Director Ridley Scott on making "Napoleon," the movie Kubrick couldn't bring to life; reminiscences of "Alien," "Blade Runner," "Gladiator" and the upcoming sequel.

Ridley Scott unveiled his movie "Napoleon" at a lavish world premiere in Paris today. He's 85 years old but seems eternally young, and Scott is already planning to move quickly on "Gladiator," the second installment of his film that won five Oscars, including Best Picture.

He has 90 minutes of finished footage and needs just as much more. He hopes to start shooting in two weeks, and he's already planning to release the next movie around March. Though he's withholding details, he admitted it's a periodic movie with a perfectly formulated script and two stars ready to join him on what he called a project from his lifetime to-do list.

Be one step ahead of Scott, a visualist of the first comfort level who feels the most at home in his period piece or dreaming of the next one. Interviewing Riddley Scott's is another major challenge for any journalist, because he's honest and likes to mess around, and because you never know what he's going to say. Like when we were talking about The Martian. The film came out around the time that JJ Abrams revived Star Wars, and after asking Scott if George Lucas' first film managed to leave an impression, he told the now oft-repeated story of how he saw the film in a theater with his Tristan & Isolde producer David Puttnam and was so pissed that Lucas got there first that he told Puttnam he couldn't make his film. He wanted to go into space, and that's where "Alien" came from.

Scott is also very candid about what he experienced along the way. Fasten your seat belts.

So, now that the strike is finally over, how quickly can you get back to shooting the sequel to "Gladiator"?

Scott: In a couple weeks. Thank God it's over. We shot about 90 minutes, at least it's over. Now it's just a matter of cleaning up the sets, they've already been built. I still have 90 minutes left. Natasha.

Presumably you couldn't talk to the actors during the strike. How have you guarded against the possibility that your gladiators have gained weight in the last six months?

Scott: None of my guys do that. Paul Mescal is really very flexible and stays in shape. I haven't seen the others yet, so I hope they're not full.