Iconic filmmaker Ridley Scott likes to work. The 76-year-old has made 12 films in the last 14 years while producing numerous film and TV projects in that time through his Scott Free production company.
Presently, Scott is promoting the December 2nd release of Exodus: Gods and Kings and filming The Martian. A Prometheus sequel is also seemingly on the horizon and there is the Blade Runner sequel that Scott has previously talked up, but apparently he’ll be less involved in the latter than previously thought according to a new interview with Variety.
When The Martian wraps later this winter, Scott already has a fair idea what he’ll be doing next, though it likely won’t be the much-anticipated Blade Runner sequel he developed with the original film’s co-screenwriter, Hampton Fancher. “We talked at length about what it could be, and came up with a pretty strong three-act storyline, and it all makes sense in terms of how it relates to the first one,” says Scott, who adds that fans can expect to see Harrison Ford back in the saddle as the futuristic gumshoe Rick Deckard. “Harrison is very much part of this one, but really it’s about finding him; he comes in in the third act.” Per Scott, that Alcon Entertainment production should go before the cameras within the next year, but with someone else directing (he’ll produce).
I really don’t know what’s more disappointing: Scott’s absence from his place behind the lens or Ford’s absence from the screen for the first 2/3rds of the film.
Both men were obviously beyond integral to the success and quality of the original, but from a practical standpoint, I suppose it makes some sense. As the interview with Variety more-or-less states, Scott is far from an absentee producer, so accepting that, I suppose it’s likely that his influence will still be all over the finished product.
As for Deckard’s part-timer status, I suppose that follows the line established with Ford’s return to Star Wars and, to a lesser degree, the shoehorning in of Shia Labeouf in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. The question now is, who takes on the separate monumental tasks of directing and starring beside Ford in the Blade Runner sequel and will fans accept these big changes and view this project with open arms or cynicism? Apparently, we’re going to find out at some point in the near future.
Via Variety
