Blade Runner

Blade Runner (also known as The Relentless Hunter in some Latin American countries) is an American film neo-noir and science fiction directed by Ridley Scott, released in 1982. It was written by Hampton Fancher and David Webb Peoples, and the cast includes Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, Sean Young, Edward James Olmos, M. Emmet Walsh, Daryl Hannah, William Sanderson, Brion James, Joe Turkel, and Joanna Cassidy. It is based in part on the Philip K. Dick novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (1968). It is the first film in the Blade Runner franchise.

The action takes place in a dystopian version of the city of Los Angeles, USA, during the month of November 2019. It describes a future in which, through bioengineering, artificial humans called replicants are manufactured, which are they are employed in dangerous jobs and as slaves in the "outside world colonies" of Earth. Manufactured by the Tyrell Corporation to be "more human than humans"—especially the Nexus-6 model—they are physically indistinguishable from a human, though they have greater agility and physical strength, and theoretically lack the same emotional and empathic response. The replicants were outlawed on Earth after a bloody riot occurred on an outer colony. A special force of the police, the blade runners, is in charge of identifying, tracking and killing - or "removing", in police terms - fugitive replicants found on Earth. With a group of replicants loose in Los Angeles, Rick Deckard, an "old" blade runner, is called out of semi-retirement to eliminate them.

Initially Blade Runner received mixed reviews from the specialized press. Some were confused and disappointed that it did not have the narrative pace expected of an action movie, while others appreciated its setting and thematic complexity. The film did not do well at the box office in North American theaters, but was later revalued in the home video market to become a cult film, being considered one of the best science fiction films and a forerunner of the cyberpunk genre. It was nominated for two Oscars (Best Art Direction and Best Visual Effects), won three BAFTA Awards out of eight nominations, and the Vangelis-composed score was nominated for a Golden Globe.

Blade Runner has been hailed as one of the most influential films of all time, both for its detailed and original setting, considered a postmodern visual milestone with its realistic depiction of a decaying future, as for taking the lead in raising fundamental issues and concerns for the XXI century. Its soundtrack, its special effects, and its photography have been equally acclaimed. Blade Runner also helped put Philip K. Dick in the Hollywood crosshairs and since then many films have been inspired by his literary work. In 1993 it was selected for preservation in the United States Library of Congress's National Film Registry for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant." In 2017 its sequel was released with the title Blade Runner 2049.

Seven versions of Blade Runner exist as a result of controversial changes made at the request of several of the co-executive producers. A director's cut was released in 1992 after a great reception to the screening of a Workprint. This, along with its success as a rental tape in video stores, made it one of the first films to be released on DVD in 1997. In 2007, Warner Bros. released the Final Cut, a 25th anniversary digitally remastered version, and the only cut over which Scott had complete artistic control.

Plot

Union Station de Los Angeles, location for the police station.

Ennis House, location for the exteriors of Deckard's apartment and inspiration for its interiors.

Bradbury Building, which served as a location for outdoors and hall Sebastian's apartment.

In Los Angeles, in November 2019, an overconfident blade runner—Dave Holden (Morgan Paull)—is shot while performing the Voight-Kampff test on Leon Kowalski. (Brion James), a fugitive replicant on Earth.

A former blade runner, Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford), is at Howie Lee, the Master of Sushi's (Bob Okazaki)'s "The White Dragon Noodle Bar", when he is tracked down by Gaff (Edward James Olmos). This tells him that Captain Harry Bryant (M. Emmet Walsh), his former boss, wants to see him. Hesitantly, he meets with Bryant, who informs him that the recent Nexus-6 replicant leak is the worst yet. Bryant describes the replicants to Deckard: Roy Batty (Rutger Hauer) is a soldier and the leader of the group, Leon is a soldier and laborer, Zhora Salome (Joanna Cassidy) was trained for a patrol to apprehend criminals in the outside world, and Pris Stratton (Daryl Hannah) is a "basic pleasure model." Bryant also explains that the Nexus-6 model has a limited life of four years as a safeguard against its unstable emotional development.

Deckard is then accompanied by Gaff to the Tyrell Corporation to verify that the Voight-Kampff test works with Nexus-6 models. There, Deckard discovers that Rachael (Sean Young), the young secretary of Dr. Eldon Tyrell (Joe Turkel), is an experimental replicant, with implanted memories of Tyrell's niece that allow her to have an emotional basis, despite the fact that she thinks she's human.

Deckard and Gaff break into Leon's room at the Yukon Hotel while he and Roy force Hannibal Chew (James Hong), a genetic eye designer, to send them to J.F. Sebastian (William Sanderson), as he can allow them to reach Tyrell. Later, Rachael visits Deckard at her apartment to prove to him that she is human, but he runs away in tears upon learning that her memories are not real. Pris meets Sebastian and takes advantage of his kindness to gain entry to his apartment.

After analyzing a photograph found in Leon's bedroom with the Esper machine, clues lead Deckard to the animoid flea market, where he is summoned by a Cambodian woman (Kimiko Hiroshige) to the snake maker Abdul Ben Hassan (Ben Astar). He informs her that he sold the artificial animal to Taffey Lewis' (Hy Pyke) nightclub The Snake Pit. There, the tattooed Zhora performs her show with a snake. After assaulting Deckard, Zhora desperately tries to run from him through the crowded streets, but Deckard manages to catch up with her and "removes" her from her. After the shooting, Gaff and Bryant show up and inform Deckard that Rachael needs to be "retired" as well. Conveniently, the blade runner watches Rachael in the distance but, as he follows her, Leon suddenly disarms him, and he takes a beating. Rachael shoots Leon with Deckard's own blaster, saving his life. They then head to Deckard's apartment and during an intimate conversation, she tries to leave abruptly, but Deckard stops her by making her kiss her.

Meanwhile, Roy arrives at Sebastian's apartment and charms Pris into helping him meet with Tyrell. Already in Tyrell's room, Roy demands that he prolong his life, but he tells him that it is impossible to do so. Roy admits that he has done "questionable things", but Tyrell praises his advanced design and his accomplishments in his short life. He then kills Tyrell and Sebastian.

Deckard is sent to Sebastian's apartment after the murders. There, Pris ambushes him, although Deckard manages to shoot him after a struggle. Roy returns, trapping Deckard in the apartment, and begins chasing him through the Bradbury Building until he reaches the roof. Deckard tries to escape by jumping onto another building, hanging from a beam. Roy crosses easily and stares at Deckard. As he falls off the beam, Roy grabs him by the wrist, saving his life. Roy is deteriorating very quickly (his four years of his life are running out), he sits down and eloquently recounts the great moments of his life concluding: "All those moments will be lost in time like tears in rain. It's time to die". Roy dies letting go of a pigeon he is holding in his hands, while Deckard watches him in silence. Gaff arrives soon after, and storming off, yells at Deckard, "Too bad she can't live, but who lives?"

Deckard returns to his apartment and cautiously enters when he notices that the door is ajar. There he finds Rachael, alive. As they leave, Deckard notices an origami unicorn that Gaff has left on the ground (a sign, if nothing else, that he's allowed them to escape). Finally, the couple heads into an uncertain future.

Cast

Blade Runner featured a significant number of actors who, at the time, were virtually unknown. Young, James, Hong, Turkel and Sanderson would voice their respective characters in the video game Blade Runner (1997), and Ford, Young and Olmos would return to interpret them in the sequel to the film, Blade Runner 2049 (2017).

