Ridley Scott to Direct New Blade Runner

[Harvey]

I'd be surprised if Ford appeared. He's on record about the first film being "a bitch," if I recall his words. He didn't get along with Scott at all and was glad when it was done.

 

[Deckerd]

I suppose Prometheus will tell us a lot about Ridley Scott's grasp on things. I fear a Lucas-type car crash but who knows? The whole idea is a bad one. If they want to make a movie in the Blade Runner universe, they should make it completely divorced from the original.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

I won't believe this until I'm sitting in theaters and see it for myself.

 

[Set Harth]

So... do replicants age? If not, and Ford does return as Deckard, that should at least settle one issue, yes?

AAUGH!

 

[Samurai8472]

I'd be surprised if Ford appeared. He's on record about the first film being "a bitch," if I recall his words. He didn't get along with Scott at all and was glad when it was done.

Maybe he's softened up after 30 years

 

[Dick Whitman]

There are big differences between remakes of now and those listed above. Now we are able to rewatch older films whenever we want. They did not and could not simply directly compare different takes on the same story. Or be as familiar and emotionally attached to the original as we are.

Also current remakes are often full of direct winks and references to the original films. Like cameos of original cast members or other fanish references. To the point that the current versions are dependent on the original for understanding. Which is something that was never true of much older remakes.

 

[Bisz]

Sure, but then we just get an alternate history TV show with some vague Philip K. Dick trimmings. It could work, sure, but I'd probably be happier with a brief miniseries.

I'd be much happier with an alt-history show set in The Man In The High Castle universe than with an actual adaptation of the book as I found it incredibly un-enjoyable. I like the concept of a world where the Allies lost the war and with Germany and Japan engaged in a cold war, I don't care one bit for any of the characters in the novel or any of the actual plot points.

 

[Daneel]

I'd be surprised if Ford appeared. He's on record about the first film being "a bitch," if I recall his words. He didn't get along with Scott at all and was glad when it was done.

Maybe he's softened up after 30 years

He does seem to have softened on the film a bit as of late -- heck, he participated in the 25th anniversary DVD interviews. Even from those, however, you can tell that making the film was stressful for him, and there was definite tension with Scott.

Here's what the movie's Wikipedia page has to say on the matter:

In 1992, Ford revealed, "Blade Runner is not one of my favorite films. I tangled with Ridley." Apart from friction with the director, Ford also disliked the voiceovers: "When we started shooting it had been tacitly agreed that the version of the film that we had agreed upon was the version without voiceover narration. It was a f**king nightmare. I thought that the film had worked without the narration. But now I was stuck re-creating that narration. And I was obliged to do the voiceovers for people that did not represent the director's interests. I went kicking and screaming to the studio to record it."

In 2006 Scott was asked "Who's the biggest pain in the arse you've ever worked with?", he replied: "It's got to be Harrison ... he'll forgive me because now I get on with him. Now he's become charming. But he knows a lot, that's the problem. When we worked together it was my first film up and I was the new kid on the block. But we made a good movie." Ford said of Scott in 2000: "I admire his work. We had a bad patch there, and I'm over it." In 2006 Ford reflected on the production of the film saying: "What I remember more than anything else when I see Blade Runner is not the 50 nights of shooting in the rain, but the voiceover ... I was still obliged to work for these clowns that came in writing one bad voiceover after another."

So it seems as though it's water under the bridge for both of them (publicly, at least), but I suppose it's anyone's guess as to whether or not they'd be willing to work together again.

 

[nvek86]

It seems more like (while working with Scott may not have been easy) his main problem were the guys above the director (the produvers, I guess) who came up with stuff like the voice overs.

 

[davejames]

I have a hard time imagining Ford pulling off the "hard-boiled detective" thing today. Let alone being able to blend believably into that futuristic world like he did before.

More likely, he would just end up looking gruff and pissed off for two hours, like he always does now.

 

[Pingfah]

I suppose Prometheus will tell us a lot about Ridley Scott's grasp on things. I fear a Lucas-type car crash but who knows? The whole idea is a bad one. If they want to make a movie in the Blade Runner universe, they should make it completely divorced from the original.

As much as I realise it could be a disaster, I cannot make myself not want this to happen.

At least Ridley is at the helm, which gives it the best possible chance of not being a fuck-up. And if there's even a 1% chance it might approach the excellence of Blade Runner, it's a chance worth taking IMO.

 

[Deckerd]

I never said I didn't want it to happen, just that the current rumours are a bad idea. Keeping Deckard out of it would leave the unanswered questions from BR unanswered.

 

[Set Harth]

Or to put it another way, it would leave the answered questions answered.

 

[Deckerd]

That doesn't make sense.

 

[Set Harth]

I should have said "un-retconned".

 

[davejames]

I never said I didn't want it to happen, just that the current rumours are a bad idea. Keeping Deckard out of it would leave the unanswered questions from BR unanswered.

Yeah I just don't think we need to see Deckard's story continued. Especially with a 70 year old Harrison Ford.

 

[Sindatur]

I suppose Prometheus will tell us a lot about Ridley Scott's grasp on things. I fear a Lucas-type car crash but who knows? The whole idea is a bad one. If they want to make a movie in the Blade Runner universe, they should make it completely divorced from the original.

I thought that was exactly what was happening? The movie is set in the same Universe, but, is a different story, not a Prequel, nor a Sequel, but, a seperate story in the same Universe?

 

[Allyn Gibson]

It seems more like (while working with Scott may not have been easy) his main problem were the guys above the director (the produvers, I guess) who came up with stuff like the voice overs.

The voice-over was always supposed to be a part of the film. It was scripted to be a laconic film noir-style narration like Bogart might've delivered in the 1940s.

I suppose Prometheus will tell us a lot about Ridley Scott's grasp on things. I fear a Lucas-type car crash but who knows? The whole idea is a bad one. If they want to make a movie in the Blade Runner universe, they should make it completely divorced from the original.

I thought that was exactly what was happening? The movie is set in the same Universe, but, is a different story, not a Prequel, nor a Sequel, but, a separate story in the same Universe?

Like Soldier?

 

[Daneel]

Well, the rumours about Ford being involved were scuttled fairly quickly.

I'm still not entirely convinced that this will ever really get off the ground, but then again, I thought the same thing about the oft-discussed Alien prequel, and now it's almost here.

At any rate, Prometheus looks potentially awesome, so if they follow a similar track with the Blade Runner sequel, I'll definitely be interested.

 

[Aragorn]

Yeah I just don't think we need to see Deckard's story continued. Especially with a 70 year old Harrison Ford.

Bring in Dennis Quaid as Deckard. He's more Harrison Ford now than Harrison Ford is.