Movies - Blade Runner

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	Movies - Blade Runner

Blade Runner is a 1982 science fiction film directed by Ridley Scott, which depicts a dystopian Los Angeles in November 2019.

The screenplay, which was written by Hampton Fancher and David Peoples, is loosely based on the novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick. The film features Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, Sean Young, Edward James Olmos, M Emmet Walsh, Daryl Hannah, William Sanderson, Brion James, Joe Turkel and Joanna Cassidy. The lead art designer was Syd Mead, and the soundtrack composer was Vangelis.

The film describes a future in which genetically manufactured beings called replicants are used for dangerous and degrading work in Earth's "off-world colonies." Built by the Tyrell Corporation to be 'more human than human', the Nexus-6 generation appear to be physically identical to humans — although they have superior strength and agility — while lacking comparable emotional responses and empathy. Replicants became illegal on Earth after a bloody mutiny. Specialist police units — blade runners — hunt down and "retire" (i.e. kill) escaped replicants on Earth. The film primarily focuses on a particularly brutal and cunning group of replicants hiding in Los Angeles and a semiretired blade runner, named Deckard, who reluctantly agrees to take on one more assignment.

Blade Runner initially received polarized reviews from film critics; some were confused and disappointed that it didn't have the pacing expected from an action film, while others appreciated its thematic complexity. The film performed poorly in North American theaters while achieving success overseas. Despite poor early ticket sales, it was adored by fans and academia and quickly attained cult classic status. It gained such great popularity as a video rental, partly due to the film's ability to reward repeated viewing, that it was chosen to be one of the first DVDs to be released. Blade Runner has been widely hailed as a modern classic for its immersive special effects and prefiguring important themes and concerns of the 21st century. It has been praised as being one of the most influential films of all time because of its detailed and original setting, serving as a postmodern visual benchmark with its realistic depiction of a decayed future. Blade Runner brought author Philip K. Dick to the attention of Hollywood, and numerous films have since been based on his literature.

Production

The screenplay by Hampton Fancher, which was initially titled Android, and then Dangerous Days, attracted producer Michael Deeley, who eventually convinced director Ridley Scott to create his first American film. Scott had previously passed on the project, but soon after, he bailed out of the slow production of Dune
and wanted a faster project to take his mind off his brother's recent death. With Ridley onboard on February 21, 1980, the movie studios began lining up to finance the film. On April 9th, Filmways Pictures promised $13 million; but after a request by Scott it was bumped up to $15 million.

When Scott noted Deckard's line of work needed a new name, Fancher happened upon a copy of Bladerunner, A Movie, which was a cinema treatment by William S. Burroughs for Alan E. Nourse's novel The Bladerunner (1974). Scott liked it and Deeley obtained the rights to the titles, but Scott soon considered Blade Runner a working title for the film and wanted to find something more "commercial". (Note: Some editions of Nourse's novel use the two-word spacing Blade Runner.)

Scott became unhappy with the direction of the script and had David Peoples rewrite it. This infuriated Fancher who quit on December 20, 1980 (he came back near the end to do some rewrites) because he believed a hack was hired to give Scott what he wanted. But after reading the Peoples script he was surprised how well Scott's ideas were incorporated into the script, and in the end Fancher and Peoples became good friends.

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Movies - Blade Runner

Production

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