• Harrison Ford, like Rick Deckard, a blade runner special in the Los Angeles Police Department used to hunt and "retir" replicators. Just arrived from the success of Star Wars and after rolling Raiders of the Lost ArkFord was looking for a dramatic role. After Steven Spielberg praised Ford, Deeley and Scott got it for the movie. Hampton Fancher had Robert Mitchum in mind for the paper when he produced the script, and was originally to be incarnated by Dustin Hoffman, who eventually turned away from the project for creative differences. Other actors who swept away for the role were Gene Hackman, Sean Connery, Jack Nicholson, Paul Newman, Clint Eastwood, Tommy Lee Jones, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Al Pacino, and Burt Reynolds.

• Rutger Hauer, like Roy Batty, the violent but reflective leader of fugitive replicators. After being suggested by producer Katherine Haber, Scott chose Hauer without having met him, based solely on his performances in the Paul Verhoeven films he had seen. Philip K. Dick considered the portrait of Hauer de Batty as “the perfect Batty: cold, ario, impeccable”. Hauer, asked in a live chat in 2001 about his favorite movie he had made, replied that “Blade Runner [...] does not need explanation. Just [it]. All the best. There's nothing like it. Be part of a true masterpiece that changed the thought of the world. It's amazing." Hauer rewrited his character's "Water in the Rain" speech and presented Scott's words on the set before the filming.

• Sean Young, like Rachael, secretary of Eldon Tyrell and replicator of the Nexus-7 model used as an experiment, since he has implanted the memories of Tyrell's niece, which cause him to think he's human. Nina Axelrod also audited for paper. Initially, Fancher wrote the paper thinking of Barbara Hershey.

• Edward James Olmos, like Gaff, a LAPD officer accompanying Deckard throughout his mission. Olmos used his ethnic background to help create the “interlingue” (Cityspeak in the original version), a Creole language mix of languages such as Spanish, French, German, Hungarian, Chinese, Japanese and Korean that his character uses during the film. Gaff never shows himself participating in Deckard's research, preferring to stay in a background by developing origamis.

• Daryl Hannah, like Pris Stratton, a replicator used as a "basic model of pleasure" and equipped with superhuman resistance and affinity for gymnastics. The paper was initially offered to singer Debbie Harry, but her record label forced her to reject it. Stacey Nelkin also audited for the role, although later she was assigned the character of the replicant Mary, which would eventually be discarded for the film.

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  Harrison Ford, like Rick Deckard.

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  Rutger Hauer, like Roy Batty.

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  Sean Young, like Rachael.

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  Edward James Olmos, like Gaff.

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  Daryl Hannah, like Pris Stratton.

Support actors:

• M. Emmet Walsh, like Captain Harry Bryant, a veteran drinking policeman, sordid and dishonest typical in black cinema. The role served him to increase his already vast reputation as a dramatic actor.

• William Sanderson, like J.F. Sebastian, tacit and solitary genius, compassionate but realistic representation of humanity. J.F. sympathizes with the replicators, with whom he shares a shorter life due to his rapid aging. Joe Pantoliano was considered for the role.

• Brion James, like Leon Kowalski, a combatant and laborer with great for the photographs of his friends. Although at first glance it seems like a replicator used by his strength, Leon is credited with some intuitive intelligence, which allows him almost to kill Holden, torture Chew and attack Deckard by surprise.

• Joe Turkel, like Dr. Eldon Tyrell, founder corporate magnate of Tyrell Corporation of penetrating and confident voice, which leads the scientific advance and development of the replicators, creating a gradual recreation of slavery.

• Joanna Cassidy, like Zhora Salome, a replicator used in a patrol for the arrest of criminals in the outside world and who works as an exotic dancer at Taffey Lewis' bar, described as a woman of great strength who has seen what the worst humanity can offer, and whose death deeply impacts Deckard.

• James Hong, like Hannibal Chew, a geneticist old man who loves his work, especially the synthesization of eyes.

• Morgan Paull, like Dave Holden, blade runner that performs the Voight-Kampff test to Leon and warns Deckard of fugitive replicators while being hospitalized in two suppressed scenes. Paull was chosen for the role after he participated in replacing Ford in the auditions to choose the actress who would incarnate Rachael.

Other minor cast members include Bob Okazaki as Howie Lee (The Sushi Master), Kevin Thompson as Bear, John Edward Allen as Kaiser, Hy Pyke as Taffey Lewis, Kimiko Hiroshige as the Cambodian lady, Carolyn DeMirjian as saleswoman, or Ben Astar as Abdul Ben Hassan.

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  M. Emmet Walsh, like Captain Harry Bryant.

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  William Sanderson, like J.F. Sebastian.

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  Joanna Cassidy, like Zhora Salome.

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  James Hong, like Hannibal Chew.

Spanish dubbing

Character	Original Actor United States	Fold actor Spain	Fold actor Hispanoamérica (original mist)	Fold actor Hispanoamérica (redoblaje)
Rick Deckard	Harrison Ford	Jesus Ferrer	Jesse Conde	José Lavat
Roy Batty	Rutger Hauer	Constantine Romero	José Luis Castañeda	Salvador Delgado
Eldon Tyrell	Joe Turkel	Luis Posada Mendoza	Esteban Siller	Martin Soto
Rachael	Sean Young	Rosa Guiñón	Maru Guerrero	Laura Ayala
Gaff	Edward James Olmos	Miguel Angel Valdivieso	Victor Mares	Humberto Vélez
Pris Stratton	Daryl Hannah	Carmen Elías	Angela Villanueva	Rommy Mendoza
Harry Bryant	M. Emmet Walsh	José María Alarcón	Sergio Barrios	Guillermo Coria
J.F. Sebastian	William Sanderson	Alberto Trifol	Eladio González Garza	Mario Castañeda
Leon Kowalski	Brion James	Antonio Gómez de Vicente	Miguel Angel Sanroman	Alejandro Illescas
Zhora Salome	Joanna Cassidy	María Dolores Gispert	Azucena Rodríguez	Rebeca Gómez
Hannibal Chew	James Hong			Jorge Roig
Dave Holden	Morgan Paull			Alfonso Ramírez
Howie Lee, sushi salesman	Bob Okazaki			Cesar Arias
Abdul Ben Hassan	Ben Astar			Abel Rocha
Taffey Lewis	Hy Pyke			Dan Osorio

Production

Preproduction

Interest in adapting the novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick appeared shortly after its publication in 1968. As early as 1969, director Martin Scorsese and screenwriter Jay Cocks were attracted to the book, but were never signed on for the project. Producer Herb Jaffe tried in 1974, but Dick became disenchanted with the draft written by Herb's son Robert. The writer commented on it that "Jaffe's script was terribly done... Robert flew to Santa Ana to talk to me about the project. And the first thing I said to him when he got off the plane was: "Do I hit you here at the airport or do I hit you in my apartment?"

Based on the novel, Hampton Fancher wrote a draft of the script around 1977 under the initial financial auspices of his friend Brian Kelly. He contacted producer Michael Deeley, who became interested in the idea of a romance between Deckard and Rachael, an android he doesn't know she is. Deeley in turn, after trying it unsuccessfully with Robert Mulligan, convinced the director Ridley Scott to join and thus create his first film in the US. Scott had previously turned down the offer, but after leaving the slow production of Dune he wanted a faster project to distract himself from the recent death of his older brother. In this way, on February 21, 1980, he officially signed on as director, thus increasing the financing promised by Filmways from 13 to 15 million dollars.

Ridley Scott asked David Peoples to rewrite Hampton Fancher's script.

