Produced for old sci-fi and fantasy conventions--back when the nerdy convention circuit was less corporate and even less frequently bathed--this 16mm, 13-minute Blade Runner featurette takes a look behind the scenes of the now-classic, and includes interviews with three of the lead geniuses in making the film as enduring as it is: director Ridley Scott, visual effects designer Douglas Trumbull, and production designer/futurist Syd Mead. It also for some reason provides examples of what it would be like to replace the film's iconic Vangelis score with a funky '70s porn track. Highly informative at several levels.
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What would some sci-fi movie classics look like as pulp novels? Here are some answers from illustrator Timothy Anderson, who made these awesomely-convincing mock-ups of Blade Runner, Alien, and The Matrix as trashy book covers. Books: check 'em out.
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Making the most awesomely rotoscoped film recreation since Terminator was rendered in highlighter, artist Anders Ramsell has animated over twelve minutes of Blade Runner using over 3000 beautifully-hazy aquarelle paintings. It's all the excitement of Ridley Scott's enduring sci-fi classic; all the bleary-eyed wonder of being way too drunk to be trying to watch Blade Runner right now.
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Alcon Entertainment's belated Blade Runner franchise initiative is still easy enough to question--as easy as snidely reminding everyone that Alcon had a hand in Dude, Where's My Car?, Racing Stripes, the Wicker Man remake, P.S. I Love You, One Missed Call, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2, and Eddie Murphy's live-action/CGI Hong Kong Phooey!--but it's getting harder and harder to completely disregard the project. First the company brought on original director Ridley Scott--whose work on Alien sort-of-prequel Prometheus has shown a clear aptitude for returning to both his sci-fi past and unnerving close-ups of eyeballs--and now original Blade Runner co-writer and Scott's fellow septuagenarian Hampton Fancher is in talks to write the screenplay.
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The geek world is very reactive when it comes to Blade Runner. When Edward James Olmos says "it's too bad she won't live," the population of Comic Con shouts back, "but then again, who does?" Then everyone gives each other high fives until it gets awkward when when Comic Con keeps insisting Olmos sign all the Battlestar Galactica shit they brought from home.
So, this weekend, when it was heavily-rumored that Harrison Ford was in talks to join Ridley Scott's Blade Runner sequel in his current old man form, the ever-excitable internet got a little upset by this news. That information did not sync up with all the spoilers we know about Blade Runner! We were about to cancel our email subscriptions to Harrison Ford's online newsletter, Han's Plans!
But wait! Calm down, everyone. Here's momma to put a damp cloth on our forehead, stroke our hair, and tell us to drink some clear soda. Deadline has talked to the Blade Runner sequel's producers/financiers at Alcon Entertainment, and they say Harrison Ford's participation is not happening (unless it's later decided that should happen):
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Well, may yet see Harrison Ford as an aged replicant clinging to his youth with an earring.
Despite Ridley Scott's claim that his unfortunately planned Blade Runner sequel would be made "not with the past cast, of course," TwitchFilm has since heard otherwise--that the film may in fact be made with the past cast, of course. Their sources say Scott and producers have decided to go the tried-and-true Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull route, bringing Ford back and bundling him in the familiar brown wrapping we know and love, and according to their report, Ford has already entered early talks to join the film in some capacity.
If true, the casting would go not just against Scott's earlier promise but also the words of producer Andrew Kosove, who late last year told the L.A. Times:
"...if you're asking me will this movie have anything to do with Harrison Ford, the answer is no. This is a total reinvention, and in my mind that means doing everything fresh, including casting."
The casting would also pretty much go against Blade Runner's heavily-insinuated notion that Harrison Ford's Deckard was himself a replicant who would never live long enough to star alongside Diane Keaton in Morning Glory, so hopefully Ridley Scott has a good reason for dragging the actor back into this. Like to play a new Blade Runner's quietly delighted grandpa, maybe?
Earlier this year, when Alcon Entertainment bought the rights to Blade Runner--a crown jewel to place alongside such lesser trophies as their Dude, Where's My Car?, Chasing Liberty, Racing Stripes, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, the Wicker Man remake, P.S. I Love You, One Missed Call, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2, The Blind Side, Lottery Ticket, Something Borrowed, Dolphin Tale, and the upcoming Queen Latifah/Dolly Parton comedy Joyful Noise--the threat of an painfully-extended Blade Runner franchise came only in the vaguest terms, with the company talking about "multi-platform concepts" for "any prequel or sequel [they] produce" as if they might just be a couple of shit heads who had absolutely no idea what they were going to do with their expensive new purchase. In August, when Ridley Scott officially came on to produce and direct, still there was no apparent direction for the film--though, in fairness, Alcon had at least finally revealed who they would have providing the voice for their CGI Hong Kong Phooey movie. But now, finally, thanks to an interview between Scott and the Wall Street Journal, we're starting to jussssst barely get a hint at what this new film will be.
