North-East born movie director Ridley Scott's latest Crusades epic, Kingdom Of Heaven, caused controversy even before filming was complete. He tells Steve Pratt that, as a Doubting Thomas, he was the best man for the job.

Going to the pictures as a youngster growing up in the North-East, Ridley Scott was drawn into the fantasy world of mainstream movies. He especially loved cowboy films and stars like John Wayne.

"At 18, I was still seriously thinking about being a cowboy. That's never gone away because I want to make a cowboy movie. There's not been a great one for some time," he says.

Eventually, the three-times Oscar-nominated director from South Shields decided against a life in the saddle, settling instead for a director's chair. He's become one of Hollywood's most successful film-makers who's tackled a range of genres including horror (Alien), sci-fi (Blade Runner), war (Black Hawk Down), thrillers (Black Rain), buddy movie (Thelma and Louise) and history (1492: Conquest Of Paradise).

Four years ago, he revitalised the sword-and-sandals genre with Gladiator. Now he ticks another genre - the knight movie - off the list with Kingdom Of Heaven.

The Crusades-set story has Orlando Bloom's blacksmith fighting in the Holy Land religious wars during the 12th century. The story climaxes with the siege of Jerusalem that ended the uneasy truce between Christians and Muslims in the period between the Second and Third Crusades.

Considering that the film tackles the subject of religious tolerance, it's ironic that detractors have criticised it for taking sides. No wonder Scott, in London for the premiere last this week, comes out fighting.

He describes himself as agnostic which, he reckons, makes him a good man for the job. "Agnostic means you're not sure. So that means you're the best person qualified to actually do this. Being a Doubting Thomas makes you ask the best questions," he says.

His job is to get inside people's heads and to understand fervour . "We call it fanatical or extremist, these are all modern words. I think they're modern applications, but this is blind faith, ultimate belief - and that can be Christian or Muslim or Buddhist or any denomination you care to mention," he continues.

Kingdom Of Heaven was criticised by fundamentalist groups even before shooting was completed after a script found its way into the hands of "some jerk who pretended to work for The New York Times" and religious groups were asked for their reaction.

"That's one extreme, that's inflammatory in the worst possible way considering the times we're living in," says Scott. "And now it's shifted in the other direction when people see the film and that it offers a very balanced view of the Muslims. So it swings over the other side."

He professes that he really does not give a damn about the coments, being more interested in getting the picture in front of the public. His own film-going became more serious when he moved to London to study at the Royal Academy of Art.

"Coming from Stockton-on-Tees to London, it was unbelievable," he says. "I used to live in the National Film Theatre. I saw everything by Kurosawa, Bergman and the guy I hadn't seen too much of, Orson Welles.

"These iconographic ideas sink in. I'd been very alive in all the Hollywood westerns and I started to separate the best from the rest, wondering why one director was better than another. And one stood out completely: John Ford.

"So these are all the icons, and you learn from them just by watching. You don't have to go to lectures, you just watch. I think that then sticks. I knew at some point I'd be a film director. I didn't know how, but I would.

"I was working in that direction, directing commercials by the time I was 26. It was a long time before I did a film though. But once you get into movies you're so grateful that all the idealism just evaporates. It goes out the window because you're just looking for the next film. It's taken me until now to pick off all those icons, the knight and the cowboy."

His long-held dream of making a western is moving nearer as he's developing Cormac McCarthy's novel Blood Meridian for the screen. But it's Kingdom Of Heaven that's been occupying his thoughts for the past few years. He was anxious for the film not to be labelled another epic like his Oscar-winning Gladiator.

"As always, I try and do something different each time. There's a thousand years difference between the two so you'd think that would be enough," says Scott. "Besides, this one is more politically and religiously based than Gladiator, which was a romantic Hollywood epic about revenge."

He deliberately didn't see historical epics such as Troy and Alexander that came in the wake of Gladiator's success while failing to match its critical and box-office achievements. "I knew of them, but didn't watch them, particularly because I knew that Gladiator would trigger off the lookalikes and specifically because I knew this one would be coming out of the box in four years."

Almost as controversial as the religious theme was the casting of British actor Orlando Bloom in the leading role in Kingdom Of Heaven, as the blacksmith who becomes a knight and defends the city of Jerusalem from Saladin's attack. More than one person thought the young actor wasn't up to being a Hollywood-style leading man.

Scott had directed him - and thrown him out of a helicopter in one scene - for his war drama Black Hawk Down. He didn't regard casting Bloom in Kingdom Of Heaven as a risk. As someone who gave early screen roles to Brad Pitt, Harrison Ford, Sigourney Weaver and Tom Cruise, he has a good record of star-spotting.

"Your intuition develops, or it doesn't, and I've got this intuition about casting," he says. "Eventually, you have to learn to trust it. I trust my intuition and just go with it, sell it hard to the studio. You say, 'this is the guy'. If they want to test, that's okay, so I test. The traditional notion of a test still happens."

He had no idea when making Black Hawk Down that Bloom's role as Legolas in The Lord Of The Rings trilogy would make such a big impact and boost the young actor's career so much. "On Black Hawk Down I had this jolly good ensemble of these guys who were really good and he was one of them," he says.

'Orlando has this very nice quality. He's a bit of an innocent but without being nave. If he keeps that quality it will be good because he's unspoiled. He has a lot of integrity and works hard at what he's doing."

Some things never change. No matter how big the budget - and Kingdom Of Heaven cost around $125m - there's never enough time. He made his feature debut The Duellists in 1978 for under $800,000 in just ten weeks "and I had a really brilliant time because it was my first film".

His second film Alien cost considerably more at $8.2m, but nine times the budget didn't mean he had any more time. "Twenty five years later I'm still scrambling for the light at five o'clock. There's two hours left and if I don't get the shot we're one day behind."

For all the problems, he's pleased with Kingdom Of Heaven if unwilling to name the most satisfying scene for him. His reason reflects his training as a graphic designer and painter. "When you step back, it's a bit like doing a painting. I like to step back and refer to the canvas. So, at the end of it when you look back, I think it works as a whole, pretty well," he says.

* Kingdom Of Heaven (15) is now showing in cinemas.