As Denis Villeneuve gears up to take on the sequel to one of the best sci-fi films ever made, Ridley Scott's been banging the drum for both Alien: Covenant AND Blade Runner 2.
The one thing that strikes us about Blade Runner 2 so far is how it'll call back to the original whilst forging its own path, something that Denis Villeneuve spoke about recently. What's more, it'll also be taking a leaf out of some unused imagery from the original.
Scott spoke recently in an interview about what's in store for the opening sequence and hardcore Blade Runner fans will recognise it as the unused opening sequence for the original.
As Scott explains it, the film opens in a farm - but not just any farm. "We always loved the idea of a dystopian universe, and we start off at what I describe as a ‘factory farm’ - what would be a flat land with farming. Wyoming. Flat, not rolling - you can see for 20 miles. No fences, just ploughed, dry dirt. Turn around and you see a massive tree, just dead, but the tree is being supported and kept alive by wires that are holding the tree up. It’s a bit like The Grapes of Wrath; there’s dust, and the tree is still standing. By that tree is a traditional, Grapes of Wrath-type white cottage with a porch. Behind it at a distance of two miles, in the twilight, is this massive combine harvester that’s fertilising this ground. You’ve got 16 Klieg lights on the front, and this combine is four times the size of this cottage."
"And now a spinner (that's the flying cars from the original) comes flying in, creating dust. Of course, traditionally chased by a dog that barks. The doors open, a guy gets out and there you’ve got Rick Deckard. He walks in to the cottage, opens the door, smells stew, sits down and waits for the guy to pull up to the house to arrive. The guy’s seen him, so the guy pulls the combine behind the cottage and it towers three stories above it, and the man climbs down from a ladder - a big man. He steps onto the balcony and he goes to Harrison's side. The cottage actually creaks; this guy’s got to be 350 pounds."
That's where Scott finished up his story, but if you've seen Dangerous Days - the feature-length documentary about Blade Runner's production - you'll know that Deckard ends up killing the guy and he turns out to be a replicant. It's certainly an interesting visual and we're pretty sure Denis Villenueve is the best director working today to take it on.
Meanwhile, Scott also confirmed officially - at long last - that Ryan Gosling is now signed on and ready to star in the sequel. What his role will be and how he'll fit into the story remains a mystery. The rumour floating around is that Gosling plays a detective who spends the first two acts of the film looking for Harrison Ford's character, who is - you guessed it - a replicant.
There's no set release date for the Blade Runner sequel, but you can check our round-up of the facts over here.
Via /Film / AFI
