''Blade Runner'' is a 1982
science fiction film
Science fiction (or sci-fi) is a film genre that uses speculative, fictional science-based depictions of phenomena that are not fully accepted by mainstream science, such as extraterrestrial lifeforms, spacecraft, robots, cyborgs, interstellar ...
directed by
Ridley Scott
Sir Ridley Scott (born 30 November 1937) is a British film director and producer. Directing, among others, science fiction films, his work is known for its atmospheric and highly concentrated visual style. Scott has received many accolades thr ...
, and written by
Hampton Fancher
Hampton Lansden Fancher (born July 18, 1938) is an American actor, screenwriter, and filmmaker, best known for co-writing the 1982 neo-noir science fiction film ''Blade Runner'' and its 2017 sequel ''Blade Runner 2049,'' based on the novel ''Do ...
and
David Peoples
David Webb Peoples (born February 9, 1940) is an American screenwriter who wrote ''Blade Runner'' (1982), ''Unforgiven'' (1992), and ''12 Monkeys'' (1995). He was nominated for Oscar, Golden Globe, and BAFTA awards. He won the best screenplay a ...
.
Starring
Harrison Ford
Harrison Ford (born July 13, 1942) is an American actor. His films have grossed more than $5.4billion in North America and more than $9.3billion worldwide, making him the seventh-highest-grossing actor in North America. He is the recipient o ...
,
Rutger Hauer
Rutger Oelsen Hauer (; 23 January 1944 – 19 July 2019) was a Dutch actor. In 1999, he was named by the Dutch public as the Best Dutch Actor of the Century.
Hauer's career began in 1969 with the title role in the Dutch television series ' ...
,
Sean Young
Mary Sean Young (born November 20, 1959) is an American actress. She is particularly known for working in sci-fi films, although she has performed roles in a variety of genres.
Young's early roles include the independent romance ''Jane Auste ...
, and
Edward James Olmos
Edward James Olmos (born February 24, 1947) is an American actor, director, producer, and activist. He is best known for his roles as Lieutenant Martin "Marty" Castillo in ''Miami Vice'' (1984–1989), ''American Me'' (1992) (which he also dir ...
, it is an adaptation of
Philip K. Dick's 1968 novel ''
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
''Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?'' (retroactively retitled ''Blade Runner: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?'' in some later printings) is a dystopian science fiction novel by American writer Philip K. Dick, first published in 1968. Th ...
'' The film is set in a
dystopia
A dystopia (from Ancient Greek δυσ- "bad, hard" and τόπος "place"; alternatively cacotopiaCacotopia (from κακός ''kakos'' "bad") was the term used by Jeremy Bentham in his 1818 Plan of Parliamentary Reform (Works, vol. 3, p. 493). ...
n future
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
of 2019, in which
synthetic humans known as ''
replicant
A replicant is a fictional bioengineered humanoid featured in the 1982 film ''Blade Runner'' and the 2017 sequel '' Blade Runner 2049'' which is physically indistinguishable from an adult human and often possesses superhuman strength and intel ...
s'' are
bio-engineered
Biological engineering or
bioengineering is the application of principles of biology and the tools of engineering to create usable, tangible, economically-viable products. Biological engineering employs knowledge and expertise from a number o ...
by the powerful Tyrell Corporation to work on
space colonies
Space colonization (also called space settlement or extraterrestrial colonization) is the use of outer space or celestial bodies other than Earth for permanent habitation or as extraterrestrial territory.
The inhabitation and territoria ...
. When a fugitive group of advanced replicants led by
Roy Batty
''Blade Runner'' is a 1982 American neo-noir science fiction film directed by Ridley Scott, which stars Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, Sean Young, and Edward James Olmos. Written by Hampton Fancher and David Peoples, the film is an adaptation of t ...
(Hauer) escapes back to Earth, burnt-out cop
Rick Deckard
Rick Deckard is a fictional character and the protagonist of Philip K. Dick's 1968 novel ''Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?''. Harrison Ford portrayed the character in the 1982 film adaptation, ''Blade Runner'', and reprised his role in th ...
(Ford) reluctantly agrees to hunt them down.
''Blade Runner'' initially underperformed in North American theaters and polarized critics; some praised its thematic complexity and visuals, while others critiqued its slow pacing and lack of action. It later became a
cult film
A cult film or cult movie, also commonly referred to as a cult classic, is a film that has acquired a cult following. Cult films are known for their dedicated, passionate fanbase which forms an elaborate subculture, members of which engage ...
, and has since come to be regarded as one of the
all-time best science fiction films. Hailed for its production design depicting a high-tech but decaying future, ''Blade Runner'' is often regarded as both a leading example of
neo-noir
Neo-noir is a revival of film noir, a genre that had originally flourished during the post-World War II era in the United Statesroughly from 1940 to 1960. The French term, ''film noir'', translates literally to English as "black film", indicating ...
cinema as well as a foundational work of the
cyberpunk
Cyberpunk is a subgenre of science fiction in a dystopian futuristic setting that tends to focus on a "combination of lowlife and high tech", featuring futuristic technological and scientific achievements, such as artificial intelligence and cyber ...
genre. The
film's soundtrack, composed by
Vangelis
Evangelos Odysseas Papathanassiou ( el, Ευάγγελος Οδυσσέας Παπαθανασίου ; 29 March 1943 – 17 May 2022), known professionally as Vangelis ( ; el, Βαγγέλης, links=no ), was a Greek composer and arranger of ...
, was nominated in 1982 for a
BAFTA and a
Golden Globe
The Golden Globe Awards are accolades bestowed by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association beginning in January 1944, recognizing excellence in both American and international film and television. Beginning in 2022, there are 105 members of t ...
as best original
score.
The film has influenced many science fiction films,
video game
Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...
s,
anime
is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...
, and television series. It brought the work of Philip K. Dick to the attention of Hollywood, and
several of his works later became films such as ''
Total Recall'' (1990), ''
Minority Report
Minority Report may refer to:
* Minority report (Poor Law), published by the UK Royal Commission on the Poor Laws and Relief of Distress 1905–09
* "Minority Report", a 1949 science fiction short story by Theodore Sturgeon
* "The Minority Report ...
'' (2002), and ''
A Scanner Darkly
''A Scanner Darkly'' is a science fiction novel by American writer Philip K. Dick, published in 1977. The semi-autobiographical story is set in a dystopian Orange County, California, in the then-future of June 1994, and includes an extensive ...
'' (2006). In 1993, it was selected for preservation in the U.S.
National Film Registry
The National Film Registry (NFR) is the United States National Film Preservation Board's (NFPB) collection of films selected for preservation, each selected for its historical, cultural and aesthetic contributions since the NFPB’s inception i ...
by the
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library is ...
as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
Seven different
versions of ''Blade Runner'' exist as a result of controversial changes requested by studio executives. A
director's cut
A director's cut is an edited version of a film (or video game, television episode, music video, or commercial) that is supposed to represent the director's own approved edit in contrast to the theatrical release. "Cut" explicitly refers to the ...
was released in 1992 after a strong response to test screenings of a
workprint
A workprint is a rough version of a motion picture, used by the film editor(s) during the editing process. Such copies generally contain original recorded sound that will later be re-dubbed, stock footage as placeholders for missing shots or speci ...
. This, in conjunction with the film's popularity as a video rental, made it one of the earliest movies to be released on
DVD
The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...
. In 2007,
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...
released ''
The Final Cut'', a 25th-anniversary digitally remastered version. This is the only version over which Scott retained artistic control.
The film is the first of
the franchise of the same name. A sequel, directed by
Denis Villeneuve
Denis Villeneuve (; born October 3, 1967) is a Canadian filmmaker. He is a four-time recipient of the Canadian Screen Award (formerly Genie Award) for Best Direction, winning for '' Maelström'' in 2001, '' Polytechnique'' in 2009, ''Incendies ...
and titled ''
Blade Runner 2049
''Blade Runner 2049'' is a 2017 American neo-noir science fiction film directed by Denis Villeneuve and written by Hampton Fancher and Michael Green. A sequel to the 1982 film ''Blade Runner'', the film stars Ryan Gosling and Harrison Ford, w ...
'', was released in October 2017 alongside a trilogy of short films covering the thirty-year span between the two films' settings. The anime series ''
Blade Runner: Black Lotus'' was released in 2021.
Plot
In 2019 Los Angeles, former police officer
Rick Deckard
Rick Deckard is a fictional character and the protagonist of Philip K. Dick's 1968 novel ''Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?''. Harrison Ford portrayed the character in the 1982 film adaptation, ''Blade Runner'', and reprised his role in th ...
is detained by Officer
Gaff
Gaff may refer to:
Ankle-worn devices
* Spurs in variations of cockfighting
* Climbing spikes used to ascend wood poles, such as utility poles
Arts and entertainment
* A character in the ''Blade Runner'' film franchise
* Penny gaff, a 19th-ce ...
, who likes to make
origami
) is the Japanese paper art, art of paper folding. In modern usage, the word "origami" is often used as an inclusive term for all folding practices, regardless of their culture of origin. The goal is to transform a flat square sheet of pape ...
figures, and is brought to his former supervisor,
Bryant. Deckard, whose job as a "blade runner" was to track down bioengineered humanoids known as
replicant
A replicant is a fictional bioengineered humanoid featured in the 1982 film ''Blade Runner'' and the 2017 sequel '' Blade Runner 2049'' which is physically indistinguishable from an adult human and often possesses superhuman strength and intel ...
s and terminally "retire" them, is informed that four replicants are on Earth illegally. Deckard begins to leave, but Bryant ambiguously threatens him and Deckard stays. The two watch a video of a blade runner named
Holden
Holden, formerly known as General Motors-Holden, was an Australian subsidiary company of General Motors. It was an Australian automobile manufacturer, importer, and exporter which sold cars under its own marque in Australia. In its last thre ...
administering the Voight-Kampff test, which is designed to distinguish replicants from humans based on their emotional responses to questions. The test subject,
Leon
Leon, Léon (French) or León (Spanish) may refer to:
Places
Europe
* León, Spain, capital city of the Province of León
* Province of León, Spain
* Kingdom of León, an independent state in the Iberian Peninsula from 910 to 1230 and again fro ...
, shoots Holden on the second question. Bryant wants Deckard to retire Leon and three other Nexus-6 replicants:
Roy Batty
''Blade Runner'' is a 1982 American neo-noir science fiction film directed by Ridley Scott, which stars Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, Sean Young, and Edward James Olmos. Written by Hampton Fancher and David Peoples, the film is an adaptation of t ...
,
Zhora, and
Pris.
Bryant has Deckard meet with the CEO of the company that creates the replicants,
Eldon Tyrell
''Blade Runner'' is a 1982 American neo-noir science fiction film directed by Ridley Scott, which stars Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, Sean Young, and Edward James Olmos. Written by Hampton Fancher and David Peoples, the film is an adaptation ...
, so he can administer the test on a Nexus-6 to see if it works. Tyrell expresses his interest in seeing the test fail first and asks him to administer it on his assistant
Rachael
Rachel ( he, רָחֵל, Modern: Raḥel, Tiberian: Rāḫēl, Rāḥēl), meaning " ewe", is a feminine given name of Hebrew origin, popularized by the biblical figure Rachel, the wife of Israelite patriarch Jacob.
Ashkenazi Jewish matronymic ...
. After a much longer than standard test, Deckard concludes privately to Tyrell that Rachael is a replicant who believes she is human. Tyrell explains that she is an experiment who has been given false memories to provide an "emotional cushion," and that she has no knowledge of her true nature.
In searching Leon's hotel room, Deckard finds photos and a scale from the skin of an animal, which is later identified as a synthetic snake scale. Roy and Leon investigate a replicant eye-manufacturing laboratory and learn of
J. F. Sebastian, a gifted genetic designer who works closely with Tyrell. Deckard returns to his apartment where Rachael is waiting. She tries to prove her humanity by showing him a family photo, but Deckard reveals that her memories are implants from Tyrell's niece, and she leaves in tears. Meanwhile, Pris locates Sebastian and manipulates him to gain his trust.
