Steven Spielberg: "I thought Ridley [Scott, director of Blade Runner] painted a very bleak but brilliant vision of life on earth in a few years. It's kind of acid rain and sushi. In fact, it's coming true faster than most science fiction films come true. Blade Runner is almost upon us. It was ultranoir."
http://archive.wired.com/wired/archive/10.06/spielberg_pr.html
Alex
Steven Spielberg: "I thought Ridley [Scott, director of Blade Runner] painted a very bleak but brilliant vision of life on earth in a few years. It's kind of acid rain and sushi. In fact, it's coming true faster than most science fiction films come true. Blade Runner is almost upon us. It was ultranoir."
This quote almost makes me want to check out his music:
Charles Duff (Matrixxman, music producer): "Circling back to Blade Runner again, I’ve always had a fascination with film noir. To me, the reason why Blade Runner was so beautiful, is because of that precise juxtaposition of hyper-futurist sensibilities, with this beautiful old, vintage, harsh-contrast lighting, sort of like a detective movie, and the trench coats, and the steamy murkiness, and all that stuff. Had Blade Runner been entirely futuristic and not had that retro palette, it might not have had the same magical qualities that it has. I think one could apply that same methodology to music, perhaps."
http://daily.redbullmusicacademy.com/2015/08/matrixxman-interview
Alex
John O'Reilly, consultant, journalist, editor at Huffington Post:
Images of the city have always wielded psychological, emotional and political power. Anyone brought up on a diet of Hollywood movies and US TV shows will have had that uncanny experience as a first-time visitor to a US city - a sense of déjà vu, the feeling of being on a movie set, in a story. I took the Blade Runner cityscape so seriously as a student in New York in 1983, that after a late-night showing of the film, I went into a phone box and rang the number dialed by Harrison Ford on the 'video screen' (555-7563 in case you're interested). The decay of Ridley Scott's dystopian future spilled over into the rodent-rich, un-gentrified, occasionally threatening Lower East Side of the time.
Electronic music trio Nero, (Daniel Stephens, Joe Ray and vocalist Alana Watson) on how science fiction films have influenced their music:
“Like 2001: A Space Odyssey, Blade Runner is a visual masterpiece that is focussed more on telling a story through imagery than dialogue. It looked unlike any other film at the time of its release in 1982 and has since become a go-to reference point for many things sci-fi related. We’ve often cited Blade Runner as one of the main influences on our overall aesthetic. Ridley Scott, along with concept artist Syd Mead, created and captured the quintessential dark vision of future urban environments. Vangelis’ soundtrack is an equally important part of the magic of this film. There are few other films in which the visuals and music are in such perfect harmony with one another. He recorded the majority of the score on a synthesiser called a Yamaha CS-80. We managed to buy one a few years back (there were less than 1000 ever made). It has an incredible, vast sound which is unlike any other synthesiser. You can hear the CS-80 throughout our new album (particularly on ‘What Does Love Mean’ in which almost all of the synth parts are CS-80).”
“It’s amazing to think that this film was made before man had even journeyed to the Moon. It still stands up today as one of the most visually stunning films ever made. One of the key elements to the film is the soundtrack, which was not commissioned specially but instead made up of contemporary and classical music. The first song we ever released was a drum ‘n’ bass version of Richard Strauss’ ‘Thus Spoke Zarathustra’ - one of the main pieces used in 2001: A Space Odyssey. The György Ligeti works used in the film influenced a passage in our BBC symphony orchestra collaboration ‘Symphony 2808’.”
For the 7th anniversary of our thread, from an Entertainment Weekly interview with Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy, cowriters of the upcoming series Westworld:
From Almost Human to Dollhouse to Blade Runner, some of the themes in this story have been explored before. How conscious are you of those other projects, and are you looking to be close to them or steer away?
Nolan: My brother’s favorite movie is Blade Runner. I can’t count the amount of times he’s made me watch it. [Lisa and I] both watched and admired Dollhouse. There are really smart people asking interesting questions about this sort of universe. But I think there are lots of questions left unanswered. A.I. [Artificial Intelligence] is a topic that Lisa and I are both fascinated by. And the thing about science fiction is that it’s past the golden age. The great [talents] have already taken a crack at lot of this. But it’s still very pleasurable take a swing at some of the bigger ideas.
