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
Nice Blade Runner quote by Moby
Moby: "It was very seductive—the fact that it was always raining, it was always nighttime, and when it wasn't nighttime it might as well have been because everything had this pall cast over it. And the score was such an integral and perfect component of the movie. It really was the New Wave aesthetic of the time, perfectly crystallized in this movie. If someone were to remake the movie now, they'd probably have to throw in all these, like, Nickelback songs, but instead you have this very, very dark, unrelentingly gritty film with this very ethereal music on top of it. That contrast is what makes it. Without the music the movie would have been good, but with the music it was close to perfect."
Alex
Will Wright (Game Designer): "When I was researching Sim City I read a lot of city planning documents, and it was amazing how often the term Blade Runner came up—you know, 'We don't want Union Square to turn into Blade Runner.' But there was a concept that we used that was nicely realized in Blade Runner—the idea of arcologies, these massive structures that are like whole cities within a single building, like the pyramid where Tyrell lives. You have these giant arcologies where everyone has gone because they're the modern places, yet you have all this old infrastructure that's ignored and abandoned right underfoot. A lot of squatter cities have a similar dynamic—you have people living in the cracks without standard infrastructure, kind of like rats in the sewer."
Alex
Mark W. Tilden (creator of Robosapien, you know, the famous toy robot): "Ever walk through florescent Hong Kong at midnight wearing a trenchcoat in a hard rain contemplating your next massive robot production line? I am Blade Runner without the Vangelis soundtrack."
http://www.gadgetmadness.com/archives/20041122-hyper_cool_interview_wi th_robosapien_creator_mark_w_tilden.php
Alex
Victor Gishler (American author of hard-boiled crime fiction): I always enjoy the Friday movie quotes over at Nobody Move. Especially today since the quotations come from one of my favorite films Blade Runner. Although I respect the director's cut, I always had a soft spot for the original version with Harrison Ford's voice-over. Critics often claim Ford's voice-over is flat and lame and detracts from the film, but I always thought it contributed to the film's over all noiry goodness. During grad school, I spent most of my energies writing creatively, but the essay I wrote on Lacan and Blade Runner was one of the few papers that made me think I could cut it as a scholar. I'm also a fan of Phil Dick's Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, but there's just something visually stunning about the film that adds a creamy layer of enjoyment the novel doesn't offer.
Alex
What are five science fiction movies you think are absolutely essential?
Burton C. Bell (from Fear Factory, which is an American heavy metal band): Blade Runner, that’s the top one. David Lynch’s Dune. THX 1138 offered an interesting vision of the future. I love Alien. And the first Star Wars movie, the original .
Alex
[deleted]
No, no, it isn't a question for a thread. It's the question they asked Bell. It's a thread where artists talk Blade Runner.
Alex
Favreau then went on to say that Ford’s character in Cowboys and Aliens will have something in common with some characters from his past:
John Favreau: “I’m trying to make him what we love him to be. Think about him whether it was ‘American Graffiti,’ Han Solo, ‘Indiana Jones,’ or ‘Blade Runner.’ He’s sort of that edgy, likeable but not likeable guy. I don’t like the cuddly Harrison Ford. I don’t like the sensitive, thoughtful Harrison Ford.”
http://scifimafia.com/2010/05/cowboys-and-aliens-favreau-talks-about-t he-bad-ass-harrison-ford-will-play/
Alex
OMG! I just found this article. I can't believe it! Chris Cunningham's favorite film moment of all time (in 2000) is my favorite film moment of all time too!
Chris Cunningham: My all-time favourite film moment is the love scene from Blade Runner, with Harrison Ford and Sean Young. It's about 10 minutes long and within it are all the things I love most about film.
The scene begins in Deckard's apartment. Rachel has just saved Deckard's life. The minimal and awkward exchanges between the two are in perfect harmony with the music and sound design. Waves of sound and light bleach out the frame randomly and fill the spaces in the scene with a rich ambience. Rachel watches Deckard clean himself up whilst Vangelis's music becomes progressively more abstract. This moment has an ambiguity to it that is impossible to describe, but gives me goosebumps every time.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2000/feb/06/culture.100filmmoments3
Alex
NY Times:
Mr. Christopher Nolan spoke admiringly of Mr. Scott’s science-fiction thriller “Alien,” which he said is most memorable not for its chest-bursting shock scenes but for “the naturalism of it that was shocking at the time.” He added: “It’s like Ken Loach in outer space. Hand-held camera, overlapping dialogue, bickering and incredibly naturalistic performances. That’s the bit that everybody forgets.” Also, he said, “you couldn’t really aim higher than his work in ‘Blade Runner’ in terms of putting the audience into an alternate reality and allowing them to experience a different world for a couple of hours.”
Alex
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What was the most difficult element of the graphic novel to translate to the film?
