A 21st-Century Story in a 1940s Style

To whet our appetites for the Ultimate Bladerunner DVD set, Wired has posted this interview with Ridley Scott on their website.

Wired: You started working on this movie more than 25 years ago. How does it feel to be talking about it again?

Scott: It never went away, so I'm used to it. It kept reemerging, and that's when I realized that it had really unusual staying power. It's all very well to say, "Well, I knew it had." But I didn't, really, at the time. I knew I'd done a pretty interesting movie, but it was so unusual that the majority of people were taken aback. They simply didn't get it. Or, I think, better to say that they were enormously distracted by the environment.

Wired: What do you mean by that?

Scott: I was touching on possibilities like replication. It's now quite commonplace, but 25 years ago they were barely discussing it in the corridors of power. Now, the film is not really about that at all, it's simply leveraging that possibility into one of those detective film-noir kinds of stories. People were familiar with that kind of
character, but not with the world I was cooking up. I wanted to call it San Angeles, and somebody said, "I don't get it." I said, "You know, San Francisco and Los Angeles." It's bizarre: People only think about what's under their noses until it comes and kicks them in the ass.

Wired: How did you decide to tell a 21st-century story in a 1940s style?

Scott: Well, people want a comfortable preconception about what they're seeing. It's a bit like 20 years of Westerns and, now, 45 years of cop movies. People are comfortable with the roles. Even though every nook and cranny has been explored, they'll still sit through endless variations on cops and bad guys, right? In this instance, I was doing a cop and a different bad guy. And to justify the creation of the bad guy, i.e., replication, it had to be in the future.

The rest of the interview is worth your time, as well.

And is it me, or does Ridley Scott look like Philip K. Dick in the accompanying picture?

Go read.

The Ultimate Blade Runner!

The Blade Runner Five-Disc Ultimate Collector's Edition is coming! This puppy has five different versions of what is still the best PKD-inspired film:

1. RIDLEY SCOTT'S ALL-NEW "FINAL CUT" VERSION OF THE FILM
   Restored and remastered with added & extended scenes, added lines, new and cleaner special effects and all new 5.1 Dolby Digital Audio.
   
   
2. 1982 THEATRICAL VERSION
   This is the version that introduced U.S. movie-going audiences to a revolutionary film with a new and excitingly provocative vision of the near-future. It contains Deckard/Harrison Ford's character narration and has Deckard and Rachel's (Sean Young) "happy ending" escape scene.
   
   
3. 1982 INTERNATIONAL VERSION
   Also used on U.S. home video, laserdisc and cable releases up to 1992. This version is not rated, and contains some extended action scenes in contrast to the Theatrical Version.
   
   
4. 1992 DIRECTOR'S CUT
   The Director's Cut omits Deckard's voiceover narration and removes the "happy ending" finale. It adds the famously-controversial "unicorn" sequence, a vision that Deckard has which suggests that he, too, may be a replicant.
   
   
5. WORKPRINT VERSION
   This rare version of the film is considered by some to be the most radically different of all the Blade Runner cuts. It includes an altered opening scene, no Deckard narration until the final scenes, no "unicorn" sequence, no Deckard/Rachel "happy ending," altered lines between Batty (Rutger Hauer) and his creator Tyrell (Joe Turkell), alternate music and much more.

And if that wasn't enough, there is a gazillion hours of extras including

• Commentaries by Ridley Scott, executive producer/co-screenwriter Hampton Fancher, co-screenwriter David Peoples, producer Michael Deely, production executive Katherine Haber, visual futurist Syd Mead, production designer Lawrence G. Paull, art director David L. Snyder, Future Noir: The Making of Blade Runner author Paul M. Sammon, and special photographic effects supervisors Douglas Trumbull, Richard Yuricich and David Dryer
  
  
• DOCUMENTARY DANGEROUS DAYS: MAKING BLADE RUNNER
  A feature-length authoritative documentary revealing all the elements that shaped this hugely influential cinema landmark. Cast, crew, critics and colleagues give a behind-the-scenes, in-depth look at the film -- from its literary roots and inception through casting, production, visuals and special effects to its controversial legacy and place in Hollywood history.
  
  
• Philip K. Dick: The Blade Runner Interviews (audio)
  
  
• Screen Tests: Rachel & Pris

And believe it or not, there is much more!

Releasing on December 18 (just in time for my 40th birthday!), this is the perfect thing for the geek in your life!