A photograph from Leon's apartment and the snake scale lead Deckard to a strip club, where Zhora works. After a confrontation and chase, Deckard kills Zhora. Bryant also orders him to retire Rachael, who has disappeared from the Tyrell Corporation. After Deckard spots Rachael in a crowd, he is ambushed by Leon, who knocks the gun out of Deckard's hand and beats him. As Leon is about to kill Deckard, Rachael saves him by using Deckard's gun to kill Leon. They return to Deckard's apartment and, during a discussion, he promises not to track her down. As Rachael abruptly tries to leave, Deckard restrains her and forces her to kiss him, and she ultimately relents.
Deckard leaves Rachael at his apartment and departs to search for the remaining replicants. Roy arrives at Sebastian's apartment and tells Pris that the other replicants are dead. Sebastian reveals that because of a genetic
premature aging
Progeroid syndromes (PS) are a group of rare genetic disorders that mimic physiological aging, making affected individuals appear to be older than they are. The term ''progeroid syndrome'' does not necessarily imply progeria (Hutchinson–Gilford ...
disorder, his life will be cut short, like the replicants that were built with a four-year lifespan. Roy uses Sebastian to gain entrance to Tyrell's penthouse. He demands more life from his maker, which Tyrell says is impossible. Roy confesses that he has done "questionable things" but Tyrell dismisses this, praising Roy's advanced design and accomplishments in his short life. Roy kisses Tyrell and then kills him by gouging out his eyes. Sebastian tries to flee and is later reported dead.
At Sebastian's apartment, Deckard is ambushed by Pris, but he kills her as Roy returns. Roy's body begins to fail as the end of his lifespan nears. He chases Deckard through the building and onto the roof. Deckard tries to jump onto another roof but is left hanging on the edge. Roy makes the jump with ease and, as Deckard's grip loosens, Roy hoists him onto the roof to save him. Before Roy dies, he laments that his memories "
will be lost in time, like tears in rain". Gaff arrives and compliments Deckard, also reminding him that Rachael will not live. Deckard returns to his apartment to retrieve Rachael. While escorting her to the elevator, he notices a small origami
unicorn
The unicorn is a legendary creature that has been described since antiquity as a beast with a single large, pointed, spiraling horn projecting from its forehead.
In European literature and art, the unicorn has for the last thousand years o ...
on the floor. He recalls Gaff's words, but leaves with Rachael anyway.
Cast
Production
Development
![Blade Runner - Ridleyville Map - Version in English and JPEG format](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/89/Blade_Runner_-_Ridleyville_Map_-_Version_in_English_and_JPEG_format.jpg)
Interest in adapting
Philip K. Dick's novel ''
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
''Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?'' (retroactively retitled ''Blade Runner: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?'' in some later printings) is a dystopian science fiction novel by American writer Philip K. Dick, first published in 1968. Th ...
'' developed shortly after its 1968 publication. Director
Martin Scorsese
Martin Charles Scorsese ( , ; born November 17, 1942) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter and actor. Scorsese emerged as one of the major figures of the New Hollywood era. He is the recipient of List of awards and nominatio ...
was interested in filming the novel, but never
optioned
In the film industry, an option is a contractual agreement pertaining to film rights between a potential film producer (such as a movie studio, a production company, or an individual) and the author of source material, such as a book, play, or s ...
it. Producer
Herb Jaffe
Herb Jaffe (May 20, 1921 – December 7, 1991) was an independent film producer in the United States.
Biography
He was born in Brooklyn, New York, and began his career as a literary agent, working for the likes of: Paddy Chayefsky – '' ...
optioned it in the early 1970s, but Dick was unimpressed with the screenplay written by Herb's son
Robert
The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of '' Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory, honou ...
, saying, "Jaffe's screenplay was so terribly done ... Robert flew down to Santa Ana to speak with me about the project. And the first thing I said to him when he got off the plane was, 'Shall I beat you up here at the airport, or shall I beat you up back at my apartment?
The screenplay by
Hampton Fancher
Hampton Lansden Fancher (born July 18, 1938) is an American actor, screenwriter, and filmmaker, best known for co-writing the 1982 neo-noir science fiction film ''Blade Runner'' and its 2017 sequel ''Blade Runner 2049,'' based on the novel ''Do ...
was optioned in 1977. Producer
Michael Deeley
Michael Deeley (born 6 August 1932) is an Academy Award-winning British film producer known for such motion pictures as ''The Italian Job'' (1969), ''The Deer Hunter'' (1978), and ''Blade Runner'' (1982). He is also a founding member and Honora ...
became interested in Fancher's draft and convinced director Ridley Scott to film it. Scott had previously declined the project, but after leaving the slow production of ''
Dune
A dune is a landform composed of wind- or water-driven sand. It typically takes the form of a mound, ridge, or hill. An area with dunes is called a dune system or a dune complex. A large dune complex is called a dune field, while broad, f ...
'', wanted a faster-paced project to take his mind off his older brother's recent death. He joined the project on February 21, 1980, and managed to push up the promised
Filmways
Filmways, Inc. (also known as Filmways Pictures and Filmways Television) was a television and film production company founded by American film executive Martin Ransohoff and Edwin Kasper in 1952. It is probably best remembered as the production c ...
financing from US$13 million to $15 million. Fancher's script focused more on environmental issues and less on issues of humanity and religion, which are prominent in the novel, and Scott wanted changes. Fancher found a cinema treatment by
William S. Burroughs
William Seward Burroughs II (; February 5, 1914 – August 2, 1997) was an American writer and visual artist, widely considered a primary figure of the Beat Generation and a major postmodern author who influenced popular cultur ...
for
Alan E. Nourse
Alan Edward Nourse (August 11, 1928 – July 19, 1992) was an American science fiction writer and physician. He wrote both juvenile and adult science fiction, as well as nonfiction works about medicine and science. His SF works sometimes focused ...
's novel ''
The Bladerunner
''The Bladerunner'' (also published as ''The Blade Runner'') is a 1974 science fiction novel by Alan E. Nourse, about underground medical services and smuggling. It was the source for the title, but no major plot elements, of the 1982 film ''B ...
'' (1974), titled ''
Blade Runner (a movie)
''Blade Runner (a movie)'' is a science fiction novella by Beat Generation author William S. Burroughs, first published in 1979.
The novella began as a story treatment for a proposed film adaptation of Alan E. Nourse's novel ''The Bladerunner''. ...
''. Scott liked the name, so Deeley obtained the rights to the titles. Eventually, he hired
David Peoples
David Webb Peoples (born February 9, 1940) is an American screenwriter who wrote ''Blade Runner'' (1982), ''Unforgiven'' (1992), and ''12 Monkeys'' (1995). He was nominated for Oscar, Golden Globe, and BAFTA awards. He won the best screenplay a ...
to rewrite the script and Fancher left the job over the issue on December 21, 1980, although he later returned to contribute additional rewrites.
Having invested over $2.5 million in pre-production, as the date of commencement of principal photography neared, Filmways withdrew financial backing. In ten days Deeley had secured $21.5 million in financing through a three-way deal between
the Ladd Company
The Ladd Company was an American film production company founded by Alan Ladd Jr., Jay Kanter, and Gareth Wigan in 1979.
In 1979, the three founders were executives with 20th Century Fox; Ladd was the president. They announced their intention t ...
(through Warner Bros.), the Hong Kong-based producer
Sir Run Run Shaw
Sir Run Run Shaw (19 November 1907 – 7 January 2014), also known as Shao Yifu and Siu Yat-fu, was a Hong Kong entertainment mogul and philanthropist. He was one of the most influential figures in the Asian entertainment industry. He founde ...
and
Tandem Productions
Tandem Productions, Inc. (a.k.a. Tandem Enterprises, Inc.) was a film and television production company that was founded in 1958 by television director Bud Yorkin and television writer/producer Norman Lear.
History
Tandem Productions
In the ...
.
Dick became concerned that no one had informed him about the film's production, which added to his distrust of Hollywood. After Dick criticized an early version of Fancher's script in an article written for the Los Angeles ''Select TV Guide'', the studio sent Dick the Peoples rewrite. Although Dick died shortly before the film's release, he was pleased with the rewritten script and with a 20-minute special effects test reel that was screened for him when he was invited to the studio. Despite his well-known skepticism of Hollywood in principle, Dick enthused to Scott that the world created for the film looked exactly as he had imagined it. He said, "I saw a segment of
Douglas Trumbull
Douglas Hunt Trumbull (; April 8, 1942 – February 7, 2022) was an American film director and innovative visual effects supervisor. He pioneered methods in special effects and created scenes for '' 2001: A Space Odyssey'', ''Close Encounters o ...
's special effects for ''Blade Runner'' on the
KNBC
KNBC (channel 4) is a television station in Los Angeles, California, United States, serving as the West Coast flagship of the NBC network. It is owned and operated by the network's NBC Owned Television Stations division alongside Corona-licens ...
news. I recognized it immediately. It was my own interior world. They caught it perfectly." He also approved of the film's script, saying, "After I finished reading the screenplay, I got the novel out and looked through it. The two reinforce each other so that someone who started with the novel would enjoy the movie and someone who started with the movie would enjoy the novel."
The motion picture was dedicated to Dick. Principal photography of ''Blade Runner'' began on March 9, 1981, and ended four months later.
In 1992, Ford revealed, "''Blade Runner'' is not one of my favorite films. I tangled with Ridley." Apart from friction with the director, Ford also disliked the
voiceovers
Voice-over (also known as off-camera or off-stage commentary) is a production technique where a voice—that is not part of the narrative (non-diegetic)—is used in a radio, television production, filmmaking, theatre, or other presentations. ...
: "When we started shooting it had been tacitly agreed that the version of the film that we had agreed upon was the version without voiceover narration. It was a nightmare. I thought that the film had worked without the narration. But now I was stuck re-creating that narration. And I was obliged to do the voiceovers for people that did not represent the director's interests."
"I went kicking and screaming to the studio to record it." The narration monologs were written by an uncredited
Roland Kibbee
Roland Kibbee (15 February 1914 in Monongahela, Pennsylvania – 5 August 1984 in Encino, California) was an award-winning American screenwriter and producer. He was a frequent collaborator and friend of actor-producer Burt Lancaster.
Career ...
.
In 2006, Scott was asked "Who's the biggest pain in the arse you've ever worked with?", he replied: "It's got to be Harrison ... he'll forgive me because now I get on with him. Now he's become charming. But he knows a lot, that's the problem. When we worked together it was my first film up and I was the new kid on the block. But we made a good movie." Ford said of Scott in 2000: "I admire his work. We had a bad patch there, and I'm over it." In 2006 Ford reflected on the production of the film saying: "What I remember more than anything else when I see ''Blade Runner'' is not the 50 nights of shooting in the rain, but the voiceover ... I was still obliged to work for these clowns that came in writing one bad voiceover after another." Ridley Scott confirmed in the summer 2007 issue of ''
Total Film
''Total Film'' is a British film magazine published 13 times a year (published monthly and a summer issue is added every year since issue 91, 2004, which is published between July and August issue) by Future Publishing. The magazine was launched i ...
'' that Harrison Ford contributed to the ''Blade Runner'' Special Edition DVD, and had already recorded his interviews. "Harrison's fully on board", said Scott.
![The Bradbury Building from the inside](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/13/The_Bradbury_Building_from_the_inside.jpg)
The
Bradbury Building
The Bradbury Building is an architecture, architectural landmark in downtown Los Angeles, California, United States. Built in 1893, the five-story office building is best known for its extraordinary skylit atrium of access walkways, stairs and el ...
in downtown Los Angeles served as a
filming location
A filming location is a place where some or all of a film or television series is produced, in addition to or instead of using sets constructed on a movie studio backlot or soundstage. In filmmaking, a location is any place where a film crew wil ...
