doing this Christopher Columbus film.' And he said, 'I'm not sure who to cast. It's either Michael Douglas or Gérard Depardieu.' So we used to have this joke in the cutting room, and we had this big poster of Michael Douglas from 'Black Rain,' on a motorcycle. And when it looked like being Michael Douglas, that stayed up there. And then if it looked like it was going to be Gérard Depardieu, we had a cutout of Depardieu's face, and we pasted it over Michael Douglas."
First off, it would please me greatly to know if Ridley Scott still had that "Black Rain" poster with Depardieu's face pasted on it. Second, I would find that constant reminder of your next project unsettling, what with it being in the same room where you are finishing your current one. Ultimately, the Frenchman's face stayed on, but Scott needed to know one very important thing: how was Depardieu's English?
Utilizing connections
Before "Thelma & Louise," Thom Noble edited two films for Peter Weir: "Witness" and "The Mosquito Coast." The latter of those was a nightmare production, in which Noble says that by the end "nobody was talking to anybody" and that Weir "totally screwed up the film." They planned to reconcile at a farewell dinner that didn't actually happen, but Weir would return to using editor William Anderson, who cut the majority of his films.
Weir's most recent film at this time was "Green Card," which happened to star Gérard Depardieu, and Ridley Scott wanted to use Noble's connection to Weir to get some information about the actor, specifically how he handles English. Noble recounted his reunion call with Peter Weir:
"I called and we had this long, long talk. 'How are you doing? What are you doing?' And I thought, 'I cannot ask him about Depardieu's English, because that would be the purpose of the call. I'm just calling to say, "I'm sorry we didn't get together,"' years later. Ridley says to me the next day, 'Did you manage to speak to Peter?' And I said, 'Yes.' So he said, 'Well, what did he say?' And I said, 'Well, the thing about Gerard's English is not great, but obviously, he learns the lines, and there's some words that he can't get his tongue around. But if they could be changed on the day, just to help him, he's fine.'"
So, Depardieu played the highly controversial historical figure, but in the end, "1492: Conquest of Paradise" was met with a shrug at best in 1992. Meanwhile, Michael Douglas starred in a little film that year called "Basic Instinct," arguably his best work. I think both films would be utter disasters had they swapped parts, so everything worked out.