Following last year’s acclaimed Arrival, director Denis Villeneuve is sticking with the sci-fi genre for his next offering, stepping into Ridley Scott’s shoes to helm the highly-anticipated sequel Blade Runner 2049. Villeneuve has been chatting to Variety about the film, and in particular, his emphasis on using practical effects over CGI.
“I’m very old school,” said Villeneuve. “I wish I had the chance to do my aliens as animatronics. That was my dream at the beginning [of Arrival]. We were dreaming to put them in a gigantic aquarium with gigantic beasts that would be moved by puppeteers. But sadly, it would have been too expensive. I hate green screens. It sucks out all my energy. I get depressed. I have an admiration for directors who can work with that on a daily basis. For Blade Runner, we tried our best to do as much as possible in-camera, building everything.”
Villeneuve went on to sing the praises of cinematographer Roger Deakins, stating that: “Roger was insanely impressive in how he was able to create landscape with tricks. For me it was beautiful. I think I can count on one hand how many times I saw a green screen in all of those months of shooting. There will be CG enhancements, of course, but as much as possible it was in-camera. Having witnessed what he’s done for months, I think it will be Roger Deakins’ best work. He was deeply inspired by the project.”
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Following the Blade Runner sequel, Villeneuve will move to on the long-awaited Dune reboot, and he shared his excitement over the opportunity to bring Frank Herbert’s iconic novel to the big screen:
“Since I was 12 years old there was a book I read, which is Dune, which is my favorite book, with 1984. After Prisoners, the producer of Alcon asked me what I would like to do next. I said, ‘Dune,’ spontaneously, that if anyone could get me the rights for Dune – and I knew it was very difficult to get those rights. For me it was just a dream, and I guess I’m lucky that Mary Parent from Legendary got the rights and offered it to me. I can’t say no to that. I have images that I am haunted by for 35 years. I will not say no to that. That’s going to be the project of my life.”
SEE ALSO: Denis Villeneuve confirms Blade Runner 2049 will be R-rated
Thirty years after the events of the first film, a new blade runner, LAPD Officer K (Ryan Gosling), unearths a long-buried secret that has the potential to plunge what’s left of society into chaos. K’s discovery leads him on a quest to find Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford), a former LAPD blade runner who has been missing for 30 years.
Blade Runner 2049 is set for release on October 6th and sees Harrison Ford reprising the role of Rick Deckard alongside Ryan Gosling, Ana de Armas, Sylvia Hoeks, Robin Wright, Mackenzie Davis, Carla Juri, Lennie James, Dave Bautista and Jared Leto.
Originally published February 13, 2017. Updated April 16, 2018.