, and a Warner Bros.
backlot
A backlot is an area behind or adjoining a movie studio containing permanent exterior buildings for outdoor scenes in filmmaking or television productions, or space for temporary set construction.
Uses
Some movie studios build a wide variety of ...
housed the 2019 Los Angeles street
sets. Other locations included the
Ennis-Brown House and the
2nd Street Tunnel
__NOTOC__
The 2nd Street Tunnel is a widely filmed and photographed tunnel on 2nd Street under Bunker Hill in Downtown Los Angeles, California. The ''Los Angeles Times'' described it as "the most recognizable city landmark most Americans have ...
.
Test screening
A test screening is a preview screening of a movie or television show before its general release to gauge audience reaction. Preview audiences are selected from a cross-section of the population and are usually asked to complete a questionnaire or ...
s resulted in several changes, including adding a
voice-over
Voice-over (also known as off-camera or off-stage commentary) is a production technique where a voice—that is not part of the narrative (non-Diegetic#Film sound and music, diegetic)—is used in a radio, television production, filmmaking, th ...
, a happy ending, and the removal of a Holden hospital scene. The relationship between the filmmakers and the investors was difficult, which culminated in Deeley and Scott being fired but still working on the film.
Crew members created T-shirts during filming saying, "Yes Guv'nor, My Ass" that mocked Scott's unfavorable comparison of U.S. and British crews; Scott responded with a T-shirt of his own, "Xenophobia Sucks" making the incident known as the T-shirt war.
Casting
Casting
Casting is a manufacturing process in which a liquid material is usually poured into a mold, which contains a hollow cavity of the desired shape, and then allowed to solidify. The solidified part is also known as a ''casting'', which is ejected ...
the film proved troublesome, particularly for the lead role of Deckard. Screenwriter Hampton Fancher envisioned
Robert Mitchum
Robert Charles Durman Mitchum (August 6, 1917 – July 1, 1997) was an American actor. He rose to prominence with an Academy Award nomination for the Best Supporting Actor for ''The Story of G.I. Joe'' (1945), followed by his starring in ...
as Deckard and wrote the character's dialogue with Mitchum in mind.
Director Ridley Scott and the film's producers spent months meeting and discussing the role with
Dustin Hoffman
Dustin Lee Hoffman (born August 8, 1937) is an American actor and filmmaker. As one of the key actors in the formation of New Hollywood, Hoffman is known for his versatile portrayals of antiheroes and emotionally vulnerable characters. He is th ...
, who eventually departed over differences in vision.
Harrison Ford was ultimately chosen for several reasons, including his performance in the ''
Star Wars
''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera multimedia franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop-culture Cultural impact of S ...
'' films, Ford's interest in the ''Blade Runner'' story, and discussions with
Steven Spielberg
Steven Allan Spielberg (; born December 18, 1946) is an American director, writer, and producer. A major figure of the New Hollywood era and pioneer of the modern blockbuster, he is the most commercially successful director of all time. Spie ...
who was finishing ''
Raiders of the Lost Ark
''Raiders of the Lost Ark'' is a 1981 American action-adventure film directed by Steven Spielberg and written by Lawrence Kasdan, based on a story by George Lucas and Philip Kaufman. It stars Harrison Ford, Karen Allen, Paul Freeman, Ronal ...
'' at the time and strongly praised Ford's work in the film.
Following his success in films like ''Star Wars'' (1977) and ''Raiders of the Lost Ark'' (1981), Ford was looking for a role with dramatic depth.
According to production documents, several actors were considered for the role, including
Gene Hackman
Eugene Allen Hackman (born January 30, 1930) is an American retired actor and former novelist. In a career that has spanned more than six decades, Hackman has won two Academy Awards, four Golden Globes, one Screen Actors Guild Award, two BAFTAs ...
,
Sean Connery
Sir Sean Connery (born Thomas Connery; 25 August 1930 – 31 October 2020) was a Scottish actor. He was the first actor to portray fictional British secret agent James Bond on film, starring in seven Bond films between 1962 and 1983. Origina ...
,
Jack Nicholson
John Joseph Nicholson (born April 22, 1937) is an American retired actor and filmmaker. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest actors of all time. In many of his films, he played rebels against the social structure. He received numerous ...
,
Paul Newman
Paul Leonard Newman (January 26, 1925 – September 26, 2008) was an American actor, film director, race car driver, philanthropist, and entrepreneur. He was the recipient of numerous awards, including an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, three ...
,
Clint Eastwood
Clinton Eastwood Jr. (born May 31, 1930) is an American actor and film director. After achieving success in the Western TV series '' Rawhide'', he rose to international fame with his role as the "Man with No Name" in Sergio Leone's "''Doll ...
,
Tommy Lee Jones
Tommy Lee Jones (born September 15, 1946) is an American actor and film director. He has received four Academy Award nominations, winning Best Supporting Actor for his performance as U.S. Marshal Samuel Gerard in the 1993 thriller film '' The ...
,
Arnold Schwarzenegger
Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger (born July 30, 1947) is an Austrian and American actor, film producer, businessman, retired professional bodybuilder and politician who served as the 38th governor of California between 2003 and 2011. ''Time'' ...
,
Peter Falk
Peter Michael Falk (September 16, 1927 – June 23, 2011) was an American film and television actor. He is best known for his role as Lieutenant Columbo in the long-running television series ''Columbo'' (1968–1978, 1989–2003), for which he ...
,
Nick Nolte
Nicholas King Nolte (born February 8, 1941) is an American actor. He won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for the 1991 film ''The Prince of Tides''. He received ...
,
Al Pacino
Alfredo James Pacino (; ; born April 25, 1940) is an American actor. Considered one of the most influential actors of the 20th century, he has received numerous accolades: including an Academy Award, two Tony Awards, and two Primetime Emmy ...
and
Burt Reynolds
Burton Leon Reynolds Jr. (February 11, 1936 – September 6, 2018) was an American actor, considered a sex symbol and icon of 1970s American popular culture.
Reynolds first rose to prominence when he starred in television series such as ' ...
.
One role that was not difficult to cast was
Rutger Hauer
Rutger Oelsen Hauer (; 23 January 1944 – 19 July 2019) was a Dutch actor. In 1999, he was named by the Dutch public as the Best Dutch Actor of the Century.
Hauer's career began in 1969 with the title role in the Dutch television series ' ...
as Roy Batty,
the violent yet thoughtful leader of the replicants.
Scott cast Hauer without having met him, based solely on Hauer's performances in
Paul Verhoeven
Paul Verhoeven (; born 18 July 1938) is a Dutch director, producer and screenwriter, active in the Netherlands, France and the United States. His blending of graphic violence and sexual content with social satire is a trademark of both his dram ...
's movies Scott had seen (''
Katie Tippel
''Katie Tippel'' (Dutch title: ''Keetje Tippel'') is a 1975 film by Paul Verhoeven. The film is based on the memoirs of Neel Doff (1858–1942) and was the most expensive Dutch film produced up to that time. The film was a box office success, be ...
'', ''
Soldier of Orange
''Soldier of Orange'' ( nl, Soldaat van Oranje, ) is a 1977 Dutch romance-thriller film directed and co-written by Paul Verhoeven and produced by Rob Houwer, starring Rutger Hauer and Jeroen Krabbé. The film is set around the German occupation o ...
'', and ''
Turkish Delight
Turkish delight or lokum ( ota, لوقوم) is a family of confections based on a gel of starch and sugar. Premium varieties consist largely of chopped dates, pistachios, hazelnuts or walnuts bound by the gel; traditional varieties are often f ...
'').
Hauer's portrayal of Batty was regarded by Philip K. Dick as "the perfect Batty – cold,
Aryan
Aryan or Arya (, Indo-Iranian *''arya'') is a term originally used as an ethnocultural self-designation by Indo-Iranians in ancient times, in contrast to the nearby outsiders known as 'non-Aryan' (*''an-arya''). In Ancient India, the term ' ...
, flawless". Of the many films Hauer made, ''Blade Runner'' was his favorite. As he explained in a live chat in 2001, "''Blade Runner'' needs no explanation. It just . All of the best. There is nothing like it. To be part of a real which changed the world's thinking. It's awesome." Hauer rewrote his character's "
tears in rain
"Tears in rain" is a 42-word monologue, consisting of the last words of character Roy Batty (portrayed by Rutger Hauer) in the 1982 Ridley Scott film ''Blade Runner''. Written by David Peoples and altered by Hauer, the monologue is frequently q ...
" speech himself and presented the words to Scott on set prior to filming.
''Blade Runner'' used a number of then-lesser-known actors:
Sean Young
Mary Sean Young (born November 20, 1959) is an American actress. She is particularly known for working in sci-fi films, although she has performed roles in a variety of genres.
Young's early roles include the independent romance ''Jane Auste ...
portrays Rachael, an experimental replicant implanted with the memories of Tyrell's niece, causing her to believe she is human;
Nina Axelrod
Nina Kether Axelrod (born July 28, 1955) is an American actress who appeared in films and television mainly during the late 1970s through the early 1980s. Since the early 1990s, she has worked as a casting director on films and taught drama in sc ...
auditioned for the role.
Daryl Hannah
Daryl Christine Hannah (born December 3, 1960) is an American actress and environmental activist. She made her screen debut in Brian De Palma's supernatural horror film '' The Fury'' (1978). She has starred in various movies across the years, i ...
portrays Pris, a "basic pleasure model" replicant;
Stacey Nelkin auditioned for the role, but was given another part in the film, which was ultimately cut before filming.
Debbie Harry
Deborah Ann Harry (born Angela Trimble; July 1, 1945) is an American singer, songwriter and actress, best known as the lead vocalist of the band Blondie. Four of her songs with the band reached on the US charts between 1979 and 1981.
Born in ...
turned down the role of Pris. Casting Pris and Rachael was challenging, requiring several screen tests with
Morgan Paull
Morgan Paull (December 15, 1944 – July 17, 2012) was an American actor most notable for playing Dave Holden in the Ridley Scott film ''Blade Runner''.
Early life
Morgan Paull was born to a wealthy family in Wheeling, West Virginia and ...
playing the role of Deckard. Paull was cast as Deckard's fellow bounty hunter Holden based on his performances in the tests.
Brion James
Brion Howard James (February 20, 1945 – August 7, 1999) was an American character actor. He portrayed Leon Kowalski in ''Blade Runner'' and appeared in ''Southern Comfort'', '' 48 Hrs.'', ''Another 48 Hrs.'', '' Silverado'', ''Tango & Cash'', ' ...
portrays Leon Kowalski, a combat and laborer replicant, and
Joanna Cassidy
Joanna Cassidy (born Joanna Virginia Caskey, August 2, 1945 Brady, James"In Step With: Joanna Cassidy" ''Miami Herald'', November 25, 1990. Accessed March 14, 2022, via Newspapers.com. "Born: Aug.2, 1944, in Camden, N.J.") is an American actress. ...
portrays Zhora, an assassin replicant.
Edward James Olmos
Edward James Olmos (born February 24, 1947) is an American actor, director, producer, and activist. He is best known for his roles as Lieutenant Martin "Marty" Castillo in ''Miami Vice'' (1984–1989), ''American Me'' (1992) (which he also dir ...
portrays Gaff. Olmos drew on diverse ethnic sources to help create the fictional "
Cityspeak
''Blade Runner'' is a 1982 American neo-noir science fiction film directed by Ridley Scott, which stars Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, Sean Young, and Edward James Olmos. Written by Hampton Fancher and David Peoples, the film is an adaptation of ...
" language his character uses in the film. His initial address to Deckard at the noodle bar is partly in Hungarian and means, "Horse dick
ullshit No way. You are the Blade ... Blade Runner."
M. Emmet Walsh
Michael Emmet Walsh (born March 22, 1935) is an American actor who has appeared in over 200 films and television series, including small but important supporting roles in dozens of major studio features of the 1970s and 1980s. He starred in ''Bl ...
portrays Captain Bryant, a rumpled, hard-drinking and underhanded police veteran typical of the
film noir
Film noir (; ) is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and motivations. The 1940s and 1950s are generally regarded as the "classic period" of American ' ...
genre.