Prior to Scott joining, the film's working title in Fancher's second draft was Android, later renamed Mechanism and later changed to Dangerous Days in one of Fancher's last drafts. The final title comes from the novel The Bladerunner by Alan E. Nourse, whose protagonist smuggles surgical instruments on the black market, and from Blade Runner (a movie), a treatise for the earlier novel written by William S. Burroughs. Fancher took it from Burroughs's novel and Scott liked it, so Deeley obtained the rights to use it as the name of the police unit and the name of the film. The first time Blade Runner was used as a title was in the draft dated July 24, 1980. Harrison Ford agreed to star in the film with the main condition being that he replace the voice-over with scenes showing the Deckard's research, so he worked for two weeks with the rest of the team developing them. Fancher's drafts focused more on environmental issues and less on those related to humanity and religion, which are prominent in the Dick's novel, in addition to placing the action is primarily in rooms and not outdoors. Scott and Deeley were dissatisfied with Fancher's consistent refusal to make substantial changes to the story, so on December 21, 1980, they removed him from the project after asking David Peoples to that he rewrote the script, although he would later return at the end of production for some additional input.

After spending more than $2.5 million in pre-production, shortly before shooting was set to start, the financial backing of Filmways was withdrawn. Within ten days, Deeley had to raise $21.5 million dollars through a three-way deal between The Ladd Company (through Warner Bros.), Hong Kong-based producer Run Run Shaw, and Bud Yorkin and Jerry Perenchio's Tandem Productions. Both Yorkin and Perenchio signed a contract in the one that stipulated that, in case the planned budget was exceeded, they would contribute the necessary money in exchange for greater creative control. Both saw Blade Runner as an action blockbuster.

Shooting

Ridleyville Plane, the exterior decorations of Warner Bros studios. in Burbank (California) that welcomed the shooting Blade Runner.

Filming began on March 9, 1981 and lasted about 4 months. Photography would be the responsibility of Jordan Cronenweth. During this phase of production, there were numerous difficulties on set due to high humidity conditions and heavy smoke, as well as Scott's expectations of US personnel (considering Scott had only worked with British). At one point during the shoot, part of the film crew created T-shirts bearing the inscription "'Yes Guv'nor', My Ass!" (in Spanish, "& # 34; Yes, boss & # 34;, My ass!") to make fun of some statements by the director to the press in which he made an unfavorable comparison between the American and British teams; Scott responded with a T-shirt with the inscription "Xenophobia Sucks" (in Spanish, "Xenophobia sucks"), the incident becoming known as the "war of the t-shirts". Along with the above, his style as an actor's director created friction. with the cast and contributed to Harrison Ford's subsequent muteness about the film. There was also a tense relationship between the film crew and investors, with an atmosphere of mounting pressure as budget was exceeded that would culminate in Deeley's dismissal and Scott, who despite this were later rehired to finish the film.

The Warner Bros. studios in Burbank (California) served as the location for most of the interiors and some exteriors, such as the scene of "Tears in the rain" or several sequences located in the streets and the animoid flea market of the hypothetical Los Angeles in 2019. The latter were filmed on sets located on New York Street of said studios and which received the nickname "Ridleyville" during filming. The exteriors and the hall of the Sebastian's apartment were located in the Bradbury Building in Los Angeles. Other locations in the city include the Irvine-Byrne Building —later known as Pan American Lofts— for the interior of the Yukon Hotel, Union Station as a police station, the 2nd Street Tunnel, and Ennis House, where the exterior of Deckard's house and which served as inspiration for recreating the interiors of the house. A US Growers Cold Storage freezer, located specifically in a meatpacking plant in Downey, was used as the location for Chew's laboratory. Scott also filmed some additional shots of Leon's bathroom in London, with Vic Armstrong as Ford's double. The unicorn sequence was shot the first week of January 1982 at Black Park, Buckinghamshire, a nearby park. to Shepperton Studios, studios where the post-production was recorded.

The final scene in the first-run versions of Blade Runner shows Rachael and Deckard riding a Spinner in broad daylight through a wooded area, a sequence shot in late March 1982 at Big Bear Lake (California). After the helicopter footage taken to accompany that scene was discarded due to excessive fog and snow, among other reasons, aerial shots of mountains shot in Glacier National Park, Montana, were added to the film to The Shining by Stanley Kubrick. Ridley Scott contacted Kubrick about using some of his surplus helicopter aerial footage, and he agreed in exchange for not using footage that had appeared in The Shining.

Design

Syd Mead received the "visual music" credit from the film, and his conceptual art was the starting point for his aesthetic design.

One of the Spinners, flying cars from the film designed by Mead, at Disney-MGM Studios before being dismantled in 1999.

Blade Runner had as one of its references Metropolis (1927) by Fritz Lang, considered one of the masterpieces of German expressionist cinema and whose buildings had been based on art deco and on the designs of architects such as Bruno Taut or Antonio Sant'Elia. Ridley Scott also credits the painting Nighthawks (1942) by Edward Hopper and the short comic The Long Tomorrow (1975), written by Dan O'Bannon and drawn by Moebius (alias of Jean Giraud), as stylistic sources for the setting. Scott hired Syd Mead as a concept artist and both were heavily influenced by the comics in the French science fiction magazine Métal Hurlant (called Heavy Metal in the US), to which Moebius contributed. Moebius was offered to work in the pre-production of Blade Runner, which he declined in order to do with René Laloux the animated feature Les Maîtres du temps, a decision he would later regret. Although Mead was initially only going to design part of the props and vehicles, it was customary for him to place his drawings in an architectural setting, so he later became very important in the film. aesthetics of the world of Blade Runner, making some matte paintings and the designs of a large part of the buildings, rooms, signs, neon lights, parking meters, the Voight-Kampff machine, etc. Cars he devised include Spinners, Deckard's sedan, police sedan, Metrokab taxis, J.F. Sebastian or the "Everyman Car" coupes.Being unsyndicated, he could not be credited under any of the usual titles, so he was officially assigned the role of "visual futurist."

"We were totally unconscious of what could be assumed [...] we were merely configuring an aesthetic in line with history. We mix many styles — classic, modern, art decoet cetera—and the final result, fortunately, was very interesting. Blade Runner is, truly, a unique, irrepetible film [...] I learned that to be a creator you must forget the rules and proceed with naivety. My idea was also reaffirmed that fantasy is for the mind what air for the body."
"Syd Mead, stop The Vanguard (1990)

Lawrence G. Paull (production designer), David Snyder (art director) and Linda DeScenna (set decorator), among others, headed up the art department and brought Scott and Mead's sketches to life. In addition to the aforementioned references, the density of elements and textures in the sets was inspired by film noir, cities such as Tokyo, Hong Kong, New York and Milan, or architects such as Frank Lloyd Wright and Antoni Gaudí. The interior of the apartment of Deckard was designed to look like a cave and featured molded tiles from Frank Lloyd Wright's Mayan-inspired Ennis House. Taffey Lewis' "The Snake Pit" nightclub was built in the same studio. than Sebastian's apartment, with decor inspired by the art deco of the Wiltern Theatre. The interior of Tyrell's office was based on Egyptian architecture, while the mogul's bedroom was ornate to it "looks like the pope's bedroom, very elaborate, very eclectic decor", in Paull's words. Jim Burns worked briefly on the design of the Spinner vehicles, Stephen Dane was the assistant art director and designed the tankers and the buses, and Gene Winfield was commissioned with his team to build the 25 vehicles that were made specifically for the film.

Lawrence G. Paull, David Snyder and Linda DeScenna received an Academy Award nomination for Best Art Direction, and Paull won the BAFTA for Best Production Design. In addition, Paull, Douglas Trumbull and Syd Mead, were awarded the London Film Critics Circle's Special Achievement Award for their visual concepts. The film's aesthetics and production design are considered among the most influential in film history.

