Blade Runner Turns 3. Ridley Scott Discusses the Film's Legacy, Deckard's True Nature, and the Future of the Series.
Share. The date was June 2. Ridley Scott and star Harrison Ford took us on a journey to the beautiful yet terrifying world of Los Angeles, 2. Replicants and futuristic private dicks and cold fish (though in the latter case, only in the theatrical cut!).
And now we’ll soon be returning to that world when Blade Runner 2. To celebrate the anniversary of the original film as well as the upcoming sequel, I recently spoke to Ridley Scott about the legacy of Blade Runner and where he hopes to take the series in 2. Ford returns in the film as former Blade Runner Rick Deckard, with Ryan Gosling also starring as Officer K, and Scott executive- producing while Denis Villeneuve (Arrival) directs. But before we get to my chat with Ridley Scott, take a look at this behind- the- scenes piece on Blade Runner 2.
IGN: I was hoping we could start by talking a bit about your influences when making the original Blade Runner 3. Everyone knows how influential the film has been since its release, but can you talk about what influenced you? Ridley Scott: Yeah, I mean - - you know, by the time I would start making movies, I was 4. I was a very, very successful commercial maker. So, you know, we were already pretty ingrained into it, New York, London, and the Far East. And so I traveled a lot, shooting everywhere, and I spent a bit of time shooting in Hong Kong before the first skyscraper ever was going up, the Bank of Hong Kong.
Eight different versions of Ridley Scott's 1982 American science fiction film Blade Runner have been shown, either to test audiences or theatrically.
So when I was in Hong Kong shooting, it was - - Christ, it was medieval, right? It was medieval meets technology. And medieval meets electronics. And they were making everything from cameras to sound stuff and selling it in their boxes and God knows what else.
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The junks in the harbor, when I was there, there had got to be 2. And so it was an amazing environment, and that stuck in my mind. It kind of influenced me in that direction, in terms of what will the populace be in the time that Blade Runner’s . It's not quite accurate, because 2. Well, we are there. And it's not Chinese at all. But there's a lot of mixed cultures .
That particular moment in the ’6. I did a lot of commercials. And so it was an amazing environment, and that stuck in my mind. New York was always the city of overload. I thought it was smelly, dirty, and grungy. And therefore I didn't love it, but I figured it represented what we called retro- architecture.
So mate, how the f#@k are you gonna clean these buildings? How do you clean the windows? It's impossible. So that became the backdrop of how the exterior, the world of Blade Runner, evolved, because originally the script that Hampton Fancher wrote was very, very good, . Very much internalized and interiorized. See what that is.” So from that point on, I've never worked so much in all my life with a writer, the writer Hampton.
And actually, it's probably one of the best experiences I've had with a writer. We worked for five bloody months on it, almost every day going through it, going through what we went through yesterday, and gradually he evolved it. So, in a funny kind of way, it was a very nice marriage of a very clever writer and a very visual director. So it was nice. It was one of my better experiences, I would say.
IGN: Is that why, as a producer on the sequel, you brought Fancher back? RS: Immediately, I talked to him on the phone and he went, “Oh, s#! He still walks the walk, talks the talk. And from our first meeting, which was about a week and a bit, we formed a very nice, almost a 1. Very nice. IGN: Can we talk about the sort of blending of genres in the original? You know, obviously it's a sci- fi movie, but then you have that film noir aspect to it, which I'm assuming was part of the script before you came onboard.
You also leaned into that visually. RS: Yeah, the hunter falls in love with his quarry. And from that, this quarry is in a world of, you know, Philip K. Dick where they have very expensive things like very expensive jewelry, like with a digital, mechanized, beautiful jeweled snake that works. You can have a sheep in your house. Very weird choices. But interesting. So it's about a world of extremes, and I said if we've got this, we've got to go outside and see what the hell it's like outside, so that's how it evolved.“The hunter falls in love with his quarry.
IGN: In planning the sequel, how much did you want to call back to the original film in terms of visuals? How did you find that line between sticking to the look of the original but also not just rehashing it? RS: Well, that's always the challenge. So I knew what the sequel could be because, having made the first one, I used to sit and think . And that choice always sat there, and at one stage I'd gone to somebody else saying, “We should actually do this.” And they said, “Well, we think the first one should be left alone because it worked.” I said, “Well, I think you've got another way to go with this thing.” And eventually our contract got bought.
But in buying it, they asked me first, “Is there a story?” So I was able to say, “Of course there is.”The iconic city- scape of the original Blade Runner. IGN: At what point while making the original film did you decide that Deckard would be a Replicant? RS: Oh, it was always my thesis theory.
It was one or two people who were relevant were.. I can't remember if Hampton agreed with me or not. But I remember someone had said, “Well, isn't it corny?” I said, “Listen, I'll be the best f#@king judge of that. I'm the director, okay?” So, and that, you learn - - you know, by then I'm 4. I'm no f#@king chicken. I'm a very experienced director from commercials and The Duellists and Alien. So, I'm able to, you know, answer that with confidence at the time, and say, “You know, back off, it's what it's gonna be.” Harrison, he was never - - I don't remember, actually.
I think Harrison was going, “Uh, I don't know about that.” I said, “But you have to be, because Gaff, who leaves a trail of origami everywhere, will leave you a little piece of origami at the end of the movie to say, ? Romance Movies Download Ouija 2 (2016). So, I love Beavis and Butthead, so what should follow that is “Duh.” So now it will be revealed.