Joe Turkel
Joseph Turkel (July 15, 1927 – June 27, 2022) was an American character actor who starred in film and television during the Golden Age Era in the 1950s and 1960s. He is known for his roles in Stanley Kubrick's films '' The Killing'', ''Pat ...
portrays Dr. Eldon Tyrell, a corporate mogul who built an empire on genetically manipulated humanoid slaves.
William Sanderson
William Sanderson (born January 10, 1944) is an American retired actor. He played J. F. Sebastian in the feature film ''Blade Runner'' (1982), and had regular roles on several television series such as Larry on ''Newhart'' (1982–1990), E. B. ...
was cast as J. F. Sebastian, a quiet and lonely genius who provides a compassionate yet compliant portrait of humanity. J. F. sympathizes with the replicants, whom he sees as companions, and he shares their shorter lifespan due to his rapid aging disease.
Joe Pantoliano
Joseph Peter Pantoliano (born September 12, 1951) is an American character actor who has appeared in over 150 films, television and stage productions.
After his early roles in the television series ''M*A*S*H'' and the 1983 comedy ''Risky Busin ...
had earlier been considered for the role.
James Hong
James Hong (; born February 22, 1929) is an American actor, producer and director. He has worked in numerous productions in American media since the 1950s, portraying a variety of roles. With more than 650 film and television credits as of 20 ...
portrays Hannibal Chew, an elderly geneticist specializing in synthetic eyes, and
Hy Pyke
Hy Pyke (born Monty Pike, December 2, 1935 – October 26, 2006) was an American character actor.
Biography
Pyke was born in Los Angeles, California, the son of vaudevillian David Pike and his wife Pauline. Pyke majored in theatre at UCLA in th ...
portrayed the sleazy bar owner Taffey Lewis – in a single take, something almost unheard-of with Scott, whose drive for perfection resulted at times in double-digit takes.
Design
Ridley Scott credits
Edward Hopper
Edward Hopper (July 22, 1882 – May 15, 1967) was an American realist painter and printmaker. While he is widely known for his oil paintings, he was equally proficient as a watercolorist and printmaker in etching.
Hopper created subdued drama ...
's painting ''
Nighthawks'' and the French science fiction comics magazine ''
Métal Hurlant'', to which the artist
Jean "Moebius" Giraud contributed, as stylistic mood sources. He also drew on the landscape of "
Hong Kong
Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...
on a very bad day" and the industrial landscape of his one-time home in northeast England. The visual style of the movie is influenced by the work of futurist Italian architect
Antonio Sant'Elia
Antonio Sant'Elia (; 30 April 1888 – 10 October 1916) was an Italian architect and a key member of the Futurist movement in architecture. He left behind almost no completed works of architecture and is primarily remembered for his bold sk ...
. Scott hired
Syd Mead
Sydney Jay Mead (July 18, 1933 – December 30, 2019) was an American industrial designer and neo-futurist concept artist, widely known for his designs for science-fiction films such as ''Blade Runner'', '' Aliens'' and ''Tron''. Mead has bee ...
as his
concept art
Concept art is a form of visual art used to convey an idea for use in films, video games, animation, comic books, or other media before it is put into the final product. Concept art usually refers to world-building artwork used to inspire the ...
ist; like Scott, he was influenced by ''Métal Hurlant''. Moebius was offered the opportunity to assist in the pre-production of ''Blade Runner'', but he declined so that he could work on
René Laloux
René Laloux (; July 1929 – 14 March 2004) was a French animator, screenwriter and film director.
Biography
He was born in Paris in 1929 and went to art school to study painting. After some time working in advertising, he got a job in a psychi ...
's animated film ''
Les Maîtres du temps
''Les Maîtres du temps'' (lit. ''The Masters of Time'', a.k.a. ''Time Masters''; ''Herrscher der Zeit'' in German; ''Az idő urai'' in Hungarian) is a 1982 Franco-West German- Swiss-British- Hungarian animated science fiction feature film direc ...
'' – a decision that he later regretted. Production designer
Lawrence G. Paull
Lawrence G. Paull (April 13, 1938 – November 10, 2019) was an American neofuturistic production designer and art director. He was nominated for an Academy Award in the category Best Art Direction for the film ''Blade Runner''.
Selected ...
and art director
David Snyder
David L. Snyder (born September 22, 1944) is an American film and television production designer. He has worked as an art director, producer, and assistant director on films including ''Blade Runner'', '' Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey'', ''The Whole ...
realized Scott's and Mead's sketches.
Douglas Trumbull
Douglas Hunt Trumbull (; April 8, 1942 – February 7, 2022) was an American film director and innovative visual effects supervisor. He pioneered methods in special effects and created scenes for '' 2001: A Space Odyssey'', ''Close Encounters o ...
and
Richard Yuricich
Richard Yuricich (born December 1942) is a special visual effects artist. He is the brother of Matthew Yuricich, also a special effects artist. Yuricich is of Croatian descent. He has been nominated for an Academy Award three times.
Oscar Nomin ...
supervised the special effects for the film, and
Mark Stetson
Mark Stetson (born 1952) is a visual effects artist.
He has worked on over 60 films since his start in 1979.
He won at the 74th Academy Awards in the category of Best Visual Effects for his work on the film '' The Lord of the Rings: The Fellows ...
served as chief model maker.
''Blade Runner'' has numerous similarities to
Fritz Lang
Friedrich Christian Anton Lang (; December 5, 1890 – August 2, 1976), known as Fritz Lang, was an Austrian film director, screenwriter, and producer who worked in Germany and later the United States.Obituary ''Variety'', August 4, 1976, p. 6 ...
's ''
Metropolis
A metropolis () is a large city or conurbation which is a significant economic, political, and cultural center for a country or region, and an important hub for regional or international connections, commerce, and communications.
A big c ...
'', including a built-up urban environment, in which the wealthy literally live above the workers, dominated by a huge building – the Stadtkrone Tower in ''Metropolis'' and the Tyrell Building in ''Blade Runner''. Special effects supervisor David Dryer used stills from ''Metropolis'' when lining up ''Blade Runner''s miniature building shots.
The extended end scene in the original theatrical release shows Rachael and Deckard traveling into daylight with pastoral aerial shots filmed by director
Stanley Kubrick
Stanley Kubrick (; July 26, 1928 – March 7, 1999) was an American film director, producer, screenwriter, and photographer. Widely considered one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, his films, almost all of which are adaptations of nove ...
. Ridley Scott contacted Kubrick about using some of his surplus helicopter aerial photography from ''
The Shining''.
Spinner
![Spinner3](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a3/Spinner3.jpg)
"Spinner" is the generic term for the fictional flying cars used in the film. A spinner can be driven as a ground-based vehicle, and take off vertically, hover, and cruise much like
vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft. They are used extensively by the police as
patrol car
A police car (also called a police cruiser, police interceptor, patrol car, area car, cop car, prowl car, squad car, radio car, or radio motor patrol) is a ground vehicle used by police and law enforcement for transportation during patrols a ...
s, and wealthy people can also acquire spinner licenses. The vehicle was conceived and designed by Syd Mead who described the spinner as an
aerodyne – a vehicle which directs air downward to create
lift
Lift or LIFT may refer to:
Physical devices
* Elevator, or lift, a device used for raising and lowering people or goods
** Paternoster lift, a type of lift using a continuous chain of cars which do not stop
** Patient lift, or Hoyer lift, mobile ...
, though press kits for the film stated that the spinner was propelled by three engines: "conventional
internal combustion
An internal combustion engine (ICE or IC engine) is a heat engine in which the combustion of a fuel occurs with an oxidizer (usually air) in a combustion chamber that is an integral part of the working fluid flow circuit. In an internal combus ...
,
jet, and
anti-gravity
Anti-gravity (also known as non-gravitational field) is a hypothetical phenomenon of creating a place or object that is free from the force of gravity. It does not refer to the lack of weight under gravity experienced in free fall or orbit, or to ...
".
A spinner is on permanent exhibit at the
Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame
The Museum of Pop Culture or MoPOP is a nonprofit museum in Seattle, Washington, dedicated to contemporary popular culture. It was founded by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen in 2000 as the Experience Music Project. Since then MoPOP has organized ...
in Seattle, Washington. Mead's conceptual drawings were transformed into 25 vehicles by automobile customizer
Gene Winfield
Gene Winfield (born June 16, 1927) is an American automotive customizer and fabricator. In the mid-1960s, his designs caught the attention of the film community, resulting in a large body of his work appearing on screen, including in the iconic 1 ...
; at least two were working ground vehicles, while others were light-weight mockups for crane shots and set decoration for street shots.
Two of them ended up at
Disney World
The Walt Disney World Resort, also called Walt Disney World or Disney World, is an entertainment resort complex in Bay Lake and Lake Buena Vista, Florida, United States, near the cities of Orlando and Kissimmee. Opened on October 1, 1971, th ...
in Orlando, Florida, but were later destroyed, and a few others remain in private collections.
Voight-Kampff machine
The Voight-Kampff machine is a fictional interrogation tool, originating from the novel (where it is spelled "Voigt-Kampff"). The Voight-Kampff is a
polygraph
A polygraph, often incorrectly referred to as a lie detector test, is a device or procedure that measures and records several physiological indicators such as blood pressure, pulse, respiration, and skin conductivity while a person is asked an ...
-like machine used by blade runners to determine whether an individual is a replicant. It measures bodily functions such as respiration, blush response, heart rate and eye movement in response to questions dealing with
empathy
Empathy is the capacity to understand or feel what another person is experiencing from within their frame of reference, that is, the capacity to place oneself in another's position. Definitions of empathy encompass a broad range of social, co ...
.
Music
The ''Blade Runner'' soundtrack by
Vangelis
Evangelos Odysseas Papathanassiou ( el, Ευάγγελος Οδυσσέας Παπαθανασίου ; 29 March 1943 – 17 May 2022), known professionally as Vangelis ( ; el, Βαγγέλης, links=no ), was a Greek composer and arranger of ...
is a dark melodic combination of classic composition and futuristic synthesizers which mirrors the film noir retro-future envisioned by Ridley Scott. Vangelis, fresh from his
Academy Award
The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...
-winning score for ''
Chariots of Fire
''Chariots of Fire'' is a 1981 British historical sports drama film directed by Hugh Hudson, written by Colin Welland and produced by David Puttnam. It is based on the true story of two British athletes in the 1924 Olympics: Eric Liddell, a de ...
'',
composed and performed the music on his synthesizers. He also made use of various chimes and the vocals of collaborator
Demis Roussos
Artemios "Demis" Ventouris-Roussos ( ; el, Αρτέμιος "Ντέμης" Βεντούρης-Ρούσσος, ; 15 June 1946 – 25 January 2015) was a Greek singer, songwriter and musician. As a band member he is best remembered for his work in ...
. Another memorable sound is the tenor sax solo "Love Theme" by British saxophonist
Dick Morrissey
Richard Edwin Morrissey (9 May 1940 – 8 November 2000) was a British jazz musician and composer. He played the tenor saxophone, soprano saxophone and flute.
Biography Background
He was born in Horley, Surrey, England. Dick Morrissey emerg ...
, who performed on many of Vangelis's albums. Ridley Scott also used "Memories of Green" from the Vangelis album ''
See You Later
''See You Later'' is an album by the Greek electronic music, electronic composer Vangelis, released in 1980. It breaks quite violently with the style he had employed in the late 1970s and later, relying much more on vocals and being more experi ...
, ''an orchestral version of which Scott would later use in his film ''
Someone to Watch Over Me''.
Along with Vangelis's compositions and ambient textures, the film's soundscape also features a track by the Japanese ensemble Nipponia – "Ogi no Mato" or "The Folding Fan as a Target" from the Nonesuch Records release ''Traditional Vocal and Instrumental Music'' – and a track by harpist Gail Laughton from "Harps of the Ancient Temples" on Laurel Records.
