One last bit of news from the world of Ridley Scott and then I’m going back to my eagle eye reporting on Gods of Egypt. That other sci-fi yarn from Scott that enamored fanboys and cinephiles, Blade Runner is also getting another entry. Scott’s handing off directing duties on Blade Runner 2: Your Sister Is a Replicant to Denis Villeneuve (yes) and it will have Roger Deakins behind the camera (YES), but he’s obviously goingg to have his fingers in the synthetic pie. While at the AFI Festival Scott spilled the beans on the opening scene of the film:
“…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 plowed, 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 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 fertilizing 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 [a flying car] 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 the cottage, opens the door, sits down, 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. I’m not going to say anything else – you’ll have to go see the movie.”
For some of us, that may sound somewhat familiar, and there’s a reason for that: this sequence was the original scripted opening of Blade Runner. Deckard shoots the intruder point blank with no explanation, and then he walks over and rips his jaw off, revealing the man to be a replicant. IT sounds like they’re going to repurpose this opening for the new film. Seeing as how Sean Young isn’t involved in this new venture, I have to assume that this cottage is Deckard’s hideaway. Does this mean that Ryan Gosling’s character will be hunting Deckard? Who knows, but it’s a cool opening!
Okay, I’m done with Ridley Scott themed news for today. Where’s an update on the It adaptation? I can write about that stuff for days.
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