Special effects

The special effects of Blade Runner have repeatedly been ranked among the best of all time, for making full use of the technology available at the time —non-digital— and for integrating and consonance with the other elements. Douglas Trumbull, Richard Yuricich and David Dryer were the supervisors of all the visual effects present in the film. In addition to matte paintings drawn by Matthew Yuricich, Rocco Gioffre, and Michele Moen, and numerous scale models, the techniques employed included multi-stage exposures. For some scenes the set was lit, filmed, rewound, and then reshot with different lighting. In several cases this was done 17 times in total. The cameras often used the then-new system of motion control photography to be able to reproduce multiple movements identically.

The "Hades" landscape model designed by Tom Cranham used photo-grabbed brass with silhouettes of the Torrance refineries and El Segundo (in the picture) created by Mark Stetson's team.

Many effects used techniques and miniatures that had been developed during the production of Close Encounters of the Third Kind, which Trumbull himself was involved with. An original model of the Millennium Falcon from Star Wars was also used to recreate one of the buildings near the police station. Tom Cranham would design the Tyrell Corporation pyramids under the guidance of Trumbull and Scott, also drawing inspiration from Mayan and Egyptian architecture, as well as in the Mesopotamian ziggurats. Only the scale model of one of the pyramids was made, being later duplicated with photographic techniques. He also designed the petrochemical complex that surrounds the city of Los Angeles, dubbed "Hades" by the special effects team, of which a model of four meters long by six meters wide would be made. To recreate the sensation of depth in the same, photo-etched brass was used with silhouettes of the Torrance and El Segundo refineries drawn up by Mark Stetson's team. Douglas Trumbull, Richard Yuricich and David Dryer were nominated for both the Academy Award and the BAFTA for Best Visual Effects.

"The external landscapes created by the effects technicians are, through the use that [Ridley] Scott makes of them, transformed into the ruined and depressed inner landscapes of the characters' minds. This approach turns Scott's seemingly visual vacuum into a sophisticated medium to convey character without relying on dialogue or voice in off. In other words, it is no longer a mere technique but a part of a style that elevates the whole, using cinematographic techniques instead of conventional literary or dramatic."
—Steve Biodrowski, editor of Cinefantastique Onlineon special effects Blade Runner

Music

The Greek composer Vangelis was in charge of the soundtrack of the film.

The soundtrack that the Greek composer Vangelis made for the film has been described as a melodic and dark combination that uses both classical elements and futuristic synthesizers, making use of genres such as electronic music, ambient or new age to build the retrofuture noir soundscape Scott envisioned in 2019 Los Angeles. Vangelis, who would go on to win an Oscar for Chariots of Fire During the recording, he composed and performed the music almost entirely on synthesizers, the most widely used being his Yamaha CS-80, one of the first polyphonic synthesizers. With an Emulator he used the then-new sampling, capturing the sound of acoustic instruments, such as percussion or harps, so that he could manipulate them from a keyboard during improvisations that he performed while viewing the scenes. He also used room effects, he added on "Love Theme". jazz musician Dick Morrissey's tenor saxophone, and featured the voices of Mary Hopkin, Don Percival and Demis Roussos, as well as those of the English Chamber Choir. Musician Peter Skellern contributed lyrics for the song "One More Kiss, Dear". The film also uses "Memories of Green", already featured on Vangelis' album See You Later. Featuring the Greek composer's compositions and ambient textures, the film's music includes the Japanese theme "Ogi No Mato" by Ensemble Nipponia, from the Nonesuch Records release Traditional Vocal and Instrumental Music, as well as "Pompeii 76 A.D.", taken from the album Harps of the Ancient Temples by Gail Laughton. The recordings would take place between December 1981 and April 1982 at Nemo Studios in London.

Despite the good reception from the public and critics —it would be nominated in 1983 for the BAFTA award and the Golden Globe for best soundtrack— and the promise of an album by Polydor Records at the end of the credits, the release of the original recording was delayed for over a decade. According to producer Katherine Haber, one of the reasons was the disagreements between Vangelis and Scott. A first official release was published in 1982, although it was not the actual music from the film but an orchestral adaptation performed by the New American Orchestra. Some original themes from the film would appear for the first time in 1989 on the Themes compilation, but that did not prevent the appearance of a significant number of bootlegs for years. bootleg tapes would surface by 1982 at science fiction conventions and become popular due to the delay of the official release. In 1993, Off World Music created a bootleg CD that would end up being longer than the official Vangelis soundtrack album, which would finally come out in June 1994, 12 years after the film's premiere. In 1995, a Gongo Music bootleg presented material very similar to Off World Music. /i> appeared later: the Esper Edition (2002), and Los Angeles, November 2019 (2003). In 2007 the band's second official release took place original soundtrack, a three-CD compilation of music by Vangelis under the name Blade Runner Trilogy. 25th Anniversary. The first disc contains the 1994 soundtrack, the second features previously unreleased tracks from the film, and the third disc is later music composed by Vangelis and inspired by the film.

Themes

It has been mentioned that the film employs atmospheric and thematic elements of black cinema, as The Maltese Falcon or The Big Sleep (in the image).

Despite initially being seen as an action movie, Blade Runner is often referred to as operating on an unusually large number of dramatic levels. Considered one of the foundational works of the cyberpunk genre at the cinematographic level, as such it owes a lot to film noir, since it contains and explores conventions such as the femme fatale, the first-person narration a la Raymond Chandler (narration present only in the versions of 1982), the hero's questionable moral perspective—extended here to include the nature of his own humanity—or the dense, chiaroscuro photography.

Numerous authors have mentioned that the film covers issues such as the implications for ethics and philosophy of mind of the domain of genetic engineering, within the context of classical Greek drama and its notions of hubris. In this sense, it has been linked to the myth of Prometheus and Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. Roy Batty's character quotes an apocalyptic phrase from America, a Prophecy (1793) by William Blake, and the fact that the last three moves of the chess game between Sebastian and Tyrell are the same as those of the famous Immortal Game, it has been suggested that it symbolizes the fight against God for immortality. comparing Roy Batty's role to Nietzsche's "Superman". Director Ridley Scott stated that he liked "the idea of exploring grief" in the aftermath of his brother's death: "When he was sick, I used to go visit him to London, and that was really traumatic for me." The film It is also introduced into metaphysics, the character of Pris mentioning the phrase "I think therefore I am" by Descartes, or making a recurrent use of the eyes and the manipulation of images, identified as calls for attention to reality and the ability to perceive it and remember her.

Eye references are recurrent, such as the planes of a human eye at the beginning, or the brightness of the pupils of the replicators.

Similarly, it has been commented that the work penetrates the future effects of technology on the environment and society, showing a "retroadapted" 2019 where there is a latent tension between past, present and future. Several critics indicate that The image of these multiple "time layers" in an overcrowded city submerged in a perpetual night, intermittent neon lights, constant rain and high levels of pollution and dirt, moves away from the usual white, aseptic and pristine pattern with which traditionally envisioned the future to come. High-tech shines only in some spaces, especially those located high up, while those located at ground level are decadent and old. You can also perceive a sense of paranoia in the visual manifestation of the influence and control of multinationals, the omnipresent police or the lights that probe the buildings, as well as in the possible consequences of bio power on the individual, especially regarding implanted memories of replicants. Ecocide is observed through the absence of natural life, with the few remaining real animals being turned into luxury items and artificial specimens being created in their place. All this oppressive context would clarify why many people go to the colonies of the outside world, drawing a parallel with migration to the American continent by calling them the "New World". Demographic predictions of the 1980s, in which the United States.was economically surpassed by Japan, are reflected in the dominance of Japanese culture and advertising in the hypothetical city of Los Angeles in 2019. In addition, there is an abundant Chinese, Southeast Asian or Hispanic presence, as well as a fictional creole language, the “interlingua” (Cityspeak in the original version).

