Ridley Scott's sci-fi masterpiece BLADE RUNNER has never needed a sequel, so when the first rumblings of a continuation to the classic film emerged it was completely understandable for fans to raise a questioning eyebrow and wonder just what the heck Ridley Scott was thinking. As the project has developed and assembled a great creative team which includes director Denis Villeneuve and director of photography Roger Deakins, I've found that that questioning eyebrow has now been tempered to one of cautious optimism.
Roger Deakins spoke with ScreenCrush recently and, after confirming that the sequel was indeed on its way, commented on how he will be treating the sequel as an entirely separate film:
We’re just treating the new one as what it is; it’s an entirely separate movie that will stand by itself. I mean obviously it has elements that connect it to the original. But it’s going to stand alone by itself as a movie. And I’m not going to do shafts of light coming through a window with rain just for the sake of doing shafts of light and rain — although it was really superb the way it was done. No, you have to think about the script and approach it anew.
Last week director Denis Villeneuve also made mention that the sequel will be "autonomous" but "at the same time there will be some link" to the original film, which feels like the sequel could almost be functioning as a semi-reboot of the franchise. Roger Deakins, who's a huge fan of the original film, was also asked what drew him to the project:
Well part of the appeal was working with Denis again. But also I love science-fiction. There’s a number of books that I’ve always felt would make great movies, but people seem more interested in making science-fantasy than they do science-fiction. I mean, I did think twice about it. Because you think “Oh yeah, Blade Runner, the original is so wonderful.” And I thought “This script is not the old script. It’s not a remake. It’s another take on the story. It’s another story and a progression.” And I thought “There’s so few good science-fiction films out there. Of all the science-fiction films, this deserves another.” I mean they made about 20 Planet of the Apes, and they still haven’t made one as good as the original. They only ever made one Blade Runner, so I think we can do another one.
There is no shortage of unnecessary sequels in the works, but with the Denis Villeneuve, Roger Deakins, Harrison Ford, and Ridley Scott all lending their talents to the project, I remain optimistic. Production on the BLADE RUNNER sequel is expected to get underway in the summer of 2016.