Having collaborated with Denis Villeneuve on Prisoners and Sicario, acclaimed cinematographer Roger Deakins will reunite with the director once again next year for the sequel to Ridley Scott’s sci-fi classic Blade Runner. Last week, we heard from Villeneuve about the “huge challenge” of making Blade Runner 2, and now Deakins has been discussing the project with Screen Crush.
“We’re just treating the new one as what it is; it’s an entirely separate movie that will stand by itself,” said Deakins when asked if he felt any pressure to recreate the iconic look of the original. “I mean obviously it has elements that connect it to the original. But it’s going to stand alone by itself as a movie. And I’m not going to do shafts of light coming through a window with rain just for the sake of doing shafts of light and rain — although it was really superb the way it was done. No, you have to think about the script and approach it anew.”
“Part of the appeal was working with Denis again,” he continued. “But also I love science-fiction. There’s a number of books that I’ve always felt would make great movies, but people seem more interested in making science-fantasy than they do science-fiction. I mean, I did think twice about it. Because you think ‘Oh yeah, Blade Runner, the original is so wonderful.’ And I thought ‘This script is not the old script. It’s not a remake. It’s another take on the story. It’s another story and a progression.’ And I thought ‘There’s so few good science-fiction films out there. Of all the science-fiction films, this deserves another.’ I mean they made about 20 Planet of the Apes, and they still haven’t made one as good as the original. They only ever made one Blade Runner, so I think we can do another one.”
Blade Runner 2 will see Harrison Ford reprising the role of Rick Deckard, while Ryan Gosling is also attached to the cast.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PL18yMRIfoszEaHYNDTy5C-cH9Oa2gN5ng&v=qvTY7eXXIMg
Originally published September 21, 2015. Updated April 14, 2018.
