Ryan Gosling on Blade Runner 2049, Harrison Ford & Roger Deakins

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

It's going to be extremely tough to follow in the footsteps of Ridley Scott's BLADE RUNNER, but with talents like Ryan Gosling, Denis Villeneuve, Harrison Ford, Roger Deakins, and Ridley Scott himself coming together to give us BLADE RUNNER 2049, I can't help but to believe that the much-anticipated sequel is going to blow us away. As an enormous fan of the original film, getting to appear in the sequel, let alone star in it, was a dream come true for Ryan Gosling. The actor recently spoke with Entertainment Weekly about the world of BLADE RUNNER, revealing that the original was the first film that he saw where he "didn't know how to feel when it was over," adding that "the line between heroes and villains was so blurred. It's not a hero's journey in any way." Gosling also discussed working with the great Roger Deakins, who has been nominated for the Academy Award for Best Cinematography thirteen times but has somehow never won.

I’m glad you said that. Maybe that should be the title of this piece. His whole team is incredible. One of my favorite shots when I was younger was this shot in Barton Fink, when there’s this slow push in on the wallpaper. I remember feeling so tense and thinking, why am I so tense? It’s just wallpaper. But then I realized it’s the shot that is creating that tension — it was a lightbulb moment for me. We were shooting a scene in 2049 when the camera starts to push in on me. I remember when it was over I said to Bruce [Hamme], who is Roger’s dolly grip, ‘Bruce, did you work on Barton Fink?’ He said yes. I said, ‘Did you do that slow push in on the wallpaper?’ He said, yeah. I said, ‘Am I the wallpaper right now?’ He said, yes. I told him I’ve never been so honored. [Laughs] We were talking about titles for the film for a while and I really advocating for Slow Bruce Rising.

The Oscars don't always recognize science-fiction and fantasy films, but with movies like INCEPTION, AVATAR, and LIFE OF PI taking home the Best Cinematography award in recent years, perhaps Deakins has a fighting chance with BLADE RUNNER 2049; after all, everything we've seen from the film looks absolutely breathtaking. As intimidating as it was to step into the world of BLADE RUNNER, acting alongside Harrison Ford, who will be reprising his role of Rick Deckard, was something else entirely. According to Ryan Gosling, the best part of hanging out with Ford was realizing that "all those iconic moments from his films that you love are his — like “I love you,” “I know” from Star Wars, or shooting the guy in Indiana Jones. He’s just like that all the time. Normally I’d say there are hundreds of ways to play any scene. Unless you work with Harrison and you realize there’s only one great way and he’s already figured it out."

Ryan Gosling has never really done a big-budget film quite like BLADE RUNNER 2049 before, but he was gratified that he could see exactly where all that money was going. "The sets were so beautiful, and every aesthetic choice was for the cleanest, most efficient, elegant way to communicate story," Gosling said. "When [cinematographer] Roger Deakins creates a frame, half your job is done for you." One aspect where the money may not have exactly reached was craft services, as Gosling said that "once a week, a truck would come around and it was serving 'meat in a cone.'" As for what kind of meat occupied the cone, Gosling admitted that they could never quite figure that out. Mysterious.

BLADE RUNNER 2049 will hit theaters on October 5, 2017.