Despite being well received by fans and critically acclaimed and nominated in 1982 for a
BAFTA and
Golden Globe
The Golden Globe Awards are accolades bestowed by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association beginning in January 1944, recognizing excellence in both American and international film and television. Beginning in 2022, there are 105 members of t ...
as best original score, and the promise of a soundtrack album from
Polydor Records
Polydor Records Ltd. is a German-British record label that operates as part of Universal Music Group. It has a close relationship with Universal's Interscope Geffen A&M Records label, which distributes Polydor's releases in the United States. ...
in the end titles of the film, the release of the official soundtrack recording was delayed for over a decade. There are two official releases of the music from ''Blade Runner''. In light of the lack of a release of an album, the
New American Orchestra
Irwin Elliott Zucker (August 6, 1927 – August 18, 2001) was an American television and film composer, conductor, music arranger, television producer, and co-founder of the New American Orchestra, later renamed the American Jazz Philharmonic.
...
recorded an orchestral adaptation in 1982 which bore little resemblance to the original. Some of the film tracks would, in 1989, surface on the compilation ''Vangelis: Themes'', but not until the 1992 release of the ''Director's Cut'' version would a substantial amount of the film's score see commercial release.
These delays and poor reproductions led to the production of many
bootleg recording
A bootleg recording is an audio or video recording of a performance not officially released by the artist or under other legal authority. Making and distributing such recordings is known as ''bootlegging''. Recordings may be copied and traded ...
s over the years. A bootleg tape surfaced in 1982 at science fiction conventions and became popular given the delay of an official release of the original recordings, and in 1993 "Off World Music, Ltd" created a bootleg CD that would prove more comprehensive than Vangelis' official CD in 1994. A set with three CDs of ''Blade Runner''-related Vangelis music was released in 2007. Titled ''Blade Runner Trilogy'', the first disc contains the same tracks as the 1994 official soundtrack release, the second features previously unreleased music from the movie, and the third disc is all newly composed music from Vangelis, inspired by, and in the spirit of the movie.
Special effects
The film's special effects are generally recognized to be among the best of all time,
using the available (non-digital) technology to the fullest. Special effects engineers, who worked on the film, are often praised for the innovative technology they used to produce and design certain aspects of those visuals.
In addition to
matte painting
A matte painting is a painting, painted representation of a landscape, set (film and TV scenery), set, or distant location that allows filmmaking, filmmakers to create the illusion of an environment that is not present at the filming location. H ...
s and models, the techniques employed included multipass exposures. In some scenes, the set was lit, shot, the film rewound, and then rerecorded over with different lighting. In some cases this was done 16 times in all. The cameras were frequently
motion controlled using computers.
Many effects used techniques which had been developed during the production of ''
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
''Close Encounters of the Third Kind'' is a 1977 American science fiction film written and directed by Steven Spielberg, starring Richard Dreyfuss, Melinda Dillon, Teri Garr, Bob Balaban, Cary Guffey, and François Truffaut. It tells the story ...
''.
Release
Theatrical run
''Blade Runner'' was released in 1,290 theaters on June 25, 1982. That date was chosen by producer
Alan Ladd Jr. because his previous highest-grossing films (''
Star Wars
''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera multimedia franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop-culture Cultural impact of S ...
'' and ''
Alien
Alien primarily refers to:
* Alien (law), a person in a country who is not a national of that country
** Enemy alien, the above in times of war
* Extraterrestrial life, life which does not originate from Earth
** Specifically, intelligent extrater ...
'') had a similar opening date (May 25) in 1977 and 1979, making the 25th of the month his "lucky day". ''Blade Runner'' grossed reasonably good ticket sales in its opening weekend; earning $6.1 million during its first weekend in theaters. The film was released close to other major science-fiction and fantasy releases such as ''
The Thing'', ''
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan'', ''
Conan the Barbarian
Conan the Barbarian (also known as Conan the Cimmerian) is a fictional sword and sorcery hero who originated in pulp magazines and has since been adapted to books, comics, films (including '' Conan the Barbarian'' and '' Conan the Destroyer'') ...
'' and ''
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
''E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial'' (or simply ''E.T.'') is a 1982 American science fiction film produced and directed by Steven Spielberg and written by Melissa Mathison. It tells the story of Elliott, a boy who befriends an extraterrestrial, d ...
'', which affected its commercial success.
Versions
Several versions of ''Blade Runner'' have been shown. The original workprint version (1982, 113 minutes) was shown for audience test previews in Denver and Dallas in March 1982. Negative responses to the previews led to the modifications resulting in the U.S. theatrical version. The workprint was shown as a director's cut without Scott's approval at the Los Angeles Fairfax Theater in May 1990, at an AMPAS showing in April 1991, and in September and October 1991 at the Los Angeles NuArt Theater and the San Francisco Castro Theatre. Positive responses pushed the studio to approve work on an official director's cut. A San Diego Sneak Preview was shown only once, in May 1982, and was almost identical to the U.S. theatrical version but contained three extra scenes not shown in any other version, including the 2007 Final Cut.
Two versions were shown in the film's 1982 theatrical release: the U.S. theatrical version (117 minutes),
known as the original version or ''Domestic Cut'' (released on
Betamax
Betamax (also known as Beta, as in its logo) is a consumer-level analog recording and cassette format of magnetic tape for video, commonly known as a video cassette recorder. It was developed by Sony and was released in Japan on May 10, 1975, ...
,
CED Videodisc
The Capacitance Electronic Disc (CED) is an analog video disc playback system developed by RCA, in which video and audio could be played back on a TV set using a special stylus and high-density groove system similar to phonograph records.
Fir ...
and
VHS in 1983, and on
LaserDisc
The LaserDisc (LD) is a home video format and the first commercial optical disc storage medium, initially licensed, sold and marketed as DiscoVision, MCA DiscoVision (also known simply as "DiscoVision") in the United States in 1978. Its diam ...
in 1987), and the ''International Cut'' (117 minutes), also known as the "Criterion Edition" or "uncut version", which included more violent action scenes than the U.S. version. Although initially unavailable in the U.S. and distributed in Europe and Asia via theatrical and local Warner Home Video releases, the ''International Cut'' was later released on VHS and
The Criterion Collection
The Criterion Collection, Inc. (or simply Criterion) is an American home-video distribution company that focuses on licensing, restoring and distributing "important classic and contemporary films." Criterion serves film and media scholars, cinep ...
Laserdisc in North America, and re-released in 1992 as a "10th Anniversary Edition".
Ridley Scott's ''Director's Cut'' (1992, 116 minutes)
had significant changes from the theatrical version including the removal of Deckard's voice-over, the re-insertion of the unicorn sequence, and the removal of the studio-imposed happy ending. Scott provided extensive notes and consultation to Warner Bros. through film preservationist Michael Arick, who was put in charge of creating the ''Director's Cut''.
Scott's definitive ''The Final Cut'' (2007, 117 minutes)
was released by Warner Bros. theatrically on October 5, 2007, and subsequently released on DVD,
HD DVD
HD DVD (short for High Definition Digital Versatile Disc) is an obsolete high-density optical disc format for storing data and playback of high-definition video. Supported principally by Toshiba, HD DVD was envisioned to be the successor to th ...
, and
Blu-ray Disc
The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a Digital media, digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and c ...
in December 2007.
This is the only version over which Scott had complete artistic and editorial control.
Reception
Critical response
On
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
, the film holds an 89% approval rating based on 126 reviews, with an average rating of 8.50/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "Misunderstood when it first hit theaters, the influence of Ridley Scott's mysterious, neo-noir ''Blade Runner'' has deepened with time. A visually remarkable, achingly human sci-fi masterpiece."
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 84 out of 100 based on 15 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".
Initial reactions among film critics were mixed. Some wrote that the plot took a back seat to the film's special effects and did not fit the studio's marketing as an action and adventure film. Others acclaimed its complexity and predicted it would stand the test of time. Negative criticism in the United States cited its slow pace.
Sheila Benson
Sheila Benson (December 4, 1930February 23, 2022) was an American journalist and film critic. She served as film critic for the ''Los Angeles Times'' from 1981 to 1991.
Early life and education
Benson was born in New York City on December 4, 193 ...
from the ''
Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...
'' called it "Blade Crawler", and Pat Berman in ''
The State
A state is a centralized political organization that imposes and enforces rules over a population within a territory. There is no undisputed definition of a state. One widely used definition comes from the German sociologist Max Weber: a "stat ...
'' and ''
Columbia Record
The ''Columbia Record'' was an afternoon daily newspaper published in Columbia, South Carolina. It was established in 1897. International Paper & Power Co. purchased ''The Record'' in 1929 from R. Charlton Wright, who had been principal owner s ...
'' described it as "science fiction pornography".
Pauline Kael
Pauline Kael (; June 19, 1919 – September 3, 2001) was an American film critic who wrote for ''The New Yorker'' magazine from 1968 to 1991. Known for her "witty, biting, highly opinionated and sharply focused" reviews, Kael's opinions oft ...
praised ''Blade Runner'' as worthy of a place in film history for its distinctive sci-fi vision, yet criticized the film's lack of development in "human terms".
''
Ares
Ares (; grc, Ἄρης, ''Árēs'' ) is the Greek god of war and courage. He is one of the Twelve Olympians, and the son of Zeus and Hera. The Greeks were ambivalent towards him. He embodies the physical valor necessary for success in war b ...
'' magazine said, "Misunderstood by audiences and critics alike, it is by far the best ''science fiction'' film of the year."
Cultural analysis
Academics began analyzing the film almost as soon as it was released. One of the first books on the film was Paul M. Sammon's ''Future Noir: The Making of Blade Runner'' (1996), which dissects all the details concerning the film making. He was followed by
Scott Bukatman
Scott Bukatman is a cultural theorist and Professor of Film and Media Studies at Stanford University. Bukatman's research examines how popular media (film, comics) and genres (science fiction, musicals, superhero narratives) "mediate between new ...
's ''Blade Runner'' and other books and academic articles. In ''Postmodern Metanarratives: Blade Runner and Literature in the Age of Image'', Décio Torres Cruz analyzes the philosophical and psychological issues and the literary influences in ''Blade Runner''. He examines the film's cyberpunk and dystopic elements by establishing a link between the Biblical, classical and modern traditions and the postmodern aspects in the film's collage of several literary texts.
The boom in home video formats helped establish a growing cult around the film,
[Dalton, Stephen (October 26, 2016)]
"Blade Runner: anatomy of a classic"
. British Film Institute
The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves film-making and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery to encourage film production, ...
. which scholars have dissected for its dystopic aspects, questions regarding "authentic" humanity,
ecofeminist
Ecofeminism is a branch of feminism and political ecology. Ecofeminist thinkers draw on the concept of gender to analyse the relationships between humans and the natural world. The term was coined by the French writer Françoise d'Eaubonne in h ...
aspects and use of conventions from multiple genres. Popular culture began to reassess its impact as a classic several years after it was released.
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...
praised the visuals of both the original and the ''Director's Cut'' and recommended it for that reason; however, he found the human story clichéd and a little thin.
He later added ''The Final Cut'' to his "Great Movies" list. Critic Chris Rodley and
Janet Maslin
Janet R. Maslin (born August 12, 1949) is an American journalist, best known as a film and literary critic for ''The New York Times''. She served as a ''Times'' film critic from 1977 to 1999 and as a book critic from 2000 to 2015. In 2000 Maslin ...
theorized that ''Blade Runner'' changed cinematic and cultural discourse through its image repertoire and subsequent influence on films. In 2012, ''
Time
Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...
'' film critic
Richard Corliss
Richard Nelson Corliss (March 6, 1944 – April 23, 2015) was an American film critic and magazine editor for ''Time''. He focused on movies, with occasional articles on other subjects.