Shibuya Cross, Tokyo, classic city image with Japanese advertising reflected in Los Angeles from the film.

It is often noted that all of this provides an atmosphere of uncertainty and mystery for what is widely considered a central thematic element of Blade Runner: examining the human condition. an empathy test (Voight-Kampff test), which has questions focused on the treatment of animals. This would work as an essential indicator of someone's "humanity". However, it has been pointed out that in the film the replicants are paradoxically shown with compassion and concern for others, and are juxtaposed against human characters who lack empathy, while the mass of people on the streets are cold and impersonal. A large number of critics and the creators themselves have pointed out that the film goes as far as to raise the possibility that Deckard is a replicant and forces the audience to reevaluate what it means to be human. In this regard, it is often mentioned that In both Blade Runner and Blade Runner 2049, the replicants would be fundamentally an allegory of humanity. According to various authors, the film reflects a postmodern vision from its aesthetics and the issues it raises, being situated as one of the pioneering films of the so-called postmodern cinema.

«The stage Blade Runner is of urban decay: abandoned buildings that were majestic in the past [interpreted by postmodern theorists as symbols of the fallen modernity], crowded and cosmopolitan streets, endless street markets, garbage without picking up and a constant grey rain [...] Undoubtedly, progress is in ruins [...] Greek and Roman columns, Chinese dragons and Egyptian pyramids are mixed with gigantic Coca-Cola and Pan Am neon ads [...] The dominant image is decay, decay and chaotic mix of styles. What makes postmodern Blade Runner? To begin with, the question is reality Same. The replicators want to be real people, but the proof of reality is a photographic image, a built identity. This is a way of seeing postmodernity: a debate about reality. The world of solid scientific data and a history for which the European Enlightenment was given us, is it merely a longing?»
—David Lyon, in his book Postmodernity (1996)

Reception

Commercial

Blade Runner opened in 1,295 theaters in the US and Canada on June 25, 1982. The 25th was chosen by producer Alan Ladd, Jr. because the premiere of his blockbusters Star Wars and Alien were on May 25, 1977 and 1979 respectively. good, at $6.15 million, it gradually declined until it fell short of expectations. A major factor contributing to the poor reception by audiences is often suggested to be the coincidence with the release of E.T., The Alien, on June 11, which was dominating the box office at the time.

Criticism

Film critics were divided between those who thought the story was supported by special effects and that it was not the action movie the studio had advertised, while others hailed its complexity. Widespread criticism fell on its slow pace, and even a film critic changed the title to Blade Crawler (crawler can be translated as "that crawls"). Roger Ebert praised the visuals of Blade Runner, but found the human story sparse. Ebert thought that Tyrell's unconvincing character and the apparent lack of security that allowed Roy to murder his creator were certain plot problems. He also believed that the relationship between Deckard and Rachael seemed to "exist more for the plot than for themselves". Other critics, however, have opined that the visual effects serve to create a dehumanized world where human elements are emphasized and that Deckard's relationship and Rachael would be instrumental in reaffirming their humanity. In a later episode of their show, Ebert and Gene Siskel admitted that they were wrong in their initial reviews, and that they themselves considered the film a modern classic.

Awards and nominations

Versions

Although in the last two versions the dream of unicorn is shown, the ambiguity about whether Deckard is a replicator or a human is present in all the assemblies, for example at the scene where Rachael asks if he has submitted to the Voight-Kampff test.

Although only five are widely known, there are as many as seven official versions of Blade Runner:

• Two versions of work: the Workprint and the San Diego Sneak Preview, shown only in pre-earnings and occasionally in film festivals; one of these versions, the Workprintback in 1990 and 1991 as a Director's Cut without Ridley Scott's approval.

• The premiere version for American cinemas (Domestic Cut1982.

• International assembly (International Cut1982 version, which was premiered in the rest of the world and contained more graphical violence than the premiere in the United States. He appeared at VHS and Laserdisc de Criterion Collection.

• The television version in the United States (US Broadcast Version) of 1986, version made by CBS editing its offensive contents.

• The approved assembly of the director (Director's Cut) of 1992, incited by the unauthorised edition of the Workprint. Coinciding with the 10th anniversary, it was designed in cinemas, and subsequently edited in VHS, Laserdisc and DVD.

• The final assembly (Final Cut) of 2007, only version under Scott's complete artistic control. Coinciding with the 25th anniversary, this restored version was made from the original negatives and with a new sound mix, being projected in cinemas and edited in DVD, HD DVD and Blu-ray.

The premiered cinema versions include a "happy ending" where leftover air images of the national Glaciers park are used for the film The glow Stanley Kubrick.

The premiere versions (1982)

In 1982 the North American (Domestic Cut) and international (International Cut) versions for cinemas were released including a "happy ending" imposed by Bud Yorkin and Jerry Perenchio of Tandem Productions (using a scene shot in late March 1982 at Big Bear Lake, California and leftover aerial footage of Glacier National Park, Montana for Stanley's film The Shining Kubrick) and the addition of Harrison Ford's voiceover, added at the request of studio executives during post-production after audience tests indicated the film was difficult to understand. Although several different versions of the script had included a voice-over, both Ridley Scott and Harrison Ford were dissatisfied and tried unsuccessfully not to use it. It has been rumored that Ford intentionally made the voiceover shoddy in the hope that it would not be used, but the actor stated that he simply did not have time to read it as the writer gave it to him just right. before recording, further stating, "I did my best not to have prior orientation. I never thought they would include it. But I didn't do it to sabotage her. It was just bad storytelling."

The Director's Cut (Director's Cut) (1992)

In 1990, Warner Bros. briefly allowed a 70mm copy of the film (the Workprint) to be played in theaters, billing it as a Director's Cut (director's cut). However, Ridley Scott publicly denied that this version of the film was the definitive Director's Cut, arguing that it was crudely edited and lacked much of Vangelis's score. In response to Scott's discontent, and in part due to the film's resurgence in popularity in the early 1990s, Warner Bros. decided to edit a Director's Cut under Scott's direction.. The authorized Director's Cut would be released in theaters in the United States on September 11, 1992, and later in the rest of the world. After being available on VHS and Laserdisc, in 1997 it was released. released on DVD, being one of the first films to be released in this format.

Guion, Polaroid and origami unicorn from the film exposed at ExpoSYFY.

To develop the Director's Cut, Warners hired film restorer Michael Arick, who was already being consulted by them, to head up the project with Scott. He first spent several months in London with Les Healey, who had been the assistant editor on Blade Runner , compiling a list of the changes Scott wanted made. Most were minor editing modifications. However, three important changes were made to the film, giving a significant twist to the final result: the removal of Deckard's voiceover, the incorporation of a dream sequence with a galloping unicorn on a forest and shot in 1982 (thus further suggesting that Deckard may be a replicant), and the removal of the "happy ending" imposed by Bud Yorkin and Jerry Perenchio of Tandem Productions, including some visual effects that originally ran over the end credits. Pressures in the form of money and time and obligation to Thelma & Louise kept Scott away from re-cutting the film, and while he was happier with this version than previous ones, he wasn't comfortable with it as the final Director's Cut.

The Final Cut (Final Cut) (2007)

Partly as a result of those complaints, Scott was invited back in mid-2000 to help make a final cut of the film with Charles de Lauzirika producing, partially completed in mid-2001. process, a new digital print was created from the original negatives, the special effects were enhanced and cleaned up, and the sound remastered in Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround. Unlike the 1992 Director's Cut, Scott personally supervised the recut.

