Blade Runner 2049 Director Talks Risky Sequel, Dune Reboot Details

It can easily be said that one of the hottest directors in Hollywood at the moment is Denis Villeneuve. The 49-year-old French Canadian has gained popularity in the United States with films such as Prisoners and Sicario. And he is fresh off of the success of his sci-fi film Arrival, which earned a seldomly-achieved theatrical rerelease, as well as eight Oscar nominations.

But it’s Villeneuve’s next two projects – this year’s Blade Runner 2049, as well as an upcoming reboot of Dune – that will push the director even further into the public consciousness. Helming two of the most unique films of the 1980s is certainly no easy task, something that the director seems to be aware of.

In a recent interview with Variety, Villeneuve described his creative process with Blade Runner 2049. The sequel to the 1982 cult classic, which will be released on October 6th, 2017, uses as little CGI as possible, according to the director.

“For Blade Runner, we tried our best to do as much as possible in-camera, building everything. And [cinematographer Roger Deakins] was insanely impressive in how he was able to create landscape with tricks. For me it was beautiful. I think I can count on one hand how many times I saw a green screen in all of those months of shooting. There will be CG enhancements of course, but as much as possible it was in-camera.”

Villeneuve said that this creative decision spawned from his love of 80s practical effects and animatronics, something he wishes he could’ve brought to his most recent film. “I’m very old school. I wish I had the chance to do my aliens as animatronics. That was my dream at the beginning [of Arrival] with [its cinematographer, Bradford Young]. We were dreaming to put them in a gigantic aquarium with gigantic beasts that would be moved by puppeteers, but sadly it would have been too expensive.”

With Blade Runner 2049 currently in post production, many are wanting to hear about his following project, the aformentioned remake of Dune. The popular sci-fi epic was previously brought to the big screen in David Lynch’s 1984 film, but strayed heavily from the source material and was met with negative reviews as a result.

Villeneuve has previously described the film as his dream project, but is more than aware of the expectations surrounding it. But from the looks of it, fans will have to keep their expectations at bay for just a little while longer.

“Honestly, we are at ground zero right now. There is nothing done. It’s going to be a massive challenge, but the project of my life.”

Thirty years after the events of the first film, a new blade runner, LAPD Officer K (Ryan Gosling), unearths a long-buried secret that has the potential to plunge what’s left of society into chaos. K’s discovery leads him on a quest to find Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford), a former LAPD blade runner who has been missing for 30 years.

The cast features Ryan Gosling, Harrison Ford, Robin Wright, Lennie James, Dave Bautista, Ana de Armas, Sylvia Hoeks, Carla Juri, Mackenzie Davis, Barkhad Abdi, David Dastmalchian, and Jared Leto.

The sequel to the 1982 original is being directed by Denis Villeneuve (Arrival, Sicario, Prisoners). It’s written by Hampton Fancher and Michael Green, and succeeds the initial story by Fancher and David Peoples based on Philip K. Dick’s novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep. Cynthia Sikes Yorkin will produce along with Johnson and Kosove.

MORE: Blade Runner 2049 Synopsis Revealed / Blade Runner 2049 Filmed For Months Without Harrison Ford / Blade Runner Sequel Won’t Reveal If Deckard Is A Replicant / Blade Runner 2 Director Talks Living Up To The Original / Blade Runner 2 Concept Art Released / Ryan Gosling Expresses Excitement About Blade Runner 2

Blade Runner 2049 is to be released on October 6, 2017.

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