On Sunday, June 18, the seminal dystopian sci-fi masterpiece “Blade Runner” directed by Ridley Scott turned 35 years old. While the dates did not quite align, the soon to be released sequel “Blade Runner 2049” from Warner Brothers and Columbia (international distributor) serves as perhaps the perfect way to celebrate the original movie’s milestone. Still, some commemoration for the 35th Anniversary of the original “Blade Runner”, which starred Harrison Ford who is reprising his role for the sequel, should be appropriate at this time. While “2049” is still about four months away from premiering, Entertainment Weekly has decided to get into the celebration by releasing a special behind-the-scenes video preview of the work in progress.
More scene teases
When it comes down to it, everything is shaping up quite nicely for the post-production of “Blade Runner 2049.” Its director Denis Villeneuve estimates their progress as “running towards the finish line,” and has been very impressed with the completed shots they’ve looked at. A sampling of these scenes and a glimpse at the work put into the movie by Villeneuve and the stars Ryan Gosling and Harrison Ford were put together in an exclusive Entertainment Weekly video entitled “Blade Runner 2049: Time to Live.”
Running at almost four minutes long, “Time to Live” shows some choice scenes from the film. One such sequence shows K (Gosling), a Blade Runner who hunts down and terminates rogue humanlike Replicant androids, exploring a large but unkempt home.
After examining the dusty knick-knacks scattered about he encounters retired Blade Runner Rick Deckard (Ford), whom K has been looking for at the time. Another scene depicts Deckard now riding in an air transport with a Replicant claiming to bring him “home.” A third scene has somebody cryptically telling K he was special, and that his story is “not yet over.”
Glowing interviews
Interspersed between the “Blade Runner 2049” scenes are interview snippets from the lead actors and the director.
Harrison Ford says he felt “great joy” at being able to come back into the futuristic setting he had been a part of back in 1982, playing his old character now aged. Even original director and now executive producer Ridley Scott chimed in his two cents, remarking that he was caught off guard at how the world of “Blade Runner” inspired from a Philip K.
Dick novel, would become iconic thanks to his work.
Denis Villeneuve expressed respect for the world as Scott made it, and has tried to carry it on in his direction of “Blade Runner 2049.” Ryan Gosling for his part was excited at the prospect of being part of the sequel to one of his favorite films. Scott puts the general mood well when he says how good it feels to be “home” with the film sequel, which premieres on October 6.