He was the former editor-in-chief of ''Film Comment' ...
surgically analyzed the durability, complexity, screenplay, sets and production dynamics from a personal, three-decade perspective.
Denis Villeneuve
Denis Villeneuve (; born October 3, 1967) is a Canadian filmmaker. He is a four-time recipient of the Canadian Screen Award (formerly Genie Award) for Best Direction, winning for '' Maelström'' in 2001, '' Polytechnique'' in 2009, ''Incendies ...
, who directed the sequel, ''
Blade Runner 2049
''Blade Runner 2049'' is a 2017 American neo-noir science fiction film directed by Denis Villeneuve and written by Hampton Fancher and Michael Green. A sequel to the 1982 film ''Blade Runner'', the film stars Ryan Gosling and Harrison Ford, w ...
'', cites the film as a huge influence for him and many others.
It has also been noted for its postmodernist approach and that it contributes to the historical development of modern dystopia in film. Furthermore, the futuristic version of Los Angeles has been widely discussed by academics with some comparing it to Milton's descriptions of hell in ''
Paradise Lost
''Paradise Lost'' is an epic poem in blank verse by the 17th-century English poet John Milton (1608–1674). The first version, published in 1667, consists of ten books with over ten thousand lines of verse (poetry), verse. A second edition fo ...
''. A 2019 retrospective in the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
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argued that elements of the film's socio-political themes remained prescient in the real year of the film's setting, such as its depiction of
climate change
In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to E ...
. From a more philosophical perspective, Alison Landsberg described Scott's direction of the film as a "prosthetic memory"—an action that has never happened and appears to be divorced from lived experience, yet it defines personhood and identity within the wider Blade Runner universe.
Awards and nominations
''Blade Runner'' won or received nominations for the following awards:
Themes
The film operates on multiple dramatic and narrative levels. It employs some of the conventions of
film noir
Film noir (; ) is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and motivations. The 1940s and 1950s are generally regarded as the "classic period" of American ' ...
, among them the character of a ''
femme fatale
A ''femme fatale'' ( or ; ), sometimes called a maneater or vamp, is a stock character of a mysterious, beautiful, and seductive woman whose charms ensnare her lovers, often leading them into compromising, deadly traps. She is an archetype of ...
''; narration by the protagonist (in the original release);
chiaroscuro
Chiaroscuro ( , ; ), in art, is the use of strong contrasts between light and dark, usually bold contrasts affecting a whole composition. It is also a technical term used by artists and art historians for the use of contrasts of light to achi ...
cinematography; and giving the hero a questionable moral outlook – extended to include reflections upon the nature of his own humanity.
[Barlow, Aaron "Reel Toads and Imaginary Cities: Philip K. Dick, ''Blade Runner'' and the Contemporary Science Fiction Movie" in .] It is a literate science fiction film, thematically enfolding the philosophy of religion and moral implications of human mastery of
genetic engineering
Genetic engineering, also called genetic modification or genetic manipulation, is the modification and manipulation of an organism's genes using technology. It is a set of technologies used to change the genetic makeup of cells, including t ...
in the context of
classical Greek drama and
hubris
Hubris (; ), or less frequently hybris (), describes a personality quality of extreme or excessive pride or dangerous overconfidence, often in combination with (or synonymous with) arrogance. The term ''arrogance'' comes from the Latin ', mean ...
. It also draws on Biblical images, such as
Noah's flood
The Genesis flood narrative (chapters 6–9 of the Book of Genesis) is the Hebrew version of the universal flood myth. It tells of God's decision to return the universe to its pre- creation state of watery chaos and remake it through the micro ...
, and literary sources, such as ''
Frankenstein
''Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus'' is an 1818 novel written by English author Mary Shelley. ''Frankenstein'' tells the story of Victor Frankenstein, a young scientist who creates a sapient creature in an unorthodox scientific ex ...
''
[Alessio, Dominic "Redemption, 'Race', Religion, Reality and the Far-Right: Science Fiction Film Adaptations of Philip K. Dick" in ] and
William Blake
William Blake (28 November 1757 – 12 August 1827) was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his life, Blake is now considered a seminal figure in the history of the poetry and visual art of the Romantic Age. ...
. Although Scott said any similarity was merely coincidental, fans claimed that the chess game between Sebastian and Tyrell was based on the famous
Immortal Game
The Immortal Game was a chess game played by Adolf Anderssen and Lionel Kieseritzky on 21 June 1851 in London, during a break of the first international tournament. The bold sacrifices Anderssen made have made it one of the most famous chess g ...
of 1851.
''Blade Runner'' delves into the effects of technology on the environment and society by reaching to the past, using literature,
religious symbolism
A religious symbol is an iconic representation intended to represent a specific religion, or a specific concept within a given religion.
Religious symbols have been used in the military in many countries, such as the United States military chapl ...
, classical dramatic themes, and ''film noir'' techniques. This tension between past, present, and future is represented in the "retrofitted" future depicted in the film, one which is high-tech and gleaming in places but decayed and outdated elsewhere. In an interview with ''
The Observer
''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the w ...
'' in 2002, director Ridley Scott described the film as "extremely dark, both literally and metaphorically, with an oddly masochistic feel". He also said that he "liked the idea of exploring pain" in the wake of his brother's death: "When he was ill, I used to go and visit him in London, and that was really traumatic for me."
A sense of foreboding and paranoia pervades the world of the film: corporate power looms large; the police seem omnipresent; vehicle and warning lights probe into buildings; and the consequences of huge biomedical power over the individual are explored –
especially regarding replicants' implanted memories. Control over the environment is exercised on a vast scale, and goes hand in hand with the absence of any natural life; for example, artificial animals stand in for their extinct predecessors. This oppressive backdrop explains the frequently referenced migration of humans to "off-world" (extraterrestrial) colonies. Eyes are a recurring motif, as are manipulated images, calling into question the nature of reality and our ability to accurately perceive and remember it.
These thematic elements provide an atmosphere of uncertainty for ''Blade Runner''s central theme of examining humanity. In order to discover replicants, an empathy test is used, with a number of its questions focused on the treatment of animals – seemingly an essential indicator of one's "humanity". Replicants will not respond the same way humans would, showing a lack of concern. The film goes so far as to question if Deckard might be a replicant, in the process asking the audience to re-evaluate what it means to be human.
The question of whether Deckard is intended to be a human or a replicant has been an ongoing controversy since the film's release. Both Michael Deeley and Harrison Ford wanted Deckard to be human, while Hampton Fancher preferred ambiguity. Ridley Scott has stated that in his vision, Deckard is a replicant.
Deckard's unicorn-dream sequence, inserted into Scott's ''Director's Cut'' and concomitant with Gaff's parting gift of an origami unicorn, is seen by many as showing that Deckard is a replicant – because Gaff could have retrieved Deckard's implanted memories.
The interpretation that Deckard is a replicant is challenged by others who believe the unicorn imagery shows that the characters, whether human or replicant, share the same dreams and recognize their affinity, or that the absence of a decisive answer is crucial to the film's main theme. The film's inherent ambiguity and uncertainty, as well as its textual richness, have permitted multiple interpretations.
Legacy
Cultural impact
While not initially a success with North American audiences, ''Blade Runner'' was popular internationally and garnered a
cult following
A cult following refers to a group of fans who are highly dedicated to some person, idea, object, movement, or work, often an artist, in particular a performing artist, or an artwork in some medium. The lattermost is often called a cult classic. ...
. The film's dark style and futuristic designs have served as a benchmark and its influence can be seen in many subsequent science fiction films,
video game
Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...
s,
anime
is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...
, and television programs.
For example,
Ronald D. Moore
Ronald Dowl Moore (born July 5, 1964) is an American screenwriter and television producer. He is best known for his work on ''Star Trek''; on the re-imagined ''Battlestar Galactica'' television series, for which he won a Peabody Award and an Em ...
and
David Eick
David Eick () (born 1968) is an American writer and producer, best known as the executive producer of '' Battlestar Galactica'', for which he also wrote several episodes. Eick executive produced '' Caprica'' and '' Battlestar Galactica: Blood & ...
, the producers of the re-imagining of ''
Battlestar Galactica
''Battlestar Galactica'' is an American science fiction media franchise created by Glen A. Larson. The franchise began with the Battlestar Galactica (1978 TV series), original television series in 1978, and was followed by a short-run sequel se ...
'', have both cited ''Blade Runner'' as one of the major influences for the show.
The film was selected for preservation in the United States
National Film Registry
The National Film Registry (NFR) is the United States National Film Preservation Board's (NFPB) collection of films selected for preservation, each selected for its historical, cultural and aesthetic contributions since the NFPB’s inception i ...
in 1993 and is frequently taught in university courses. In 2007, it was named the second-most visually influential film of all time by the
Visual Effects Society
The Visual Effects Society (VES) is an entertainment industry organization representing visual effects practitioners including artists, animators, technologists, model makers, educators, studio leaders, supervisors, PR/marketing specialists and pr ...
. The film has also been the subject of parody, such as the comics ''Blade Bummer'' by ''
Crazy
Insanity, madness, lunacy, and craziness are behaviors performed by certain abnormal mental or behavioral patterns. Insanity can be manifest as violations of societal norms, including a person or persons becoming a danger to themselves or t ...
'' comics, ''Bad Rubber'' by
Steve Gallacci, and the ''
Red Dwarf
''Red Dwarf'' is a British science fiction comedy franchise created by Rob Grant and Doug Naylor, which primarily consists of a television sitcom that aired on BBC Two between 1988 and 1999, and on Dave since 2009, gaining a cult following. T ...
'' 2009 three-part miniseries "
Back to Earth". The anime series ''
Psycho-Pass
''Psycho-Pass'' (stylized as ''PSYCHO-PASS'') is a Japanese cyberpunk psychological thriller anime television series produced by Production I.G. It was co-directed by Naoyoshi Shiotani and Katsuyuki Motohiro and written by Gen Urobuchi, ...
'' by
Production I.G
is a Japanese animation studio and production enterprise, founded on December 15, 1987, by Mitsuhisa Ishikawa and headquartered in Musashino, Tokyo, Japan. The letters I and G derive from the names of the company founders: producer Mitsuhisa Ish ...
was also highly influenced by the movie.
''Blade Runner'' continues to reflect modern trends and concerns, and an increasing number of critics consider it one of the greatest science fiction films of all time. It was voted the best science fiction film ever made in a 2004 poll of 60 eminent world scientists. ''Blade Runner'' is also cited as an important influence to both the style and story of the ''
Ghost in the Shell
''Ghost in the Shell'' is a Japanese cyberpunk media franchise based on the seinen manga series of the same name written and illustrated by Masamune Shirow. The manga, first serialized in 1989 under the subtitle of ''The Ghost in the Shell'' ...
'' franchise, which itself has been highly influential to the future-noir genre. ''Blade Runner'' has been very influential to the
cyberpunk
Cyberpunk is a subgenre of science fiction in a dystopian futuristic setting that tends to focus on a "combination of lowlife and high tech", featuring futuristic technological and scientific achievements, such as artificial intelligence and cyber ...
movement. It also influenced the
cyberpunk derivative biopunk
Biopunk (a portmanteau of "biotechnology" or "biology" and "punk") is a subgenre of science fiction that focuses on biotechnology. It is derived from cyberpunk, but focuses on the implications of biotechnology rather than mechanical cyberware and ...
, which revolves around
biotechnology
Biotechnology is the integration of natural sciences and engineering sciences in order to achieve the application of organisms, cells, parts thereof and molecular analogues for products and services. The term ''biotechnology'' was first used b ...
and
genetic engineering
Genetic engineering, also called genetic modification or genetic manipulation, is the modification and manipulation of an organism's genes using technology. It is a set of technologies used to change the genetic makeup of cells, including t ...
.