Joy: I think the other thing that’s fascinating about doing this now is, in a short amount of time since Blade Runner came out, the kind of science that we’re talking about has become closer to “science” than it is to the ”fiction” part of “science-fiction.” I think we’re standing at an interesting precipice from which to both view the future and to hypothesize about the future. I think that all of that new information will help add new dimensions to this world.
BLADE Runner — the 1982 science fiction film featuring Harrison Ford — is the inspiration behind Perth’s newest public art installation. Illuminated artwork by award-winning artist Geoffrey Drake-Brockman lit up Northbridge’s Chinatown on Friday night.He is best known for his Totem artwork, nicknamed the Pineapple, outside Perth Arena and the Spiral outside the WA Police HQ in Northbridge. The Metropolitan Redevelopment Authority and the City of Perth have worked together to give the Chinatown precinct a facelift. Named Luminous, the piece includes five, two-metre spherical lanterns mounted on six-metre tall poles.
Geoffrey Drake-Brockman describing his work on Perth’s newest public art installation as “complex, origami folded patterns” of orange, purple and red metals. “My reference was the movie Blade Runner set in a futuristic Chinatown world, where there are these overhead advertising blimps inviting people to come live off-world. So my overhead spheres are like invitations to come live on different planets.”
Each lantern has its own computer and four motion detectors, which respond to human movement in their immediate vicinity.
“If a lot of people cross by it enters a more chaotic light pattern,” Mr Drake-Brockman said. I’m very pleased with the finished outcome. It’s highly visible and for an artist that’s a great thing.”
Located on the doorstep of the Perth City Link project, the MRA expects thousands of people to pass through Chinatown’s Roe Street precinct each day.
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/national/artist-geoffrey-drake-brockman-launches-northbridge-chinatowns-new-lights/story-fnii5thm-1227539192841
Reaction time is a factor in this, so please pay attention.
Roger Deakins (cinematographer): "I think the look of the film is an organic process. You don't just look at the script and it comes in your head. While I think the original film is wonderful, this is not the original film... visually it doesn't have to be anything like the original. It has to stand by itself, and its particular script and its particular story. The original was wonderfully shot, but to me, the most powerful thing about the original film is the death of, what's the actor's name... Rutger Hauer's death in the rain with the white pigeon. And then you watch the documentary about the making of the film and realize that was all something that was kind of created on the day."
http://movieweb.com/blade-runner-2-visual-style-different/
I noticed a number of websites got a crack at you in Toronto and were eager to talk about “Blade Runner 2.” Are you sensing more anticipation around that project than you might have expected?
Roger Deakins: Well, I am, really. There’s a lot of anticipation, which is interesting. I mean I love the original but I’m surprised at how much interest there is when the original actually wasn’t commercially very successful and wasn’t critically very successful as well. So that tells you a lot about a movie’s staying power.
Did you know the original film’s DP, Jordan Cronenweth, at all?
Roger Deakins: I’d never met Jordan, no. Unless I met him when I was in England once but I don’t think so. I don’t remember meeting him.
His work on that film is pretty iconic.
Roger Deakins: Yeah, yeah. Quite brilliant. I mean obviously there’s a lot of Ridley in that, too. It’s great to work with a director who really wanted to push for that look. I remember distinctly when it came out and how strong that look was when compared with other movies that were around at the time.
http://variety.com/2015/film/in-contention/roger-deakins-sicario-interview-denis-villeneuve-1201601102/
We've had several comments by Denis Villeneuve. Entertainment Weekly states: Blade Runner holds a special place in the education of Villeneuve as a filmmaker.
Villeneuve: “This movie is linked to the birth of my passion for cinema. [When it came out] I was a young teenager starting to understand the job of a director. Blade Runner had a huge impact on me,” he said. “It’s one of my favorite movies of all time. I know this movie by heart. I know every single shot of it. I have a very intimate relationship with this movie.”
EO: By your “next project” you obviously mean Blade Runner 2. Presumably you’d only take on a follow-up to a film like that if you have some connection to the original. So what does Blade Runner mean to you?
DV: The original Blade Runner is one of my favourite movies of all time. It’s not a small thing for me. I’m a filmmaker who has been making films since I was ten years old. Blade Runner is a movie that for me birthed the idea of directing. I remember being in huge shock when I saw Blade Runner for the first time. It’s the birth of my love of cinema. It’s by far one of the most important movies to me. It’s a fundamental movie for me. It’s an essential movie.