BLADE RUNNER 2049 - Official Thread

[AndyDursin]

He's been circling around this for years...guess he's going to finish his career by revisiting earlier parts?

EXCLUSIVE: After revisiting his classic Alien with the upcoming 3D Fox film Prometheus, Ridley Scott is committing to direct and produce a film that advances his other seminal and groundbreaking science fiction film. Scott has signed on to direct and produce a new installment of Blade Runner. He’ll make the film with Alcon Entertainment, producing with Alcon partners Broderick Johnson and Andrew Kosove. This would be the most high profile project for Alcon since The Blind Side. They got control of the franchise earlier this year, but it's a whole different ballgame with Scott at the helm.

I’m not getting a clear sense at this point whether Scott intends to do a sequel or a prequel to the 1982 film that was loosely based on the Philip K. Dick novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? Also unclear is whether they start fresh or reach out to Harrison Ford, who starred that took place in dystopian Los Angeles in 2019, in which organic superhuman robots called replicants escaped and are hiding somewhere on earth. Ford played Richard Deckard, a burnt out blade runner assigned to hunt them down. His tired life gets altered when he himself falls for one of the replicants and struggles to keep her from being destroyed.

The film was not a blockbuster when first released--it grossed $32 million in its original run--but the film has gained esteem over time. From the bleak but breathtaking visuals to the complex storyline and themes of mortality, Blade Runner became a classic. There has periodically been talks of doing a sequel but those never really went anywhere. After injecting state of the art 3D in reviving Alien, imagine what Scott can do with Blade Runner? Now, the filmmaker is ready to engage. Alcon has its output deal with Warner Bros, which remastered and released a 25th anniversary version on DVD and Blu-Ray in 2007. Warner Bros made the original film.

This is just the first step and the project will have to be written and it will likely evolve during that process. That's what happened on Alien, which began as a prequel to his 1979 classic. That changed when Lost's Damon Lindelof came in with a different take on the subject matter that imprinted on Scott and Fox executives. They wound up making Prometheus, which Fox considers an original but which I've heard is a cousin to the original Alien franchise. That film will be released June 8, 2012, with Charlize Theron, Michael Fassbender, Noomi Rapace, Patrick Wilson, Idris Elba and Guy Pearce starring. Scott is repped by WME.

http://www.deadline.com/2011/08/ridley- ... de-runner/

[mkaroly]

Vangelis would be perfect for this score!

If Scott wants to go back and do a prequel I don't necessarily have a problem with it...unless PROMETHEUS sucks...in which case I would be against this.

[AndyDursin]

I'd much rather see a sequel than a prequel -- I would like to see that universe forwarded and not just a lead-in to something we've already watched.

I second Vangelis! The only choice...

[Eric W.]

I'd like a sequel even if it doesn't involve Ford.

Also hoping for Vangelis on this.

[AndyDursin]

I'd prefer it not involve Ford...I think he hated making the first one so much he wouldn't go back anyway, but then again, the passage of time (and bombs like COWBOYS AND ALIENS) might change his mind.

[mkaroly]

I'd prefer it not involve Ford...I think he hated making the first one so much he wouldn't go back anyway, but then again, the passage of time (and bombs like COWBOYS AND ALIENS) might change his mind.

I picked prequel so it wouldn't involve Ford (you could have someone else play him when he was younger). I guess a sequel could work without him...you could summarize what happened after he and Rachel went on the run and then move to a story without him.

[Monterey Jack]

I suppose I'm in the minority by respecting the hell out of Blade Runner without liking it very much. It's technically staggering and perhaps the most visually influential movie of the past three decades, but the gumshoe/murder mystery aspects of the story aren't compelling, the characters are flat and uninteresting, and the emotional aspects (aside from maybe Rutger Hauer's "tears in rain" speech) don't really gel. This is a movie I revisit every few years hoping it'll fully "click" with me, and yet I always coming away wishing I loved it as much as most critics do (well, now they do...most critics kind of shrugged it off back in '82, and audiences stayed away in droves). The movie never comes together either as a noir thriller or a tragic romance, and just sort of sits there, a visually magnificent piece of art direction, visual effects and cinematography that I can't give a damn about as a narrative. I own the 5-disc Blu-Ray set, and am glad I own it just for the film's important place in film history and the filmography of Ridley Scott, but I find it cold and unsatisfying (no matter which of the 5,000 cuts you watch). A very good film, I suppose, but like a lot of Scott movies, it just lacks warmth. And I know that's probably the point of the film, but....ergh.