Jonathan Mostow (director Terminator 3 and Surrogates): I'll give you a slightly different answer: The most difficult element to translate successfully would have been the distant future, which is why we decided not to do it. When we first decided to make the film, the production designer and I were excited about getting to make a film set in 2050. We planned flying cars, futuristic skyscapes -- the whole nine yards. But as we began to look at other movies set in the future, we realised something -- that for all the talent and money we could throw at the problem, the result would likely feel fake. Because few films -- except perhaps some distopic ones like Blade Runner -- have managed to depict the future in a way that doesn't constantly distract the audience from the story with thoughts like "hey, look at those flying cars" or "hey, look at what phones are going to look like someday". We wanted the audience thinking only about our core idea -- which was robotic surrogates -- so we decided to set the movie in a time that looked very much like our own, except for the presence of the surrogate technology.
Mostow is right. The future has to strike you as a normal, natural place otherwise you'll end up with distracting bogus.
Which 5 albums do you find yourself going back to time after time for sonic/musical inspiration?
Eric Persing (Chief Sound Designer for Roland and founder of Spectrasonics): That's impossible to narrow it down to five (when I could easily come up with a hundred), but here's what pops into my mind first when I think of inspiring albums that I often relisten to:
1. Arvo Part "Litany"
2. Wendy Carlos "Beauty and the Beast"
3. Peter Gabriel "So"
4. Vangelis "Bladerunner"
5. Bruford "One of a kind"
Alex
Heard an interview on Radio 5Live last night with Leonado DiCaprio at the premiere of Inception yesterday evening. Asked about science fiction films, he first mentioned Blade Runner "How can you not love Blade Runner?" and 2001 "I've seen it lots of times. Almost a religous experience."
There is an explanation for this, you know.
Asked about science fiction films, he first mentioned Blade Runner "How can you not love Blade Runner?
And yet, a lot of Dicaprio fans know the answer to that question.
Alex
Jay Gordon (Orgy): Oh, of course, we do love glamour and craziness. Colors, you know, the world has to be colorful, brilliant, crazy, decadent! We like the big chaos! You know, there is a reason why we all think Blade Runner is the best movie ever. Blade Runner just denies the reality. It's the perfect science fiction, what is real and what is unreal, fiction and reality, absolute madness, absolute chaos. I think that's the right atmosphere. That is exactly where Orgy fits in.
http://www.nyrock.com/interviews/2001/orgy_int.asp
LUMEN ECLISPE: Do you have any recommendations for our readers?
Janet Biggs (Video artist): I would definitely say that anyone who hasn’t seen Blade Runner should definitely see it. The original release, and the reissued versions. My initial experience was to see Blade Runner when it first came out, but I think it’s a real treat that they keep releasing it and changing it, and it’s a testimony to the strength of that film that that keeps happening. You get to relive it over and over.
http://www.lumeneclipse.com/home/interviews/18_full.html
TGL: Not a lot of people would know about your composition for the Blade Runner soundtrack on the PC. When you were brought in to compose the soundtrack for Blade Runner, where you a fan of the movie?
Frank Klepacki (video game music composer): I was brought in about mid way through the project, and couldn’t wait to work on it. Yes I was indeed a fan of the movie so it was an honor to be a part of expanding on that.
TGL: Did you try to keep the sound of your Blade Runner music similar to that of Vangelis soundtrack for the movie? If so, was it difficult?
Frank Klepacki: We didn’t have the rights to use the orignal soundtrack recordings, but we did have the rights to replicate it (no pun intended) so I recomposed it entirely by ear [Vangelis' main themes of the film], and then added my own originals to to the mix. Recreating the film pieces were definitely a challenge, because not only did I have to listen for all the parts and nuances of how they were performed, I had to edit and fine tune lots of synth patches to recreate the sound of those instruments. One of the most flattering compliments I got was that a lot of the company said they enjoyed my versions a bit more only because the recording quality was cleaner than the originals.
http://thegamingliberty.com/index.php/2009/12/03/tgls-exclusive-frank- klepacki/
Robert Rodriguez (Director of Sin City, Planet Terror, Machete, ...): Blade Runner is also one of my favorites. I love film noir movies, and that was just a new way of doing it. Set in the future, made up worlds. It's just a straight up great movie; everything fell into place, which is just rare for things to happen that way. How everything came together, the artistry that went into it, the design, the music, and how resilient the story is, how you can just keep making new versions of it, and they all still kind of work. [laughs] When you can just keep remaking the same movie with the same footage and just kind of tweak it a little bit...
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/comic_con_2009/news/1834188/five_favor ite_films_with_robert_rodriguez/
Alex
I've been searching for an Alex Proyas reference to Blade Runner for almost two years. This is the closest I've come to date. From a 2009 interview in which Proyas is asked to discuss his five favorite films:
Well, you know, it's interesting because my favorite films are ones that I keep watching. I just don't think there have been many great science fiction films made. I mean, 2001 is genius, there's no question it's a masterpiece, but I've already picked a Kubrick film. I find Dr. Strangelove a more user-friendly and enjoyable film to look at and watch repeatedly. I can watch it endlessly. Blade Runner is a masterpiece, but I don't know that I would put it in my top 5 at this stage. Maybe at some other point in my life, I would've.