The initial intention was for the special edition DVD to be released by Christmas 2001, and rumors suggested that it would be a three-disc set including the complete cut of the international theatrical version, the Director& #39;s Cut from 1992, and the new improved version adding deleted scenes, cast and crew interviews, and the documentary On the Edge of Blade Runner. However, Warner Bros. indefinitely delayed the release of the special edition after legal disputes began with the guarantors of the original version (particularly Jerry Perenchio), who had obtained ownership of the film when the filming budget rose from $21..5 million to 28 million.

Edition briefcase at Blu-ray Five-Disc Ultimate Collector's Edition of Blade Runner.

After several years of disputes, news broke in May 2006 that Warner Bros. was tweaking various versions of the film in order to make it for a later-year release, according to Total Film and the website The Digital Bits. There was no agreement on a release date, but it was noted that a restored version of the 1992 Director's Cut would first appear possibly between September and December 2006. Warner would eventually confirm the release of Blade Runner: The Final Cut on the occasion of the film's 25th anniversary, also launching a special edition in the form of a briefcase and another in a metal case format with five discs called Five-Disc Ultimate Collector's Edition and that would be put on sale on December 3, 2007 in Europe and December 18 in the United States. These editions included the two premiere versions, the Director's Cut, the Final Cut and the Workprint, as well as additional material such as the documentaries Dangerous Days: Making Blade Runner and All Our Variant Futures: From Workprint to Final Cut, all available on DVD, Blu-ray and HD DVD. There was also a four-disc version and a two-disc version that included only part of the extra material from the five-disc edition.

Two 30th Anniversary Collector's Edition formats were released on October 23, 2012, including the Final Cut, the premiere versions, and the Director's Cut on Blu-ray, as well as such as the Workprint, the documentary Dangerous Days: Making Blade Runner and several extras. On September 5, 2017, coinciding with the 35th anniversary and one month before the Blade Runner 2049 premiere, Final Cut released for the first time in 4K Ultra HD, also including Blu-ray version and two-disc documentary Dangerous Days: Making Blade Runner and numerous extras. A special edition was also released on September 27, adding the premiere versions and the director's cut on Blu-ray, which had already been included in previous editions.

Unofficial versions

In addition to the official versions, there are other popular cuts created by fans of the film, such as The Nexus 6 Extended Cut, Electric Unicorn Cut or The White Dragon Cut, in which above all the footage of the film is modified by generally adding takes or deleted scenes.

Legacy and influence

Sociocultural impact

Sedán de Deckard at the American Police Hall of Fame & Museum in Titusville (Florida). It is one of the two vehicles used in the film of which there is evidence of its conservation.

Blade Runner, through its setting and subject matter, is considered to mark the introduction of the cyberpunk genre into popular culture. Although initially shunned by North American audiences, it saw growing its popularity progressively, especially with the appearance of VHS and Laserdisc. By 1989, Blade Runner was already the best-selling Criterion Collection Laserdisc, and the release of the director's cut in 1992 helped increase its cult status and, subsequently, the fact that was seen as one of the most influential films of its century. A large number of authors note that Blade Runner continues to reflect current social trends and concerns. The film was selected in 1993 for preservation in the National Film Registry of the United States Library of Congress for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant", and is frequently used in university lectures.

"It changed not only the way to make cinema, which changed it radically, if not [that] changed our customs, changed the way to perceive reality [... ] Blade Runner He abolished the future and made us perceive it as a continuous present in which we are still immersed."
—Jesus Palaces, writer and film critic, about the influence of Blade Runner

«Blade Runner It's a unique, incredible movie at every level. It is a prophetic and emotional story that remains one of the most original and intelligent science fiction films made."
—Critical Blade Runner by Alex Ioshpe in Apollo Movie Guide

«One of those films that seemed predestined to immortality underground [...] as Casablanca, has transcended its formula thriller Detectives hardboiled noir of science fiction to engender a dedicated cult and occupy a special place in popular culture [...] His amazing aesthetic has no date [...] He has given the contemporary lexicon at least two new words, replicating and retrofitting, and his compelling vision of the urban future has been widely imitated."
—James Sey, associate researcher at the University of Johannesburg, about Scott’s film

Original Spinner used in the film, located at the Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame in Seattle.

It is a popular reference in numerous media: television series such as Futurama, Doctor Who, Stargate SG-1, American Dad ! or The Simpsons, has been referred to several times as Blade Runner. Actor William Sanderson, who played Sebastian, voiced a similar character in Batman: The Animated Series. In the action film The Sixth Day (2000), a virtual psychiatrist asks the protagonist to imagine two turtles crossing a desert, in reference to the scene of the Voight-Kampff test for Leon, and in Alien: Covenant (2017), David's character repeats the phrase "That's the spirit!" by Roy Batty. The enlargement of images to discover details and the term "enhance" ("increase" or "enhance"), used by Deckard in the Esper machine sequence, have been elements recurrently used in the technological or in the audiovisual world, and shots similar to the close-up of a human eye in the first scene of Blade Runner can be seen in films such as Strange Days, Soldier, Alien: Covenant or Blade Runner 2049. Several original vehicles from Blade Runner were reused in later Productions: Deckard's sedan appears in the film Trancers, and a Spinner was used in Back to the Future Part II and Solar Crisis. Additionally, a replica of the Spinner was used in Soldier, was digitally recreated for a scene in Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace, and has a brief appearance in Blade Runner 2049. A Spinner and an original police sedan Original vehicles that were located at the Disney-MGM Studios were dismantled apparently by mistake in 1999. Two vehicles used in the film are known to have been preserved: Deckard's sedan, permanently on display at the American Police Hall of Fame & Museum in Titusville, Florida, and the aluminum Spinner that had been damaged in 1992 while being transported and restored in 2004 for display at the Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame in Seattle, where it has been on display ever since., another original Spinner is thought to be in a private collection in Japan. Replicas of the Spinner and various coupes called "Everyman Car", the latter built by Gene Winfield using the original moulds, are also occasionally on display. Tesla Cybertruck is inspired by Deckard's sedan and was unveiled on November 21, 2019 in Los Angeles to coincide with the date the film takes place.

Blade Runner has significantly influenced other science fiction films, such as Ghost in the Shell or The Matrix.

The dark cyberpunk style of the film and its futuristic design have served as a pattern and inspiration for successive cinematographic works, among which we can mention The Terminator (1984), Brazil (1985), RoboCop (1987), Batman (1989), Total Recall (1990), Johnny Mnemonic (1995), Judge Dredd (1995), Seven (1995), Strange Days (1995), The Fifth Element (1997), Gattaca (1997), Dark City (1998), The Matrix (1999), Minority Report (2002), Natural City (2003), or Black Panther (2018). Likewise, it has also inspired series television shows such as Total Recall 2070 (1999), Batman Beyond (1999-2001), Dark Angel (2000-2002), Battlestar Galactica (2003-2009), Almost Human (2013-2014), Westworld (2016-present) or Altered Carbon (2018-2020). It has also had a great influence on anime, an example of which is the fi lmes Akira (1988), Ghost in the Shell (1995) or Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence (2004), and series like Bubblegum Crisis (1987-1991), Armitage III (1995), Cowboy Bebop (1998-1999), Ergo Proxy (2006-2007) or Psycho-Pass (2012-2013). Before shooting Batman Begins (2005), director Christopher Nolan made a screening of Blade Runner to part of his film crew and told them: "This is how we're going to do Batman".