The dialogue and music in ''Blade Runner'' has been
sampled
Sample or samples may refer to:
Base meaning
* Sample (statistics), a subset of a population – complete data set
* Sample (signal), a digital discrete sample of a continuous analog signal
* Sample (material), a specimen or small quantity of so ...
in music more than any other film of the 20th century. The 2009 album ''
I, Human
''I, Human'' is the second full-length album by Singaporean death metal band, Deus Ex Machina (heavy metal band), Deus Ex Machina, and the first to feature a permanent vocalist, giving it more uniformity in contrast to ''The War Inside'', which ...
'' by Singaporean band
Deus Ex Machina
''Deus ex machina'' ( , ; plural: ''dei ex machina''; English "god out of the machine") is a plot device whereby a seemingly unsolvable problem in a story is suddenly and abruptly resolved by an unexpected and unlikely occurrence. Its function ...
makes numerous references to the genetic engineering and cloning themes from the film, and even features a track titled "Replicant".
''Blade Runner'' is cited as a major influence on
Warren Spector
Warren Evan Spector (born October 2, 1955) is an American role-playing and video game designer, director, writer, producer and production designer. He is known for creating immersive sim games, which give players a wide variety of choices in how ...
, designer of the video game ''
Deus Ex
''Deus Ex'' is a series of role-playing video games, set during the mid 21st century. Focusing on the conflict between secretive factions who wish to control the world by proxy, and the effects of transhumanistic attitudes and technologies in a ...
'', which displays evidence of the film's influence in both its visual rendering and plot. Indeed, the film's look – and in particular its overall darkness, preponderance of neon lights and opaque visuals – are easier to
render than complicated backdrops, making it a popular reference point for video game designers.
[Atkins, Barry "Replicating the Blade Runner" in .][Tosca, Susana P. "Implanted Memories, or the Illusion of Free Action" in .] It has influenced
adventure game
An adventure game is a video game genre in which the player assumes the role of a protagonist in an interactive story driven by exploration and/or Puzzle video game, puzzle-solving. The Video game genres, genre's focus on story allows it to draw ...
s such as the 2012 graphical
text adventure
''
Interactive fiction, often abbreviated IF, is software simulating environments in which players use text commands to control characters and influence the environment. Works in this form can be understood as literary narratives, either in the ...
''
Cypher
Cypher is an alternative spelling for cipher.
Cypher may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* Cypher (French Group), a Goa trance music group
* Cypher (band), an Australian instrumental band
* Cypher (film), ''Cypher'' (film), a 2002 film
* C ...
'', ''
Rise of the Dragon
''Rise of the Dragon'' is a graphic adventure game released in 1990 for DOS and Macintosh, and later remade for the Sega CD (1993) as well as the Amiga. It was one of the few adventure game titles developed by Dynamix, a company that was better ...
'',
''
Snatcher'',
the ''
Tex Murphy
Tex may refer to:
People and fictional characters
* Tex (nickname), a list of people and fictional characters with the nickname
* Joe Tex (1933–1982), stage name of American soul singer Joseph Arrington Jr.
Entertainment
* ''Tex'', the Italian ...
'' series, ''
Beneath a Steel Sky
''Beneath a Steel Sky'' is a 1994 cyberpunk science fiction point-and-click adventure game developed by British developer Revolution Software and published by Virgin Interactive Entertainment for MS-DOS and Amiga home computers. The game was m ...
'', ''
Flashback: The Quest for Identity'',
''Bubblegum Crisis'' video games (and their
original anime), the
role-playing game
A role-playing game (sometimes spelled roleplaying game, RPG) is a game in which players assume the roles of player character, characters in a fictional Setting (narrative), setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within ...
''
Shadowrun
''Shadowrun'' is a science fantasy tabletop role-playing game set in an alternate future in which cybernetics, magic and fantasy creatures co-exist. It combines genres of cyberpunk, urban fantasy and crime, with occasional elements of conspir ...
'',
the
first-person shooter
First-person shooter (FPS) is a sub-genre of shooter video games centered on gun and other weapon-based combat in a first-person perspective, with the player experiencing the action through the eyes of the protagonist and controlling the pl ...
''
Perfect Dark
''Perfect Dark'' is a first-person shooter developed and published by Rare for the Nintendo 64 video game console in 2000. The first game of the ''Perfect Dark'' series, it follows Joanna Dark, an agent of the Carrington Institute research c ...
'', the
shooter game
Shooter video games or shooters are a subgenre of action video games where the focus is almost entirely on the defeat of the character's enemies using the weapons given to the player. Usually these weapons are firearms or some other long-range ...
''
Skyhammer
''Skyhammer'' is a shooter video game developed by Rebellion Developments and published by Songbird Productions for the Atari Jaguar on May 22, 2000. Its gameplay style is reminiscent of Psygnosis' ''G-Police'' for the PlayStation, which was re ...
'', and the ''
Syndicate
A syndicate is a self-organizing group of individuals, companies, corporations or entities formed to transact some specific business, to pursue or promote a shared interest.
Etymology
The word ''syndicate'' comes from the French language, Frenc ...
'' series of video games.
The logos of
Atari
Atari () is a brand name that has been owned by several entities since its inception in 1972. It is currently owned by French publisher Atari SA through a subsidiary named Atari Interactive. The original Atari, Inc. (1972–1992), Atari, Inc., ...
,
Bell
A bell is a directly struck idiophone percussion instrument. Most bells have the shape of a hollow cup that when struck vibrates in a single strong strike tone, with its sides forming an efficient resonator. The strike may be made by an inter ...
,
Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a carbonated soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. Originally marketed as a temperance drink and intended as a patent medicine, it was invented in the late 19th century by John Stith Pemberton in Atlanta ...
,
Cuisinart
Cuisinart ( ) is an American home appliance brand owned by Conair Corporation. The company was started in 1971 by Carl Sontheimer to bring an electric food processor to the U.S. market. The "Food Processor" was the first model, introduced at a f ...
,
Pan Am
Pan American World Airways, originally founded as Pan American Airways and commonly known as Pan Am, was an American airline that was the principal and largest international air carrier and unofficial overseas flag carrier of the United States ...
, and
RCA
The RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded as the Radio Corporation of America in 1919. It was initially a patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse, AT&T Corporation and United Fruit Comp ...
, all market leaders at the time, were prominently displayed as
product placement
Product placement, also known as embedded marketing, is a marketing technique where references to specific brands or products are incorporated into another work, such as a film or television program, with specific promotional intent. Much of th ...
in the film, and all experienced setbacks after the film's release,
leading to suggestions of a ''Blade Runner'' curse.
Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a carbonated soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. Originally marketed as a temperance drink and intended as a patent medicine, it was invented in the late 19th century by John Stith Pemberton in Atlanta ...
and
Cuisinart
Cuisinart ( ) is an American home appliance brand owned by Conair Corporation. The company was started in 1971 by Carl Sontheimer to bring an electric food processor to the U.S. market. The "Food Processor" was the first model, introduced at a f ...
recovered, and
Tsingtao beer
Tsingtao Brewery Co. Ltd. () is China's second largest brewery, with about 15% of domestic market share and also accounts for half of China’s national beer exports. It was founded in 1903 by German settlers in Tsingtau ( Qingdao), Kiautschou ...
was also featured in the film and was more successful after the film than before.
The design of
Tesla's Cybertruck
The Tesla Cybertruck is an upcoming battery electric light-duty truck announced by Tesla, Inc. in 2019. Three models have been announced, with EPA range estimates of and an estimated time of 2.9–6.5 seconds, depending on the model.
Th ...
was inspired by the film. Prior to its release
Elon Musk
Elon Reeve Musk ( ; born June 28, 1971) is a business magnate and investor. He is the founder, CEO and chief engineer of SpaceX; angel investor, CEO and product architect of Tesla, Inc.; owner and CEO of Twitter, Inc.; founder of The Bori ...
promised that it would "look like something out of Blade Runner".
Besides referring to the truck as the "Blade Runner Truck", Musk chose to debut the truck in order to coincide with the film's setting of November 2019. The film's art designer
Syd Mead
Sydney Jay Mead (July 18, 1933 – December 30, 2019) was an American industrial designer and neo-futurist concept artist, widely known for his designs for science-fiction films such as ''Blade Runner'', '' Aliens'' and ''Tron''. Mead has bee ...
praised the truck and said he was "flattered" by the homage to ''Blade Runner''.
Media recognition
American Film Institute recognition
*
AFI's 100 Years...100 Thrills – No. 74
*
AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies (10th Anniversary Edition) – No. 97
*
AFI's 10 Top 10
''AFI's 10 Top 10'' honors the ten greatest American films in ten classic film genres. Presented by the American Film Institute (AFI), the lists were unveiled on a television special broadcast by CBS on June 17, 2008. In the special, various acto ...
– No. 6 Science Fiction Film
In other media
Before filming began, ''
Cinefantastique
''Cinefantastique'' is an American horror, fantasy, and science fiction film magazine.
History
The magazine originally started as a mimeographed fanzine in 1967, then relaunched as a glossy, offset printed quarterly in 1970 by publisher/editor ...
'' magazine commissioned Paul M. Sammon to write a special issue about ''Blade Runner''s production which became the book ''Future Noir: The Making of Blade Runner''. The book chronicles ''Blade Runner''s evolution, focusing on film-set politics, especially the British director's experiences with his first American film crew; of which producer
Alan Ladd, Jr.
Alan Walbridge Ladd Jr. (October 22, 1937 – March 2, 2022) was an American film industry executive and producer. He served as president of 20th Century Fox from 1976 to 1979, during which he approved the production of '' Star Wars''. He later e ...
has said, "Harrison wouldn't speak to Ridley and Ridley wouldn't speak to Harrison. By the end of the shoot Ford was 'ready to kill Ridley', said one colleague. He really would have taken him on if he hadn't been talked out of it." ''Future Noir'' has short cast biographies and quotations about their experiences as well as photographs of the film's production and preliminary sketches. A second edition of ''Future Noir'' was published in 2007, and additional materials not in either print edition have been published online.
Philip K. Dick refused a $400,000 offer to write a ''Blade Runner''
novelization
A novelization (or novelisation) is a derivative novel that adapts the story of a work created for another medium, such as a film, TV series, stage play, comic book or video game. Film novelizations were particularly popular before the advent of ...
, saying: "
wastold the cheapo novelization would have to appeal to the twelve-year-old audience" and it "would have probably been disastrous to me artistically". He added, "That insistence on my part of bringing out the original novel and not doing the novelization – they were just furious. They finally recognized that there was a legitimate reason for reissuing the novel, even though it cost them money. It was a victory not just of contractual obligations but of theoretical principles."
''
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
''Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?'' (retroactively retitled ''Blade Runner: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?'' in some later printings) is a dystopian science fiction novel by American writer Philip K. Dick, first published in 1968. Th ...
'' was eventually reprinted as a
tie-in
A tie-in work is a work of fiction or other product based on a media property such as a film, video game, television series, board game, web site, role-playing game or literary property. Tie-ins are authorized by the owners of the original prope ...
, with the film poster as a cover and the original title in parentheses below the ''Blade Runner'' title. Additionally, a novelization of the movie entitled ''Blade Runner: A Story of the Future'' by
Les Martin was released in 1982.
Archie Goodwin scripted the comic book adaptation, ''
A Marvel Comics Super Special: Blade Runner'', published in September 1982, which was illustrated by Al Williamson, Carlos Garzon, Dan Green, and Ralph Reese, and lettered by Ed King.
Blue Dolphin Enterprises published the film's screenplay combined with selected production storyboards as ''The Illustrated Blade Runner'' (June 1982); a book of original production artwork by Syd Mead, Mentor Huebner, Charles Knode, Michael Kaplan, and Ridley Scott as ''Blade Runner Sketchbook'' (1982); and ''The Blade Runner Portfolio'' (1982), a collection of twelve photographic prints, similar to the artist portfolios released by their
Schanes & Schanes imprint.