[deleted]
Michael Deeley, producer of Blade Runner:
I'm immensely proud to have produced a picture which, over the years of recuts and reissues, has travelled from being more or less a flop to becoming a cast-iron cult, and today, it seems fair to say, a classic.From the book 'Blade Runners, Deer Hunters, And Blowing The Bloody Doors Off' by Michael Deeley, p.262. Recommended reading for fans of the film.
Novelist, Neil Gaiman:
"Kurt Vonnegut believed that what science fiction and pornography have in common is that they're both visions of impossibly hospitable worlds. But what Blade Runner did was create a dystopic, inhospitable world. It's dark and it's grungy and you wouldn't want to live there---but you'd love to go there."
I don't have the quote in front of me. But if you listen to the commentary on Aliens (1986) Lance Henrikson (who is an intense method actor) said that in preparation for his role as Bishop the android, he studied Blade Runner because it is the quintessential robot movie. And he goes on to exlain how authentic the performances are.
Funny story, I think Lance is a great actor who never got his just due. And after years of hearing about BR, I watched it just based on his quote. I love it and it's in my top 10. Most atmospheric movie ever (next to Alien, of course).
Come with me if you want to live.
Video Game Designers on Movies That Inspired Them:
Saku Lehtinen (Director Alan Wake): 3. Blade Runner: It’s a good film on all accounts, but its design and art direction is so tremendously great that I still watch this about once a year. This film made me want to design worlds and environments and, of course, see humanity in a different light.
http://filminfocus.com/article/video_game_designers_on_movies_that_ins pired_them__saku_lehtin
Roger Ebert: People often ask me, "Do you ever change your mind about a movie?" Hardly ever, although I may refine my opinion. Among the films here, I've changed on "The Godfather: Part II" and "Blade Runner." My original review of "Part II" puts me in mind of the "brain cloud" that besets Tom Hanks in "Joe vs. the Volcano." I was simply wrong. In the case of "Blade Runner," I think the director's cut by Ridley Scott plays much better.
http://blogs.suntimes.com/ebert/2010/09/start_out_with_the_first_one.h tml
Alex
Katherine Fugate (writer/producer): "I tend to cleave unto emotional work - scenes that transport you to a new way of thinking, of consideration. That rooftop rainy scene in Blade Runner when Rutger Hauer realized "life, any life" was more important than death. I am hell-bent on getting answers for my soul this time around, so I always gravitate towards those themes."
http://whoosh.org/issue58/ifugate1.html
Alex
Yeah, I read you're doing something with Shekar Kapur.
Danny Boyle: Yeah, Shekar Kapur who did the two Elizabeth films. He's developing a script called Paani, which means "water", and it's about the importance of water in the future and it's set in a futuristic world, which is partly Mumbai, partly Blade Runner kind of thing. He's developing that at the moment and if all goes well I'll help him [from a producer's capacity] helping to set the film up.
Alex
You had announced the film quite a few years ago, but it kept getting delayed. Why have you taken so long to get down to making Paani ?
Shekar Kapur: It could be to do with the fact that I’m ridiculously ambitious about this film. First, I didn’t want the film to be studio-backed because I wanted complete control over the project. Plus, I need the best technicians in the world to collaborate with me. In Paani, I will be projecting a Mumbai of the future — it will need work on design, visuals, and many other things to make it a believable yet captivating world — something like Blade Runner.
Alex
(new scenes in Avatar extended edition)
It’s a bleak world you’ve created, with a strong flavour of Blade Runner about it.
Jon Landau (producer Avatar): "You see advertising in the sky, but you don’t see flying cars. We wanted to ground it.
That’s interesting, but I think anytime anyone does something with the future, they see Blade Runner. We didn’t have flying cars. We have a scene in a bar – and a bar looks like a bar – but we did say, “Where’s the advertising going to be in the future?” So we advertised in the sky – a little bit like the Bat symbol. We also said, “What’s transportation going to be like?” You don’t see flying cars [in the film], you see mag-trains, because we thought that’s a possible future. We wanted to ground it."
http://www.empireonline.com/interviews/interview.asp?IID=1120
Alex
Ben Affleck: "With 'Superman,' I think they’re going to do a great version. Chris Nolan is brilliant and they’ve got a great director for it. I’ve love to do something like 'Blade Runner,' but a lesson I’ve learned is to not look at movies based on budget, how much they’ll spend on effects, or where they will shoot. Story is what’s important. Also, there are a lot of guys ahead of me on the list to do epic effects movies."
http://splashpage.mtv.com/2010/11/29/ben-affleck-superman/
Alex
Blade Runner by dance choreographer Erik Kaiel:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnaIgZ6gGWo
Alex
I know Satoshi Kon, for the audio commentary to 'Paprika', commented on a certain scene to be a reference to Blade Runner.
The sad fact is, I don't remember what he was saying about it, or which scene it was in.
Your movie sucks.share