Tony Scott, Director Of 'Top Gun,' Dies In Apparent Suicide

[Kittylady]

He probably was going to say something about Tom Cruise, aka GMD, so Scientology drove him to do it. Wow, I should bust out with my tinfoil hat tonight!

I may be cynical but I'm waiting for a leaked Co$ video to come out in a couple of months time with The Cruiser saying how he could have prevented this with his cult's patented mind fuck techniques (because, you know, he's the only one who can help... )

R.I.P Tony

[Kat Scorp]

Thank you Mrs P. Unless the family releases the contents of the office-suicide letter, we may never know the reasoning. But who can resist thinking "blackmail" when the shadow of CO$ casts so near?

[Kathie_Moffett]

I don't know about that. If you're really set on going out your own terms, this seems to be sure and even considerate way to do so.
Your wife won't find you dangling somewhere, nobody can walk in on you too early & have your stomach pumped, you are not traumatizing innocent bystanders (as in KrisNine's examples). And if you're aiming for vertical free-fall I'd hope it's quick and even one last adrenaline push.

I know someone who worked with Scott once. He liked him a lot. He told me that this suits the man as he knew him very well. He said that a fearless, public, dramatic death like this made sense for Scott, who was apparently a large personality, a man of action and adventure. I think your remark about "one last adrenaline push (rush?)" is very apt!

Several years back we had an elderly couple that were our neighbors for years, they were the BEST neighbors. You know what I mean....like the kind from years ago that keep an eye out for you, offer you vegetables from their garden, etc. Well, the husband was a very strong, hard-working man his whole life. He found out in October that he had liver cancer, he was already around 80 years old. He committed suicide, in his bathroom, with a gunshot to his chest. He thought it out very meticulously and explained it in his note. The gunshot to the chest was so his wife could give him an open casket if she wanted to, the timing of doing it in October was so everything could be done with before the holidays. Really devestated our family losing such a great neighbor/friend, but he went out on his terms. He didn't want his wife watching him suffer, and her trying to care for him. He didn't want sympathy. They had a grown daughter, so the wife sold the house & moved in with the daughter.

So in retrospect, it sounds like Tony Scott did the same thing (notes to family, etc), except it was a very public suicide. So tragic, since Tony has younger kids.

I'm glad he spared his kids the suffering of seeing him die by inches. I hope they understand, or will.

A few years ago the father of my high school ex-bf died. The ex called me. The minute he said "I have bad news about my Dad" I knew.

It's just that sometimes people choose to die in a way that very much fits them. He had terminal cancer, and so he took a pistol, went into a small utility closet, and shot himself.

His family was shocked and appalled. He was a professor, an intellectual and a philosopher, and a gentle man. They had not even known he owned a gun.

Anyway, I guessed that he had taken his own life. My ex was stunned by my guess, and by my lack of surprise at the method. He couldn't reconcile the kind, humorous and profoundly non-violent man he and his Mom and his siblings loved with the guy who shot himself.

But his Dad was also a complicated alcoholic who struggled with depression and low self-esteem and had a certain poetic longing for death. And, too, he was from an older, tougher generation than his kids, a guy with a spine of steel and an absolutely unsentimental, realistic side--he was a scientist, he knew the score. An equation to solve, really, perfectly clear, no need for fuss or drama. He was already in great pain; it was only going to get worse. Why stick around for that? Why put your family through such horrors?

Put those two sides of his character together and his course of action is logical and completely understandable. At least it was to me. We had a pretty unique friendship long ago; I guess maybe, going through his midlife crisis fueled by booze and full of questions, he laid some stuff on my equally questioning, wounded teenage self that he usually kept to himself. Or something. Who knows. I just know he was an incredible person and I miss him.

Moreover, I wish my Dad had had time to make a decision like that, or that an option like assisted suicide had been open to him. Instead he suffered, and so did my Mother. Nice fucked-up society we live in!!!

It's like George Carlin said...lol..."when I was a kid, we swam in RAW sewage! and we were fine!!" Older people who were born in a grittier era and lived through wars and loss, seem to understand harsh realities with which a lot of the coddled baby boomers and their kids just can't cope.

Maybe that's partly why my ex and his family had such a hard time with the dad's death. He had protected them too well...but also, he probably underestimated how much they loved him. *sigh* It would be nice to live in a world where his need to exit stage left at the appropriate time could have been supported in a socially approved way. He would not have had to traumatize his loved ones, something I know he never intended.

Back on topic. RIP Tony Scott. You were an awesome filmmaker!

[cherrypye]

Kathie, I'm very sorry for the loss of your parents.

That post is so beautifully written. Thank you for sharing it with us.

