Ridley Scott

THE third time turned out to be the charm for "American Gangster." The thriller had fallen apart twice at Universal before production eventually began last year. When it was last canceled in 2005 because of cost concerns, Oscar-winning producer Brian Grazer ("A Beautiful Mind") says, he had to "gather the energy" to revive the project. "It was so much harder than anything I have tried to do in my professional life," he says of the film.

"THE Company," a three-episode miniseries (starring Michael Keaton, Alfred Molina and Chris O'Donnell) about the spies working in the heat of the Cold War, premieres tonight on TNT. Ridley Scott, one of the executive producers, is also the director of "Gladiator," "Alien" and the forthcoming "American Gangster," starring Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe. And there's chat about a movie based on the board game Monopoly. They've got you scheduled left and right. What's in your day today?

Ridley Scott: In the Sunday Conversation column in Sunday's Calendar section, film director Ridley Scott was quoted as saying that "in England, we have Park Lane, Mayfair and Barclay Square." The correct spelling of the last location is Berkeley.

Ridley Scott: In the Sunday Conversation column in the Aug. 5 Calendar section, film director Ridley Scott was quoted as saying that "in England, we have Park Lane, Mayfair and Barclay Square." The correct spelling of the last location is Berkeley.

Ridley Scott: In the Sunday Conversation column last week, film director Ridley Scott was quoted as saying that "in England, we have Park Lane, Mayfair and Barclay Square." The correct spelling of the last location is Berkeley.

Ridley Scott was living in London in 1980 but looking for a leading man for his first Hollywood movie. The script was a strange one -- it was a surreal tale adapted from a 1968 novel about murderous artificial people in futuristic Los Angeles -- and Scott didn't have a certain title since he couldn't use the more-than-a-mouthful name of the book: "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?"

As anyone acquainted with 2005's indie movie sensation "Hustle & Flow" -- and its Oscar-winning hip-hop anthem -- will tell you, it's hard out here for a pimp. But for a heavily armed, cool-as-ice international heroin trafficker? Totally different story. Heading into multiplexes in wide release this weekend, Ridley Scott's gritty '70s drug-dealer epic, "American Gangster," is on point to dominate the box office, according to pre-polling known as "tracking" and various industry sources.

IF you were looking for a cinematographer with both sizzle and substance, you couldn't find a more adept visual stylist than Harris Savides. A frequent collaborator with such disparate filmmakers as David Fincher and Gus Van Sant, Savides shot a trio of striking films this year: Ridley Scott's "American Gangster," Fincher's "Zodiac" and Noah Baumbach's "Margot at the Wedding."

Figuring out why director Ridley Scott and star Russell Crowe were happy as can be to make "A Good Year" is not difficult. What's harder to come up with are compelling reasons to see it. Director Scott not only owns a vineyard in the gorgeous Luberon region of Provence, where "A Good Year" is set, he is a good friend of Peter Mayle, who also lives in Provence and wrote the novel the film is based on. More than that, Scott gave Mayle the idea for the book.