For a while, it looked as if Ridley Scott was going to get through the Gladiator II press cycle without saying anything remotely contentious. That was a worry since, as we know, saying contentious things is the entire point of a Ridley Scott press cycle. The gold standard, of course, was Napoleon; a film about a historical French figure that he promoted by slagging off French people (they “don’t even like themselves”) and historians (“Excuse me, mate, were you there? No? Well, shut the fuck up then”). However, the most he managed for Gladiator II was a half-hearted potshot at Russell Crowe’s “bitching”. Slim pickings indeed.

But now that awards season is cranking up again, Scott gets a second bite at the cherry. And so last month, during a discussion with Christopher Nolan, he decided to throw Malta into a minor political crisis. The country’s film commissioner Johann Grech shared a clip of the chat on social media, in which Scott made this tourist-friendly pronouncement: “Malta is a treasure trove of architecture. The architecture goes from medieval right through to Renaissance and when it’s good it’s spectacular.”

However, the clip was edited. In the full version of the talk, which can be seen on YouTube, you can see that between those two sentences he says: “I wouldn’t advise going there on holiday,” before looking out into the audience and saying: “No Maltese in here, are there? I would not go back there on holiday.” Which, we can all agree, is a classic Scott move, especially after Gladiator II benefitted from €47m (£38m) of Maltese tax rebates. However, the edited clip caused Malta’s shadow culture spokesperson to declare that Scott had “humiliated” Grech, and that Grech should resign.

It’s worth pointing out that Scott has walked this back a little. In a statement to the Times of Malta, he said that the holiday line was because: “I have spent so much time on the island over the years – working, exploring, enjoying, and watching it change and evolve – that I wouldn’t need to take a holiday there!” The accuracy of this statement is up for debate – after all, he did tell the entire internet that he wouldn’t advise going there – and there’s a chance he only did it so that he could still use Malta’s generous rebate scheme for future films, but for now it’s settled.

This is probably a good thing, since Malta is a wonderful island with plenty going for it, especially for those who like seeing places where films were made. One of the country’s biggest attractions is Popeye Village, the permanent set for Robert Altman’s 1980 Popeye film, which now includes a miniature golf course and a shrine to Robin Williams. Kalkara’s Fort Ricasoli, meanwhile, was used in Troy, Game of Thrones, Assassin’s Creed, Cutthroat Island and by Scott in Gladiator, Gladiator II and Napoleon. The Malta tourism board even has a section of its website devoted to the island’s film locations.

But perhaps the tourism board is missing a trick. It is becoming increasingly clear that being slagged off by Scott is the highest possible honour, and also that – at least speaking personally – there is an appetite to hear him go off at whatever subject happens to be crossing his mind at any given moment. I suggest that there is good money to be made in a Scott guided audio tour of Malta. Imagine visiting the beautiful fortified city of Mdina, listening to Scott lay into its disappointing restaurants and subpar facilities. Picture strolling around Valletta as he grumbles about how hilly it is or travelling to the island of Gozo, where Scott spends two hours detailing his mistrust of baboons. This, to my mind, is the only way he can fully repair his broken bond with Malta.