Blade Runner Sequel Director On the Challenges of Following a Masterpiece

With a high-profile creative staff being put together and Harrison Ford headed back to the property, it's easy to assume that the forthcoming, Denis Villeneuve-directed Blade Runner sequel will breeze into theaters.

As Villeneuve notes in a new interview with Collider, though, that's far from a given.

"It's more than nervous, it's a deep fear," he said of taking on the gig, which came with Ford already attached. "I mean, when I heard that Ridley Scott wanted to do another movie in the Blade Runner universe, at first my reaction was that it's a fantastic idea, but it may be a very bad idea. I'm among the hardcore fans of Blade Runner. Blade Runner is one of my favorite movies of all time. It's a movie that is linked with my love and passion for cinema. I'm coming from a small town in Quebec where, at that time, there was no internet and the way to be in contact with movies were those American fan magazines like Fantastic Films and Starlog and I still remember the shock, the impact of seeing the first frames, the first pictures coming out of Blade Runner. Me and my friends were in awe, so excited and the movie was such a strong cinematic experience. A new way of seeing sci-fi.

"For me it's like a monument. So when I realized one day that they put in front of me the Blade Runner project screen play, for me I was very moved to have this honor to read the screenplay, but I accepted to do it because I felt that Hampton Fancher, Ridely Scott and Michael Green did a fantastic job on the screenplay. It's a very powerful screenplay. And I felt that it made sense to me and I had the Ridley Scott blessing. But you ask if I hesitated. I hesitated massively. It took me a lot of time to say yes. Not because I didn't believe in it, because I was like 'Who am I to dare to touch that?' And at the same there's a part of me that said, 'I'm a hardcore fan, I don't want to f--- that up.'"

There's more coming later in the week from this same interview, so keep your eyes peeled and so will we. The next Blade Runner doesn't have a set start date yet, and is likely at least a bit contingent on the demands of the Star Wars franchise.