[Kat Scorp]

Kathie, cudos on the George Carlin quote. He was a great old bastard

[McJag]

Kathie,you are right. We treat our dogs with more compassion.

[mjw]

Tony Scott’s suicide leap caught on camera - and being shopped by bystander: report


Director Tony Scott is starring — posthumously — in the grisliest of films.

A bystander who captured on video Scott’s final moments leading up to his suicide plunge from a Los Angeles bridge is shopping the footage, TMZ reported.

The gossip site declined to buy the video when the unnamed peddler screened the video, but its possible the ghoulish entrepreneur is plying it at other outlets.

Several drivers and a surveillance camera filmed as the 68-year-old “Top Gun” and “True Romance” director parked his car along the side of of the Vincent Thomas bridge, climbed an 18-foot fence and then leaped to his death in Los Angeles Harbor.


News vans parked near the Vincent Thomas Bridge in San Pedro, Calif., Sunday, hours after Scott’s suicide.

“He was on the roadway close to the fence looking around. … He looked nervous,” eyewitness David Silva told the Los Angeles Times. “I thought it was some extreme sports guy.”

“(Scott) paused a couple of seconds and then began to climb the fence,” Silva continued. “He put his foot on the top of the fence and paused again — and then he threw himself off.”


Tony Scott and his family attend the film premiere of ‘Man on Fire’ in 2004


Scott’s suicide has left family, friends and peers in Hollywood reeling, especially after authorities debunked an ABC News report that he had been suffering from brain cancer.

“Through a family spokesperson, we have been advised that Mr. Scott did not have brain cancer or (an) inoperable tumor,” Chief Coroner Investigator Craig Harvey told the Daily News on Monday.

The British-born Scott had everything to live for: a successful career as a director and television and movie producer — he co-owned Scott Free production with older brother Ridley -- and leaves behind a wife and two young sons.

Scott had also spent his final days scouting a Nevada naval airbase with Tom Cruise for a planned sequel to their 1986 hit, “Top Gun,” according to the Hollywood Reporter.

“Tony was my dear friend and I will really miss him,” Cruise said in a statement to the Daily News. “He was a creative visionary whose mark on film is immeasurable. My deepest sorrow and thoughts are with his family at this time.”


Read more: Tony Scott

[shellywelly]

I may be cynical but I'm waiting for a leaked Co$ video to come out in a couple of months time with The Cruiser saying how he could have prevented this with his cult's patented mind fuck techniques (because, you know, he's the only one who can help... )

R.I.P Tony

I think suicide is "ok" in scientology. After all it's just your meat body. You get plenty more. The voice of Bart Simpson fiance jumped off a bridge too.
Nancy Cartwright - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

He was a fellow member of Scientology,[76] reaching the Operating Thetan level of OT V in Scientology, in 1989.[78] He died in May 2009.[79] According to The Monterey County Herald, Brackett leaped off of the Bixby Creek Bridge in Big Sur, California.[

OT VII Rex Fowler was a scientologist who killed his business partner and then tried to commit suicide, but lived. He's in prison for 1st degree murder.
Rex Fowler Found Guilty Of First-Degree Murder - Denver News Story - KMGH Denver

"(He) still thought about killing himself 10 times a day. Yes, Mr. Fowler is responsible for the death of Mr. Ciancio. But there were the acts of a desperate man," Quinn said.

[twitchy2.0]

I'm guessing he killed himself because he had that Berlin song stuck in his head.

[greysfang]

Watching in slow motion as you turn to me and say
My love, Take My Breath Awaaaaaaaaay

[twitchy2.0]

Somebody's itching for an infraction.

[greysfang]

hey, you brought it up so you'll have to infract yourself.

That sounds dirty somehow. Make sure you videotape it.

[twitchy2.0]

I am technically incapable of infracting myself. So pbbbbbbpppptttt!

[DeadDwarf]

I thought it might be "Danger Zone" by Kenny Loggins because everytime I see the thread and read "Top Gun" I start singing it in my head.

Highway to the danger zone...I'll take you... Ridin' into the danger zone...

[Nevan]

Wow, how sad. "Man on Fire" totally moved me (Denzel was AWESOME in that movie and even tiny Marc Anthony was good in it), and I've enjoyed several other movies he's done ... "Days of Thunder" was back in the day when Tommy still had solid manly presence (giggle) and actually had movie-star good looks.

"I wish, I wish. You. Had. More. Time," says Creasy. Ass bomb explodes ... my husband can recite almost every line in "Man on Fire."

Whether he did it to spare his family of going through death by brain cancer or was just depressed, I hope he has found his peace. It's horrible that two small boys are without a father. =(