There are two
video game
Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...
s based on the film, both titled ''Blade Runner'':
one from 1985, an action-adventure
side-scroller
''
A side-scrolling video game (alternatively side-scroller), is a game viewed from a side-view camera angle where the screen follows the player as they move left or right. The jump from single-screen or flip-screen graphics to scrolling graphics ...
for
Commodore 64
The Commodore 64, also known as the C64, is an 8-bit home computer introduced in January 1982 by Commodore International (first shown at the Consumer Electronics Show, January 7–10, 1982, in Las Vegas). It has been listed in the Guinness ...
,
Sinclair ZX Spectrum
The ZX Spectrum () is an 8-bit home computer that was developed by Sinclair Research. It was released in the United Kingdom on 23 April 1982, and became Britain's best-selling microcomputer.
Referred to during development as the ''ZX81 Colour ...
, and
Amstrad CPC
The Amstrad CPC (short for ''Colour Personal Computer'') is a series of 8-bit home computers produced by Amstrad between 1984 and 1990. It was designed to compete in the mid-1980s home computer market dominated by the Commodore 64 and the Sin ...
by CRL Group PLC, which is marked as "a video game interpretation of the film score by Vangelis" rather than of the film itself (due to licensing issues); and
another from 1997, a point-and-click adventure for PC by
Westwood Studios
Westwood Studios, Inc. was an American video game developer, based in Las Vegas, Nevada. It was founded by Brett Sperry and Louis Castle in 1985 as Brelous Software, but got changed after 2 months into Westwood Associates and was renamed to Westw ...
. The 1997 game features a non-linear plot based in the ''Blade Runner'' world,
non-player character
A non-player character (NPC), or non-playable character, is any character in a game that is not controlled by a player. The term originated in traditional tabletop role-playing games where it applies to characters controlled by the gamemaster o ...
s that each ran in their own independent
AI, and an unusual pseudo-3D engine (which eschewed polygonal solids in favor of
voxel
In 3D computer graphics, a voxel represents a value on a regular grid in three-dimensional space. As with pixels in a 2D bitmap, voxels themselves do not typically have their position (i.e. coordinates) explicitly encoded with their values. Ins ...
elements) that did not require the use of a 3D accelerator card to play the game. Eldon Tyrell, Gaff, Leon, Rachael, Chew, J. F. Sebastian and Howie Lee appear, and their voice files are recorded by the original actors, with the exception of Gaff, who is replaced by Javier Grajeda (as
Victor Gardell) and Howie Lee, who is replaced by Toru Nagai. The player assumes the role of McCoy, another replicant-hunter working at the same time as Deckard.
The television film (and later series) ''
Total Recall 2070
''Total Recall 2070'' is a science fiction television series influenced by the work of Philip K. Dick. It was first broadcast in 1999 on the Canadian television channel CHCH-TV and later the same year on the American Showtime channel. It was late ...
'' was initially planned as a
spin-off of the film ''
Total Recall'' (based on Philip K. Dick's short story "
We Can Remember It for You Wholesale
"We Can Remember It for You Wholesale" is a science fiction novelette by American writer Philip K. Dick, first published in ''The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction'' in April 1966. It features a melding of reality, false memory, and real m ...
"), but was produced as a hybrid of ''Total Recall'' and ''Blade Runner''. Many similarities between ''Total Recall 2070'' and ''Blade Runner'' were noted, as well as apparent influences on the show from
Isaac Asimov
yi, יצחק אזימאװ
, birth_date =
, birth_place = Petrovichi, Russian SFSR
, spouse =
, relatives =
, children = 2
, death_date =
, death_place = Manhattan, New York City, U.S.
, nationality = Russian (1920–1922)Soviet (192 ...
's ''
The Caves of Steel
''The Caves of Steel'' is a science fiction novel by American writer Isaac Asimov. It is a detective story and illustrates an idea Asimov advocated, that science fiction can be applied to any literary genre, rather than just being a limited ge ...
'' and the TV series ''
Holmes & Yoyo''.
Documentaries
The film has been the subject of several documentaries.
; ''Blade Runner: Convention Reel'' (1982, 13 minutes)
: Co-directed by Muffet Kaufman and Jeffrey B. Walker, shot and screened in 16 mm, featured no narrator, was filmed in 1981 while ''Blade Runner'' was still in production and featured short "behind-the-scenes" segments showing sets being built and sequences being shot, as well as interviews with
Ridley Scott
Sir Ridley Scott (born 30 November 1937) is a British film director and producer. Directing, among others, science fiction films, his work is known for its atmospheric and highly concentrated visual style. Scott has received many accolades thr ...
,
Syd Mead
Sydney Jay Mead (July 18, 1933 – December 30, 2019) was an American industrial designer and neo-futurist concept artist, widely known for his designs for science-fiction films such as ''Blade Runner'', '' Aliens'' and ''Tron''. Mead has bee ...
and
Douglas Trumbull
Douglas Hunt Trumbull (; April 8, 1942 – February 7, 2022) was an American film director and innovative visual effects supervisor. He pioneered methods in special effects and created scenes for '' 2001: A Space Odyssey'', ''Close Encounters o ...
. Appears on the ''Blade Runner'' Ultimate Collector's Edition.
; ''On the Edge of'' Blade Runner (2000, 55 minutes)
: Directed by Andrew Abbott and hosted/written by
Mark Kermode
Mark James Patrick Kermode (, ; ; born 2 July 1963) is an English film critic, musician, radio presenter, television presenter and podcaster. He is the chief film critic for ''The Observer'', contributes to the magazine ''Sight & Sound'', prese ...
. Interviews with production staff, including Scott, give details of the creative process and the turmoil during preproduction. Insights into Philip K. Dick and the origins of ''Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?'' are provided by Paul M. Sammon and Hampton Fancher.
; ''Future Shocks'' (2003, 27 minutes)
: Directed by
TVOntario
TVO Media Education Group (often abbreviated as TVO and stylized on-air as tvo) is a publicly funded English-language educational television network and media organization serving the Canadian province of Ontario. It is operated by the Ontario ...
.
It includes interviews with executive producer
Bud Yorkin
Alan David "Bud" Yorkin (February 22, 1926 – August 18, 2015) was an American film and television producer, director, screenwriter, and actor.
Biography
Yorkin was born in Washington, Pennsylvania, to Jewish parents. He earned a degree ...
,
Syd Mead
Sydney Jay Mead (July 18, 1933 – December 30, 2019) was an American industrial designer and neo-futurist concept artist, widely known for his designs for science-fiction films such as ''Blade Runner'', '' Aliens'' and ''Tron''. Mead has bee ...
, and the cast, and commentary by science fiction author
Robert J. Sawyer
Robert James Sawyer (born April 29, 1960) is a Canadian science fiction writer. He has had 24 novels published and his short fiction has appeared in ''Analog Science Fiction and Fact'', ''Amazing Stories'', '' On Spec'', ''Nature'', and numerou ...
and from film critics.
; ''Dangerous Days: Making'' Blade Runner (2007, 213 minutes)
: Directed and produced by
Charles de Lauzirika
Charles de Lauzirika (born August 17, 1967 in Los Angeles, California) is an American DVD and Blu-ray producer and filmmaker.
Early years
Lauzirika spent his early years in La Crescenta, California and attended Glendale College where he serve ...
for ''The Final Cut'' version of the film. Its source material comprises more than 80 interviews, including extensive conversations with Ford, Young, and Scott. The documentary is presented in eight chapters, with each of the first seven covering a portion of the filmmaking process. The final chapter examines ''Blade Runner''
's controversial legacy.
; ''All Our Variant Futures: From Workprint to Final Cut'' (2007, 29 minutes)
: Produced by Paul Prischman, appears on the ''Blade Runner'' Ultimate Collector's Edition and provides an overview of the film's multiple versions and their origins, as well as detailing the seven-year-long restoration, enhancement and remastering process behind ''The Final Cut''.
; '' Blade Runner Phenomenon'' (2021, 53 minutes)
: Directed by Boris Hars-Tschachotin and made by the France and Germany European public service channel ARTE, this documentary informs viewers using behind-the-scenes material from various sets, photos, original locations in Los Angeles, and interviews with those involved in the production.
Sequel and related media
A direct sequel was released in 2017, titled ''
Blade Runner 2049
''Blade Runner 2049'' is a 2017 American neo-noir science fiction film directed by Denis Villeneuve and written by Hampton Fancher and Michael Green. A sequel to the 1982 film ''Blade Runner'', the film stars Ryan Gosling and Harrison Ford, w ...
'', with
Ryan Gosling
Ryan Thomas Gosling (born November 12, 1980) is a Canadian actor. Prominent in independent film, he has also worked in blockbuster films of varying genres, and has accrued a worldwide box office gross of over 1.9 billion USD. He has received ...
alongside Ford in the starring roles. It entered production in mid-2016 and is set decades after the first film.
Harrison Ford reprised his role as
Rick Deckard
Rick Deckard is a fictional character and the protagonist of Philip K. Dick's 1968 novel ''Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?''. Harrison Ford portrayed the character in the 1982 film adaptation, ''Blade Runner'', and reprised his role in th ...
. The film won two Academy Awards, for cinematography and visual effects.
The world of ''Blade Runner'' has also come to be explored in animation. ''
Blade Runner 2049
''Blade Runner 2049'' is a 2017 American neo-noir science fiction film directed by Denis Villeneuve and written by Hampton Fancher and Michael Green. A sequel to the 1982 film ''Blade Runner'', the film stars Ryan Gosling and Harrison Ford, w ...
'' was preceded by the release of three short films that served as prequels, where the chronological first, ''Blade Runner Black Out 2022'', was
anime
is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...
(the other two, ''2036: Nexus Dawn'' and ''2048: Nowhere to Run'', were live action, not animated).
In November 2021, a Japanese-American anime television series called ''
Blade Runner: Black Lotus'' was released. The series tells the story of a female replicant protagonist, rather than that of a male Blade Runner one.
Dick's friend K. W. Jeter wrote three authorized ''Blade Runner'' novels that continue Rick Deckard's story, attempting to resolve the differences between the film and ''Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?'' These are ''Blade Runner 2: The Edge of Human'' (1995), ''Blade Runner 3: Replicant Night'' (1996), and ''Blade Runner 4: Eye and Talon'' (2000)
''Blade Runner'' cowriter
David Peoples
David Webb Peoples (born February 9, 1940) is an American screenwriter who wrote ''Blade Runner'' (1982), ''Unforgiven'' (1992), and ''12 Monkeys'' (1995). He was nominated for Oscar, Golden Globe, and BAFTA awards. He won the best screenplay a ...
wrote the 1998 action film ''Soldier (1998 American film), Soldier'', which he referred to as a "sidequel" or spiritual successor to the original film; the two are set in a shared universe. A bonus feature on the Blu-ray for ''Prometheus (2012 film), Prometheus'', the 2012 film by Scott set in the ''Alien (franchise), Alien'' universe, states that Eldon Tyrell, CEO of the ''Blade Runner'' Tyrell Corporation, was the mentor of Guy Pearce's character Peter Weyland. In 2022, Amazon announced a ''Blade Runner 2049'' sequel series would be produced.
On October 12, 2022, an apparent official approval to actually make a ''Blade Runner 2099'' TV series was reported.
See also
* Blade Runner (franchise), ''Blade Runner'' (franchise)
* Arcology
* Biorobotics
* List of dystopian films
* List of fictional robots and androids
* Synthetic biology
* Tech noir
Notes
References
Bibliography
*
*
*Doll, Susan, and Greg Faller. 1986. “Blade Runner and Genre: Film Noir and Science Fiction.” ''Literature Film Quarterly'' 14 (2): 89–100.
*Eagan, Daniel (2010) ''America's Film Legacy: The Authoritative Guide to the Landmark Movies in the National Film Registry'', A&C Black, , pages 775–776
*
*
*Morgan, David.
Blade Runner' at
National Film Registry
The National Film Registry (NFR) is the United States National Film Preservation Board's (NFPB) collection of films selected for preservation, each selected for its historical, cultural and aesthetic contributions since the NFPB’s inception i ...
*
External links
*
*
*
*
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