Denis Villeneuve has been discussing the pressure involved with making the Blade Runner sequel, telling Collider of his “deep fear” of failing to live up to the original. Intriguingly, he also gives a pointer as to what we might expect from his film, revealing that he prefers the original cut of Blade Runner as opposed to the version favoured by Ridley Scott…
“It’s more than nervous, it’s a deep fear,” says the director. “I mean when I heard that Ridley Scott wanted to do another movie in the Blade Runner universe, at first my reaction was that it’s a fantastic idea, but it may be a very bad idea. I’m among the hardcore fans of Blade Runner. Blade Runner is one of my favourite movies of all time. For me it’s like a monument.”
“It’s a huge challenge, because you don’t want to cut and paste, otherwise why [do it]? And at the same time you have to respect what was done, so you have to find the right equilibrium between being faithful to the first one and bringing something new at the same time that will make sense to the Blade Runner universe.”
“The movie will be autonomous,” he continues, “and at the same time there will be some link, but I cannot talk too much about it. The only thing I can say is I was raised with the original cut, the original version that Ridley doesn’t like. That’s the Blade Runner that I was introduced to at the beginning and that I loved for years, and then I must say that I’m someone that appreciated the very last cut, the [Final Cut] version. So between all the different cuts, for me it’s the first and the very last that I’m more inspired by.”
Villeneuve went on to confirm that the project will get underway next summer, although an exact start date has yet to be revealed. An official release date has also yet to be confirmed.
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