Ridley Scott will be keeping himself busy over the next two years. In addition to directing Alien: Covenant - which is due to hit cinemas in October 2017 - the filmmaker will also be penning the long-planned sequel to his sci-fi classic Blade Runner, which Ryan Gosling is now confirmed to star in.
Scott recently gave a talk at the American Film Institute film festival - at which Mtime was in attendance - divulging his plans for Blade Runner 2's opening scene: "We decided to start the film off with the original starting block of the original film. We always loved the idea of a dystopian universe, and we start off at what I describe as a ‘factory farm’ – what would be a flat land with farming. Wyoming. Flat, not rolling – you can see for 20 miles. No fences, just plowed, dry dirt. Turn around and you see a massive tree, just dead, but the tree is being supported and kept alive by wires that are holding the tree up."
"It’s a bit like Grapes of Wrath, there’s dust, and the tree is still standing. By that tree is a traditional, Grapes of Wrath-type white cottage with a porch. Behind it at a distance of two miles, in the twilight, is this massive combine harvester that’s fertilizing this ground".
"You’ve got 16 Klieg lights on the front, and this combine is four times the size of this cottage", Scott continued. "And now a spinner [a flying car] comes flying in, creating dust. Of course, traditionally chased by a dog that barks, the doors open, a guy gets out and there you’ve got Rick Deckard. He walks in the cottage, opens the door, sits down, smells stew, sits down and waits for the guy to pull up to the house to arrive."
"The guy’s seen him, so the guy pulls the combine behind the cottage and it towers three stories above it, and the man climbs down from a ladder – a big man. He steps onto the balcony and he goes to Harrison’s side. The cottage actually [creaks]; this guy’s got to be 350 pounds. I’m not going to say anything else – you’ll have to go see the movie". Very detailed and very intriguing!
Directed by Denis Villeneuve and starring Gosling and Harrison Ford, filming on Blade Runner 2 is set to commence next summer, with a release date yet to be confirmed.
