In just over a year, Blade Runner will return to theaters with its long-awaited sequel. Denis Villeneuve has taken over the director’s seat from Ridley Scott who famously created the first Blade Runner flick. The iconic franchise is set to feature talent like Harrison Ford, Ryan Gosling, and Jared Leto, so clearly, the sequel is one that many fans are looking forward to. And, what’s more, Denis is very well-aware of those fans’ expectations.
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The director recently spoke with The Hollywood Reporter and spoke about how he was approaching his take on Blade Runner. He began by saying that “it’s not possible to live up to the original. It’s Ridley Scott. It’s a masterpiece. It’s one of the best sci-fi films, one of the best films in the past 50 years.”
“For me, what terrorizes me right now is what I’m doing is taking Blade Runner and making it my own, and that is horrific,” Denis went on to say. “To realize that when I look at the dailies, it’s not Ridley Scott, it’s me, and that it’s different. It’s still the same universe, we are still in the same dream, but it’s mine, so it’s like I have no idea how you people will react, I don’t know. It has its own life.”
Denis also described what his typical day is like during the production of Blade Runner. “I wake up at six, I get to bed at midnight, it’s like seven days a week and you dream about it. Very often I wake up in the middle of the night, and I know I’m doomed, because I know I won’t go back to bed, because I’m too excited,” he said. “So I don’t sleep a lot. So that’s why if you ask me what I’m going to do after Blade Runner, I’m going to sleep.”
Over the past few months, plenty of updates have been shared about the sequel. Aside from casting announcements, news recently broke that a construction worker was tragically killed on set during filming. The unnamed victim happened to be working beneath a platform that suddenly collapsed on set but filming for Blade Runner had already finished by that point.
As for Denis, the director has busied himself with interviews to ramp up publicity for the upcoming sequel. Speaking with Collider, Denis gushed about his love for the franchise, calling himself a hardcore fan.
“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,” he said.
And, when he was asked if he hesitated to sign onto the film, Denis said he absolutely took a moment to think the decision over. 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**k that up.’”
The Blade Runner sequel is set to hit theaters on October 5 2017.
[H/T] The Hollywood Reporter
