There’s been talk for years about a Blade Runner sequel, but it’s now finally happening with Denis Villeneuve at the helm. The first movie’s director, Sir Ridley Scott, is obviously going to produce (he’s far too busy with Prometheus sequel Alien: Paradise Lostto take the helm), and during the promotional tour for The Martian, he’s shed some light on what we should expect from the follow-up.
After revealing that he managed to convince Harrison Ford to return as Deckard through what the actor has apparently called one of the best scripts he’s ever read, Scott finally put one very divisive topic to bed: is Deckard a Replicant or not?
“Of course he’s a bloody Replicant! He’s going to have to admit it. You’ll have to see the story. It’ll all make sense.”
As for how Ryan Gosling (a surprising addition to the movie who Scott has now confirmed will indeed be part of the cast) fits into Blade Runner 2, he added:
“[The original film] was 2017, so coming back it’ll be 2047, roughly. As young as you can play Ryan Gosling. He’s 34, but he looks 27 when he’s doing his push-ups. So maybe 2050.”
Finally, talk turned to whether or not the filmmaker will have the final cut on this movie. The decision by the studio to alter the theatrical cut obviously led to Scott years later releasing his own director’s cut, drastically altering some key moments in the movie which he wasn’t happy had been changed all those years before. Thankfully, that won’t be an issue with Blade Runner 2.
“Oh, yeah. I mean, I always have final cut on everything, really. Partly because I’m very user-friendly. I always believe when you’re given X amount of money by someone to f–k around with and make a movie, you can’t draw lines in the sand. If I was an investor and you did that to me, I’d remove your ankles. So don’t do the auteur s–t. I respect the guy for giving the money and I respect the studio for saying, ‘Yeah, you want to do this, here we go.'”
It also sounds like Scott is open to the idea of doing more than one of these sequels, with Gosling potentially taking over as the face of the franchise. We’ll have to wait and see how Blade Runner 2 does before that, but do these latest comments get you more excited about what’s to come in the follow-up? Let us know your thoughts in the usual place.