Speaking on day 2 of the second edition of the event in Jeddah and the morning after he accepted one of the festival’s main honorary awards, the British director said that, rather than any political considerations, he simply saw himself as someone interested in the creative world.

“Whatever I can do to encourage creativity, particularly in my world of film, I’m all about that,” he said. “I’m all about encouragement and the collaboration of culture.”

Speaking of Aladdin, while Ritchie didn’t comment directly on the infamous Oscars slap earlier this year by Will Smith, who played the genie in Disney’s 2019 live-action box office smash, he insisted that his experience with the star was nothing but a delight.

“I’ve never met a more lovely man, and working with him was one of the most wonderful, great experiences I’ve ever had,” he said. “I never saw anything other than the consummate, generous gentleman.”

With Aladdin 2 now in pre-production, would he reconsider casting Smith again? Absolutely not. “I wouldn’t have any issue casting Will Smith in anything, because, as I say, he was just the fucking perfect gentleman,” he said.

Ritchie was at the Red Sea Film Fest, taking quick three-day break from shooting the small-screen spin-off of his 2020 hit The Gentleman. While there were TV adaptations of both his debut Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and follow-up Snatch, he said that this project was “the only serious thing I’ve done in TV,” noting that he’d written it and was directing it. “And it’s a lot of fun, more fun than I thought it was going to be.”

Lock, Stock in 1998 propelled Ritchie into mainstream Hollywood.

Despite the almost quarter of a century that has passed, he admitted he hadn’t really had a chance to sit back and reflect on his life and career since then. “You blink and it’s as if nothing happened,” he said. “You’re just two stone heavier and a little bit richer.”