Although some sources attribute Blade Runner a greater or lesser influence on the novel Neuromancer (1984) by William Gibson, the author has stated that, although he attended a happen when he was writing the book, he walked out of the screening shortly after it began after seeing his imagery reflected and thinking that people would assume he had copied the film when he published the novel. However, Gibson has noted that, like Scott, was largely inspired by the Métal hurlant comics. Later, he has stated that he was concerned about its failure at the box office, but that a few years later he began to see it as "the most influential film of my life, up to that point", stating that he thought "he had had an astonishingly wide-ranging aesthetic impact on the world".

Blade Runner has also been referenced by role-playing games in the cyberpunk genre such as Cyberpunk 2020 and Shadowrun., is considered one of the most influential films in the world of videogames. It has directly inspired titles such as Snatcher (1988), which contains numerous nods to the film, Neuromancer (1988), Flashback (1992), Syndicate (1993) and its sequels, Shadowrun (1993) and later video games in the saga, Beneath a Steel Sky (1994), System Shock (1994), The Nomad Soul (1999), Perfect Dark (2000), Deus Ex (2000), Deus Ex: Human Revolution (2011), Deus Ex: Mankind Divided (2016), Observer (2017) or Cyberpunk 2077 (2020). The musical theme of the final credits and the aesthetics of the film are honored at the level Scrap Brain Zone from the game Sonic the Hedgehog (1991).

Within the musical field, its dialogues —especially in the scene of «Tears in the rain»— and soundtrack, have been sampled more than those of any other film of the century XX, for example on songs by artists like Ryūichi Sakamoto, Tricky or Unkle. Many songs include more or less explicit references to Blade Runner. Examples include Blind Guardian's "Time What is Time", Covenant's "Replicant" and "Like Tears in Rain", or White Zombie's "More Human Than Human", whose lyrics mention the perspective of a replicant. The title of the film and other winks appear on the cover of the album Somewhere in Time (1986) by Iron Maiden. Video clips such as those of "Spice Up Your Life" (1997) by Spice Girls or "Freeek !» (2002) by George Michael refer to the film, and the American rock band My Chemical Romance created for their album Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys (2010) a theme set in the same place and year as the film, noting that this was "a great inspiration" for the album. Vangelis's soundtrack has been performed live by Massive Attack and The Heritage Orchestra, Danger Mouse stated that his work on Martina Topley-Bird's album The Blue God (2008) was influenced by the music of Blade Runner, and Thom Yorke's Radiohead also stated that he was inspired by her to compose the score of Suspiria (2018). Ridley Scott said that he began to realize the influence of Blade Runner after seeing her reflected in the MTV videos and after Bob Dylan contacted him interested in her.

In addition to the world of cinema, the aesthetics of Blade Runner has been one of the most influential in fashion, decoration and architecture since its premiere.

Likewise, the influence of its classic and cyberpunk aesthetics on fashion, decoration and subsequent architecture has been frequently reviewed. Numerous designers and critics have mentioned it as one of the most influential films in the world of fashion, Citing, for example, Rachael's suits, coat and hairstyle, Rick Deckard's haircut, Pris's makeup or Zhora's raincoat, as well as his inspiration in the designs of couturiers such as Jean-Paul Gaultier, John Galliano, Paco Rabanne or Alexander McQueen. The Spanish designer Antonio Miró referred to Blade Runner in an article saying that "contrary to what happens with most futuristic films, in this one the costumes it was, so to speak, classic [...] people were not dressed very differently from us. I remember that [...] at a table where several philosophers were present and where fashion was discussed, everyone agreed that fashion was something ephemeral, to which I replied that this was not accurate, because although there is an ephemeral fashion, there is another that is not", adding that he thought that the fashion created for the film was the type that lasts over time. Regarding its influence on architecture, it affected the design of nightclubs and nightclubs, and many architects began to design buildings similar to those present in the film using baroque elements and belonging to times of the past, using pipes and ducts to surround the facades, or implementing greater advertising integration in the buildings of large cities.

The logos of many real companies, especially beverages, watches, communications, transportation or electronics, such as Atari, Bell, Bulova, Citizen, Coca-Cola, Cuisinart, Budweiser, JVC, Koss, Pan Am, RCA, TDK, Toshiba, Tsingtao or TWA, are shown in different locations throughout Blade Runner. They were all leaders in their markets at the time, but the fact that many of them experienced financial setbacks afterwards after the film's release, it led to talk of the "curse of Blade Runner" in popular culture. in one of the establishments, he was more successful after the film.

Post Recognition

Blade Runner has been listed numerous times in rankings of prestigious publications or organizations, highlighting:

Publication / Organization	Country	Title	Year	Post
Time Out	United KingdomUnited Kingdom	Top 100 films (Centenario)	1995	60
AFI	United States	100 years... 100 supense movies	2001	74
Sight and Sound	United KingdomUnited Kingdom	The best movies in history - Vote of critics	2002	45
Wired	United States	The 20 best science fiction movies ever		1
Online Film Critics Society (OFCS)	United States	The 100 best science fiction movies of the last 100 years		2
The Guardian	United KingdomUnited Kingdom	The Top 10 Science Fiction Films of History	2004	1
Time	United States	The 100 best movies ever	2005	-
Visual Effects Society (VES)	United States	The 50 films with the most influential visual effects of history	2007	2
AFI	United States	100 years... 100 films (tenth anniversary edition)		97
AFI	United States	10 Top 10 - Science Fiction Films	2008	6
New Scientist	United KingdomUnited Kingdom	Favorite science fiction film of history		1
Empire	United KingdomUnited Kingdom	The 500 best movies ever		20
IGN	United States	The 25 best science fiction movies ever	2010	1
Total Film	United KingdomUnited Kingdom	The 50 best science fiction movies ever	2011	1
Sight and Sound	United KingdomUnited Kingdom	The best 250 films in history - Vote of critics	2012	69
Sight and Sound	United KingdomUnited Kingdom	The 100 best films in history - Vote of directors		67
Empire	United KingdomUnited Kingdom	The 100 best movies ever	2017	13
Paste	United States	The 100 best science fiction movies ever	2018	2
ASC	United States	The 100 films with the best photography of the 20th century	2019	2

Books

Before filming began, Paul M. Sammon was commissioned by Cinefantastique magazine to write an article on the production of Blade Runner. His detailed Observation and research helped him to publish, in 1996, the book Future Noir: The Making of Blade Runner , which has been commonly nicknamed "the Blade Runner Bible". The work describes the evolution of the production of the film, as well as the politics and difficulties on the set, also containing biographies, quotes, photographs of the shooting and preliminary sketches of the film. A second edition of Future Noir was published in 2007. To mark the release of Blade Runner 2049, an updated version, Future Noir Revised & Updated Edition: The Making of Blade Runner.

A book on creating special effects was written by Don Shay under the title Blade Runner: The Inside Story. Illustrated with numerous photographs and originally published in July 1982 as issue #9 of Cinefex magazine, it was reprinted in hardcover by Titan Books in 2003. Among the many scholarly books written about the film includes BFI Modern Classics: Blade Runner by Scott Bukatman, Blade Runner: York Film Notes by Nick Lacey, Retrofitting Blade Runner: Issues in Ridley Scott's Blade Runner by editor Judith B. Kerman, Blade Runner: Cultographies by Matt Hills, The Blade Runner Experience: The Legacy of a Science-Fiction Classic by editor Will Brooker, or Film Architecture: From Metropolis to Blade Runner by Dietrich Neumann. Two autobiographies of people who were involved in the making of Blade Runner include extensive information about the film: All Those Moments: Stories of Heroes, Villains, Replicants, and Blade Runners, written by actor Rutger Hauer and Patrick Quinlan, and Blade Runne rs, Deer Hunters, and Blowing the Bloody Doors Off: My Life in Cult Movies by producer Michael Deeley, co-written with Matthew Field.

