Coming Attractions

By RICHARD CORLISS

Ridley Scott's 1,001 Arabian Knights

RIDLEY SCOTT HAS A GIFT FOR TAKING old movie ideas and investing them with chic menace--until they not only look new but also upend the whole genre. Alien reinvented the monster movie; Blade Runner set the style for science-fiction dystopia; Thelma & Louise slapped lipstick and a scowl on the face of the buddy movie; Black Hawk Down was a war movie that was all war. Scott doesn't often linger in the same genre; his restless intelligence is ever on the prowl. As he tells TIME, "A friend of mine says, 'Art's like a shark. You've got to keep swimming, or else you drown.' Keep bouncing around. People always ask me what's the plan. There is no plan. I go to what fascinates me next."

So when Sir Ridley sets out to film a story of the Crusades, movie minds perk up. Kingdom of Heaven, written by current hot scripter William Monahan, is set in Jerusalem in 1187, between the Second and Third Crusades. It spins out a clash of personalities, cultures, regions and religions. What fascinates Scott this time is the pure, severe code of the knight. "The knight was the cowboy of that era," he says. "He carried with him degrees of fairness, faith and chivalry--right action. I think right action is what it is really all about."

Scott's backers at 20th Century Fox are probably thinking more of box-office action. When Hollywood looks ahead, it nearly always uses a rearview mirror. What's Next is usually a sequel to What Worked. In this skeptical light, Kingdom of Heaven can be seen as a recipe of familiar faces and tropes. Hire Ridley Scott to direct a burly period epic that pits an obscure hero against historical figures (think Gladiator, then substitute the Holy Roman Empire for the plain old Roman one). Cast Orlando Bloom as a young smithy who boldly challenges the nobility and Liam Neeson as the rebel hero's stalwart father figure (as he was for Leonardo DiCaprio in Gangs of New York). Add Jeremy Irons for tone and Eva Green (The Dreamers) for the mandatory romance. Stir.

The movie, which is due to open May 6, has already stirred some controversy. Five scholars of various faiths, given a purloined copy of the script by the New York Times, reached opposite and predictable conclusions. The Catholic thought it was fair; the Muslim cried foul. Whatever the truth of the film, it's bound to provoke extreme reactions at a sensitive time.

"I'm a moviemaker, not a documentarian," Scott says. "I try to hit the truth. And as Bill Monahan was a journalist, he always tried to read the primary documents. It's tricky, because you weren't there and you're not talking to anyone who was there. Therefore, what you are going to put down on paper is sensitive conjecture. We try to show both sides in a very balanced light. We employed Muslim actors in three major roles. Ghassan Massoud, who plays Saladin, is a Muslim scholar, and he was very happy with the balance."

Political heat is not going to scare Scott away from a project he has considered for 30 years. "I was brought up on Ingmar Bergman," he says, "and in The Seventh Seal and The Virgin Spring, he brilliantly touched on areas where you can talk about religion without any discomfort."

It sounds very high-minded, and we'll bet Sir Ridley makes that old armor shine like titanium. But if his knights don't enliven your film summer, you can always joust with George Lucas' Jedi in the last installment of a certain other epic.