Jesse Grant/Getty Ridley Scottis standing behind the work hedidn'tdo on the 2003 sci-fi movieTerminator 3: Rise of the Machines. In a recentQ&A withThe Guardian, the pioneeringAlienandBlade Runnerfilmmaker said he declined a considerable sum of money to direct the third installment of theTerminatorfranchise because he didn't vibe with the material. "I'm proud about this. I turned down a $20 million fee," Scott said. "See, I can't be bought, dude." Scott, 87, recalled demanding the same payday as starArnold Schwarzenegger, who had toplinedThe Terminatorand its blockbuster sequel,Terminator 2(both of which were directed by James Cameron). The gambit didn't go as Scott expected. Warner Brothers/Everett Collection "Someone said: 'Ask what Arnie gets,'" Scott explained. "I thought: 'I'll try it out.' I said: 'I want what Arnie gets.' When they said yes, I thought: 'F‑‑‑ me.'" Ultimately, the English director said, "I couldn't do it. It's not my thing. It's like doing a Bond movie. The essence of a Bond movie is fun and camp.Terminatoris pure comic strip. I would try to make it real. That's why they've never asked me to do a Bond movie, because I could f‑‑‑ it up." Want more movie news? Sign up forEntertainment Weekly's free newsletterto get the latest trailers, celebrity interviews, film reviews, and more. Entertainment Weeklyhas reached out to Warner Bros., the studio behindTerminator 3, for comment on Scott's remarks. In the end,Terminator 3was directed by Jonathan Mostow, who had previously helmed the submarine movieU-571. Starring Schwarzenegger, Nick Stahl, Claire Danes, and Kristanna Loken,Rise of the Machinesreceived mixed reviews and grossed $433.4 million at the worldwide box office. Scott has previously spoken about turning down another big action sequel,Top Gun: Maverick, because his late brother,Tony Scott, made the first movie. "They asked me to [direct] it," he toldThe Hollywood Reporterin November, "and I said, 'I don't want to follow my brother." Ridley noted then that he and his brother — whose work also includedDays of Thunder,True Romance, andEnemy of the State— had very different styles. "Tony was always interested in today," he said. "A lot of my stuff is either historic, fantasy or science fiction. Tony didn't like fantasy — things likeAlienorBlade RunnerorLegend." Ridley Scott's work in the past 20 years has also includedAmerican Gangster,The Martian,Alien: Covenant, andGladiator 2. Read the original article onEntertainment Weekly