With the long-gestating sequel to Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner coming closer and closer to reality, more contracts are officially being signed. After news linked Ryan Gosling to an undisclosed role back in April, Scott suggested the actor would “probably” lead the film. Now, it appears that adverb has switched to definitely, as Gosling has confirmed he is indeed attached to the untitled sequel.
In an interview with Collider for his upcoming film The Big Short, Gosling said Blade Runner will be his next project. He simply answered, “That’s true,” when asked if the rumors of his involvement were accurate, and added that the involvement of director Denis Villeneuve and cinematographer Roger Deakins along with the script encouraged him to sign on. “And if I say any more, there’s a chip in me that will explode if I say anything else,” he said, staying away from any details.
Watch Gosling’s comments below.
Scott also recently revealed that Villeneuve wasn’t his first choice as director. Speaking with The Guardian, he said, “It’s a hard one. I asked somebody before, who I thought would be right – I would rather not say who it is. He just said, ‘I’m not going to do that, I’m never going to follow through on that.’”
He also mentioned that Harrison Ford’s return as Rick Deckard won’t be the focal point of the film, though he’ll still be a central figure. “Yeah, yeah. I can’t really say more than that, because it’ll give away the story. But Harrison’s definitely in it. In an important way.”
Update: Apparently all you need is time with Scott. While speaking at the AFI Film Festival, the same discussion that broke news about Alien: Covenant, he offered this fairly long-winded account of where Deckard has been living following the events of the original film:
We decided to start the film off with the original starting block of the original film. We always loved the idea of a dystopian universe, and we start off at what I describe as a ‘factory farm’ – what would be a flat land with farming. Wyoming. Flat, not rolling – you can see for 20 miles. No fences, just plowed, dry dirt. Turn around and you see a massive tree, just dead, but the tree is being supported and kept alive by wires that are holding the tree up. It’s a bit like Grapes of Wrath, there’s dust, and the tree is still standing. By that tree is a traditional, Grapes of Wrath-type white cottage with a porch. Behind it at a distance of two miles, in the twilight, is this massive combine harvester that’s fertilizing this ground. You’ve got 16 Klieg lights on the front, and this combine is four times the size of this cottage. And now a spinner [a flying car] comes flying in, creating dust. Of course, traditionally chased by a dog that barks, the doors open, a guy gets out and there you’ve got Rick Deckard. He walks in the cottage, opens the door, sits down, smells stew, sits down and waits for the guy to pull up to the house to arrive. The guy’s seen him, so the guy pulls the combine behind the cottage and it towers three stories above it, and the man climbs down from a ladder – a big man. He steps onto the balcony and he goes to Harrison’s side. The cottage actually [creaks]; this guy’s got to be 350 pounds. I’m not going to say anything else – you’ll have to go see the movie.
To recap, Deckard’s alive, the world still sucks, and the action has shifted from a dystopian city to a dystopian farmland, at least for the opening. This sounds pretty damn intriguing.
As previously reported, Scott will produce the film, and a screenplay has been turned in by Hamtpon Fancher (who co-wrote the original Blade Runner) and Michael Green (Green Lantern). Filming is set to being next summer.