[AndyDursin]

Interesting POV MJ, I respect it, though the movie certainly works for me. One of my all-time, Top 10 favorite movies ever.

[mkaroly]

Listening to the score from this film now...this is one of the few scores I can think of in that when I hear it I want to immediately put the movie in and watch it. Vangelis' music conjures up so much of the images of the city, lights moving back and forth, the whole ambiance of the environment in the film. I find this score to be a great example of how music can add character to the visual product - take the music away and the visuals will suffer as well as the character of the city/situations. Integral contribution to the film and its success. I love this movie!

[AndyDursin]

Love this score also Michael, it is truly one of the most distinctive scores ever composed. It's funny you mention it, because Paul and I were talking just last week that it's unfortunate Vangelis has never really given us a cohesive, complete Blade Runner soundtrack album. Each time he's tried, we've gotten "reconceived" tracks or original compositions blended into the film score cues. That Off World boot from way back when -- sound quality notwithstanding -- was the best presentation of the music as it was written for the film. Maybe one day he'll try it again!

[Paul MacLean]

I'm only interested in this film if Vangelis will be doing the score.

Heck, even if he's not available, a "score" cobbled together from his Blade Runner-esque albums would certainly be preferable to any of the Remote Control guys...

Paul and I were talking just last week that it's unfortunate Vangelis has never really given us a cohesive, complete Blade Runner soundtrack album. Each time he's tried, we've gotten "reconceived" tracks or original compositions blended into the film score cues.

Vangelis is clearly an eccentric fellow, and strangely selective. Compare the score for Chariots of Fire as heard in the film to the actual album.

He turns-down a lot of feature film offers -- yet happily accepted the job of composing music for a surgical video guide which no one ever saw except for a few physicians. Also, two solo albums (from '87 and '90) were announced and inexplicably canceled, and apparently he has hundreds (maybe thousands) of hours of music he's recorded but never released.

I'm thankful we got as much Blade Runner music as we did!

[mkaroly]

I found the third disc of the 25th Anni BR set to be awful (except for Piano in an Empty Room); what a waste of an opportunity. I too wish he would just release the full score, but I imagine that will never happen. There's always the BSX edition I can buy....NOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Paul MacLean]

It looks like this interview is almost a year old, but here is Scott describing an actual scene he's envisioned for the film...

http://collider.com/ridley-scott-blade- ... interview/

[AndyDursin]

Just to follow up on Scott's upcoming projects:

His next film, THE COUNSELOR, is based on a Cormac McCarthy book -- it's probably completed filming by this point:

http://www.deadline.com/2012/05/cameron ... counselor/

"Cameron Diaz joins Michael Fassbender, Brad Pitt, Javier Bardem and Penelope Cruz in the cast. It is a strong supporting role she’ll play, named Malkina. Fassbender plays the title role of a respected lawyer who thinks he can dip a toe into the drug business without getting sucked down, which proves to be a life-threatening decision."

Beyond that, Fox is trying to get him to make MOSES, an epic Biblical saga with Christian Bale -- in the rumored stage (Warner Bros. is trying to get their MOSES into production first with Ang Lee)

http://www.deadline.com/2013/03/christi ... ing-moses/

We'll see, but it doesn't seem like BLADE RUNNER or a PROMETHEUS sequel are close to being on his immediate radar.

He's also producing KLONDIKE, the first dramatic series on the Discovery Channel, with Sam Shepard starring, in addition to KILLING JESUS, the adaptation of Bill O'Reilly's next book.

http://www.deadline.com/2013/03/chris-c ... iniseries/

[mkaroly]

"Fox is trying to get him to make MOSES, an epic Biblical saga with Christian Bale -- in the rumored stage (Warner Bros. is trying to get their MOSES into production first with Ang Lee)"



Big thumbs down to both of them - lol - I don't see either director making a good film on that subject matter.