Page 30 - ARUBA TODAY

A30 PEOPLE & ARTS
Tuesday 3 OcTOber 2017
Bringing ‘Blade Runner’ back

to life after 35 years

By LINDSEY BAHR remake “Blade Runner.” It to build.
AP Film Writer took the late producer Bud “It was by far the biggest
LOS ANGELES (AP) — It was Yorkin and his wife Cynthia technical challenge of
dawn on the set of “Blade Sikes 12 years to persuade my life and at the same
Runner 2049” and Harrison him otherwise. time, I had fun like a kid. I
Ford and director Denis Vil- “I had this notion that will say we went through it
leneuve were swimming there was an answer for and it went very well,” Vil-
back to the shore together a relevant sequel,” Ridley leneuve said. “Both of my
after an all-night shoot in a Scott told the AP earlier this main actors were gentle-
This image released by Warner Bros. Pictures shows Ryan million-gallon water tank. year. “Not just grunge and men. They were troopers.
Gosling, left, and Harrison Ford in a scene from “Blade Runner It was cold in the water. It gloom and rain and dark, Never complained. Harri-
2049.” was cold outside. And it but a real story.” son was always the first one
Associated Press was just one night out of Scott worked for nearly in the water. To see that
a dozen that they’d be two years on the story with man, that legend who is no
spending their sleeping Hampton Fancher and spring chicken being out at
hours soaking wet to try to Michael Green with the 4 a.m. in the water with a
execute a set piece that intention to direct, but in- big smile? It warms every-
even Ridley Scott thought stead diverted his atten- body’s heart.”
too ambitious. tions to “Alien: Covenant.” Ford said he knew on set
“What we are doing now The producers from Alcon that he was making some-
is insane,” Ford told Ville- Entertainment then ap- thing special.
neuve. “It’s insane.” proached Denis Villeneuve, “We were there, we saw
He might as well have who they’d worked with on what was going on and
been talking about the “Prisoners,” and who would thought that it was going
whole project, which is, later gain an Oscar nomi- to be good,” Ford said. “It’s
by one metric, a $150 mil- nation for “Arrival.” just epic.”
lion art house sequel to a With Ridley Scott’s bless- The completed film, he
35-year-old sci-fi film that ing, the promise of total added, will “knock your
flopped on release. In 1982, creative freedom, Ford set socks off.”
Ridley Scott’s neo-noir dys- to reprise his role and Ryan Early reviews mostly agree.
topian mind-bender based Gosling on board to co-star The film currently boasts
on Philip K. Dick’s story “Do as a new LAPD officer, Ville- a “Fresh” 96 percent on
Androids Dream of Elec- neuve agreed to do it and Rotten Tomatoes and is
tric Sheep?” made a mere set off on the “mad” task tracking for a debut in the
$27.6 million on a $28 million of making a worthy sequel $40 million range — which
budget. For comparison, to “Blade Runner.” He had could rise with good word
the year’s top film, “E.T.: legendary cinematogra- of mouth. It’s no secret to
The Extra Terrestrial” made pher Roger Deakins at his say that Alcon, which co-
$359.2 million. side from “day zero” help- financed with Sony, needs
During the troubled pro- ing to craft the look and the film to be a hit. The
duction, Ford and Scott feel of the film from the sto- company has virtual reality
famously disagreed on ryboard stage on. tie-ins planned and knows
even the nature of Ford’s What exactly that story is, that there is a whole uni-
character Rick Deckard though, the producers and verse to be mined in the
and whether or not he filmmakers hope will remain “Blade Runner” mythology,
was a “Replicant” (aka a secret until general audi- including prequels and off-
an android), and neither ences are able to see it for world adventures.
liked the theatrical release themselves — one of those “Sometime in the next 35
which included a tacked “everything is a spoiler” years we’ll probably do
on happy ending and a films that they believe is something,” Alcon co-CEO
forced voiceover narration. best seen with uninformed Andrew Kosove said with
Then came all those other eyes. a smirk. “It’s tricky. We do
versions. Seven are said to Shooting took place in Bu- have business decisions
exist, five are still available. dapest (for space and fi- to think about, but this is
Both Ford and Villeneuve nancial reasons), so gone a unique circumstance.
like “The Final Cut,” from are the Los Angeles land- It’s not Marvel. It’s not DC.
2007, best. marks that helped define There’s got to be a real
And yet “Blade Runner” not the original — the Bradbury reason to do it, otherwise
only survived those rocky Building, the Ennis House, it won’t work commercially
origins but transcended Union Station and so on — anyway.”
them to become a widely and in its place are brutal- Villeneuve, for his part, is at
regarded sci-fi classic. ist Soviet-era structures and peace with the film.
Still, the prospect for a se- massive sets that even Ford “I’m not saying the movie
quel seemed dubious at marveled at to represent is perfect, but I’m saying
best, especially when one what Los Angeles might that there is something
of the primary rights holders look like in 2049. there that is part of my ini-
nixed any attempt to start And then of course there tial dream. How the world
a franchise, fearful that was that gigantic water will react I have no idea,”
someone might attempt to tank that took two months he said. q