In short, it's "liable to be a sequel." Though that statement also sort of implies it might not be a sequel, so maybe it won't be. But if it is a sequel, or maybe even if it's not, it will go ahead, Scott said, "not with the past cast, of course," because of course not. Asked for clarification that this means no Deckard, and thus, ostensibly, no Harrison Ford, Scott cryptically added only, "No, not really"--perhaps playing coy, perhaps leaving the door open for Ford to return as a human character that the Deckard replicant was based on (whoops, ambiguous spoiler!), or perhaps Ridley Scott is just a regular 74-year-old man, tired of all this talk of androids and aliens, and ready for someone to drive him for his weekly lotto tickets. Maybe we'll find out once his Alien prequel comes out, after someone takes him for his lottos.
Remember how Alcon Entertainment purchased the rights to Blade Runner, and planned to, despite all protests, make some more Blade Runners? Well, Ridley Scott is going to make those extra Blade Runners for you. The production company behind such winning titles as Dude, Where's My Car?, Chasing Liberty, Racing Stripes, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, the Wicker Man remake, P.S. I Love You, One Missed Call, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2, The Blind Side, Lottery Ticket, Something Borrowed, Dolphin Tale, the upcoming Queen Latifah comedy Joyful Noise, and the live-action Hong Kong Phooey that will have the voice of Eddie Murphy has somehow reached an arrangement with original Blade Runner director Ridley Scott, and, though it's unclear right now what direction the new film would take, one thing is certain: Scott is going to be producing and directing it. Unless he decides to do that Monopoly movie or one of the other films he's been talking about for a while.
Considering Scott is currently working on a movie set within the world of his other beloved, decades-old, atmospheric sci-fi film (Alien, guys), I suppose his decision to return shouldn't come off as too much of a surprise, but still: when did this a-hole become such a George Lucas?
Taking trendy, Polaroid-esque photos of yourself with your fashionable friends: it's not just for the worst people at the bar! Or at least it wasn't in 1981, when a 22-year-old Sean Young took some photos of herself with the actors and crew on the set of Blade Runner. Have a look at the whole set on her website to imagine you too were there--seemingly stupefied that a pretty girl was pushing against you, even though you're Han fuckin' Solo. This photo of Young and James Woods is also pretty worthwhile.
(via!)
The sci-fi classic thought untouchable by everyone except the asshole who tried to write a sequel a couple years ago is about to get sent through Hollywood's franchise-making machine. According to an official release, Alcon Entertainment co-founders Broderick Johnson and Andrew Kosove are in final talks to acquire the rights to make as many prequels and sequels to Blade Runner as their idiot hearts desire. Oof.
The deal specifically excludes rights to remake the original--if that does anything to reassure you--but does cover film, television, and "ancillary franchise rights," all of which Johnson and Kosove plan to exploit to the fullest, jointly saying in a statement:
This is a major acquisition for our company, and a personal favorite film for both of us. We recognize the responsibility we have to do justice to the memory of the original with any prequel or sequel we produce. We have long-term goals for the franchise, and are exploring multi-platform concepts, not just limiting ourselves to one medium only.
Funny, Blade Runner is a personal favorite film for me, too, yet I never once thought that I should explore the events leading to it through online webisodes. But maybe they have reasons! Let's see what enlightening remarks they had to add from the set of their Queen Latifah comedy Joyful Noise...
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Blade Runner is widely regarded as one of the best science fiction films of all time--an untouchable masterpiece. Well, considered untouchable to everyone except one of the guys who wrote Eagle Eye, that is. While all of humanity says, "No, there should obviously never be a sequel to Blade Runner," screenwriter Travis Wright is all, "Maybe I should be writing a sequel to Blade Runner, and I am," and he reportedly told an audience just that. It's apparently being done in association with Blade Runner co-executive producer Bud Yorkin but without prior studio approval. From /Film:
“I recently attended a Q&A session with one of the writers of ‘Eagle Eye’ after a free screening organized by the magazine Creative Screenwriting. During the Q&A, the writer said that he and whomever it was that helped him co-write the ‘Eagle Eye’ screenplay were in the process of writing a sequel to Blade Runner, and had already contacted the producers of the original, etc., etc.
Wright's co-writer John Glenn has already disavowed himself of the project, which is smart considering everyone will hate whoever does this. It feels like some stranger coming in and trying to re-marry your divorced parent, and then you find out that stranger is writing a screenplay for Blade Runner 2. "Sorry, Mom, but you're marrying an asshole."
With the theatrical release of Blade Runner: The Final Cut next month and a huge DVD set coming in December, Wired has done a question and answer with Ridley Scott that discusses the film's new edits, its influences and legacy. I thought it was a good read, answering some questions I'd always had, but others are already complaining that the interview had too much voice-over, not enough unicorn-centric dream sequences, and left readers unsure whether or not the interviewee was human.
Q&A: Ridley Scott Has Finally Created the Blade Runner He Always Imagined [Wired]
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