STACK #159 Jan 2018

DVD&BD FEATURE

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Ridley Scott's 1982 sci-fi noir Blade Runner introduced a dystopian vision of future LA and artificial humans. 35 years later, original writer Hampton Fancher and Michael Green return to the world of replicants and manufactured memories in Blade Runner 2049 . Words Scott Hocking

partners Andrew A. Kosove and Broderick Johnson were understandably cautious about taking on such an ambitious and risky project, given the reverence surrounding the original film. It was Bud Yorkin, who had been part of the producing team on Blade Runner , along with his wife, Cynthia Sikes Yorkin, that initially brought the idea to Alcon. “It was a dream of Bud’s for many years to continue the story and I was so

lade Runner introduced a world rich with possibilities for expansion, but back in the early eighties, cinematic

universes (with perhaps the exception of Star Wars) were still in the distant future. Ridley Scott’s sci-fi classic was conceived as a standalone feature and it would remain that way until 2017 – two years prior to the date the original film is set. Not even Scott could have predicted how iconic Blade Runner would become in the decades since its less than favourable reception in 1982, nor how its themes of urban decay, genetic engineering and overpopulation would be even more relevant 35 years later. “It certainly was prescient in many ways,” notes star Harrison Ford. “I think as technology developed and people began to see some of the issues the film talked about play out in real life, there was even more reason to accept the themes that Blade Runner dealt with.” When first approached about a sequel to Blade Runner , Alcon Media Group producing

finished a short story set in the Blade Runner universe,“ Fancher recalls. “I read Ridley the first paragraph and it was obvious what it was. All he said was, ‘Can you come to

What is the nature of a soul... and is it uniquely human?

happy to support him in that pursuit,” says Sikes Yorkin.

“Unfortunately he passed away before he could see the completion of the film, but it was a wonderful gift for him to know it was going to be done.” Kosove and Johnson met with

London?’ So that’s how it started.” Fancher’s treatment for the Blade

Runner sequel took the form of a 110-page novella, which writer Michael Green (who had provided the story for Scott’s Alien: Covenant ) would turn into a conventional screenplay. Moreover, it was Fancher who first envisioned Ryan Gosling playing the role of the central character, Officer K. “Hampton and Ridley had formed the story DNA of what a new Blade Runner

Ridley Scott, who acknowledged there was more of the Blade Runner story to tell and subsequently approached Hampton Fancher, one of the co-writers of the original film. “It was serendipity because I had literally

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JANUARY 2018

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