Novels and comics

Following the film's release, and after Philip K. Dick turned down a $400,000 offer to write a novelization of Blade Runner, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? was eventually reprinted as a licensed product, with a poster from the film as the cover and the original name in parentheses below the title Blade Runner. Following Dick's death and various negotiations with the estate, a novelization of the film was released in 1982 under the name Blade Runner: A Story of the Future, written by Les Martin. In addition, there are three official and licensed Blade Runner novels. i> written by a friend of Philip K. Dick, K. W. Jeter, which continue the story of Rick Deckard and try to resolve the differences between Blade Runner and Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? As the first one presents some inconsistencies with Blade Runner and Blade Runner 2049, including the return of a person dead onage, J.F. Sebastian, or Pris's nature modification, are considered within the Blade Runner franchise as part of a non-canonical expanded universe. These are Blade Runner 2: The Edge of Human (1995), Blade Runner 3: Replicant Night (1996) and Blade Runner 4: Eye and Talon (2000).

Archie Goodwin wrote the screenplay for the comic book adaptation, A Marvel Comic Super Special: Blade Runner, published in September 1982 as the 22nd. number of the series Marvel Comics Super Special. It was illustrated by Al Williamson, Carlos Garzon, Dan Green, and Ralph Reese, with the first edition cover drawn by Jim Steranko. Originally it was a 45-page adaptation. It includes a possible explanation of the meaning of the title in the context of the story: the narrative line "Blade Runner. You're always moving' on the edge" (in Spanish, "Blade runner. You are always moving on the edge"), taking into account that the term "blade runner" could be translated as "corridor on the edge". Crazy Magazine created a parody comic called Blade Bummer in 1982.

On October 4, 2018, it was announced the launch of a new comic book series titled Blade Runner 2019 that would be set in the franchise universe as a sequel to Blade Runner > and within the canon. It was written by Michael Green, co-writer of Blade Runner 2049, along with Mike Johnson, and features illustrations by Andrés Guinaldo. The series stars the blade runner Ash and consists of a total of 12 issues, the first of which was published on July 17, 2019. The first volume was available on November 20 compilation of the three that the collection had. It has an average rating of 8.8 based on 20 professional reviews on the Comic Book Roundup website.

On December 16, 2020, the publication of Blade Runner 2029 began, a new comic series sequel to the previous one and developed by the same authors. released the first issue of another new series, Blade Runner Origins, a prequel set in 2009. It is written by Mike Johnson, Mellow Brown, and Kate Perkins, and illustrated by Fernando Dagnino.

Video games and board games

There are three official video games based on the film: Blade Runner from 1985, distributed by CRL Group PLC for Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum and Amstrad CPC, the also eponymous one from 1997 as a graphic adventure developed by Westwood Studios for Microsoft Windows, and 2018's Blade Runner: Revelations, a virtual reality video game by Seismic Games for Google Daydream. The latter two feature new characters and alternative stories based on the world of Blade Runner along with some characters from the film. In the 1997 game, various characters from the film appear with dialogue, with Sean Young, Brion James, James Hong, Joe Turkel, and William Sanderson voicing their respective roles. The player assumes the role of Ray McCoy, a blade runner. that works at the same time as Deckard. It was also one of the first point-and-click adventure games to use both 3D rendered characters—using voxel technology instead of polygons—and a game world that progressed in real time, as opposed to those that await the player's actions. For its part, Blade Runner: Revelations is set in 2023 and stars the blade runner Harper, appearing three characters from the first film: Gaff, Dave Holden and Lilith Tyrell, although played by other actors. In addition, at the end of 2017 an unofficial virtual reality video game appeared but with authorization from Warner Bros., Blade Runner 9732 , in which you can tour Rick Deckard's apartment. A A prototype board game was also created in California in 1982 with rules similar to Scotland Yard, although it was never produced on a large scale.

Documentaries

Blade Runner: Convention Reel (1982, 13 min.)

co-directed by Muffet Kaufman and Jeffrey B. Walker, and shot in 16 mm, was filmed in 1981 while Blade Runner I was still in production. It starts with a greeting from Ridley Scott to the science fiction conventions in which it would be projected and is formed by short un narrated segments that show the construction of the decorations or several scenes being shot. He also presents interviews with Scott, Syd Mead and Douglas Trumbull. It is included in the Five-Disc Ultimate Collector's Edition of Blade Runner along with other promotional documentaries.

On the Edge of Blade Runner (2000, 55 min.)

Model used for Tyrell Corporation pyramids and exhibited at the Museum of the Moving Image (New York).

Produced by Nobles Gate Ltd. for Channel 4, is run by Andrew Abbott and written by Mark Kermode. Interviews include Ridley Scott providing details of the creative process and problems during pre-production, or the accounts of Paul M. Sammon, Hampton Fancher and David Peoples giving their vision about the original idea of Philip K. Dick and the script. Interviews are also shown to the main cast, with the exceptions of Harrison Ford and Sean Young. There is also a tour of locations such as the Bradbury Building and Warner Bros' New York Street. It also speaks of the test passes in postproduction and the changes made after them (such as the addition of the voice in off and the "happy ending", or the suppression of the scenes of the hospital, the special effects, the soundtrack of Vangelis, and the difficulties of the shooting. The question also arises as to whether Deckard is a replicator or not.

Future Shocks (2003, 27 min.)

This is a 2003 documentary for the programme Film 101 from TVOntario. It contains interviews with the co-executive producer Bud Yorkin, Syd Mead, or cast members such as Young, Olmos, Walsh, Cassidy and Sanderson, although again without Harrison Ford. There is an extensive commentary by the science fiction author Robert J. Sawyer and several critics about the themes, the visual impact and the influence of the film. The versions of the film are analyzed and discussed how the future shown is approached.

Dangerous Days: Making Blade Runner (2007, 213 min.)

Documentary directed and produced by Charles de Lauzirika for the launch of Final Cut and included in the Five-Disc Ultimate Collector's Edition. It is based on more than 80 interviews, including extensive conversations with the whole casting Main, Ford and Young among them, and with team members like Scott, Peoples, Fancher, Mead or Trumbull. He also has the testimony of filmmakers like Frank Darabont or Guillermo del Toro. The documentary is presented in eight chapters. Each of the first seven covers a part of the filmmaking process, and the last one talks about the legacy of Blade Runner.

All Our Variant Futures: From Workprint to Final Cut (2007, 29 min.)

Also directed by Charles de Lauzirika and produced by Paul Prischman, appears in the Five-Disc Ultimate Collector's Edition and gives an overview of the multiple versions of the film and its origins. It also provides details of the remastering process, the recording of new material and the numerous editions made for the Final Cutall developed over seven years. It includes, among other moments, Joanna Cassidy being filmed again so that the face of his double in the scene of Zhora's death was digitally replaced by his, or Ben Ford, Harrison's son, being recorded to insert the movements of his mouth into his father's face during one of the sequences.

Movie sequel: Blade Runner 2049

Part of the cast Blade Runner 2049 in the presentation of the film at the Comic-Con de San Diego in 2017.

The production company Alcon Entertainment, which had acquired the rights to the film in March 2011, announced on May 17, 2012 that it was making a new feature film as a sequel and that it would take place several years after the events of Blade Runner. Ridley Scott was originally going to direct the film, which would not focus on Rick Deckard's character, and negotiated with the 1982 film's screenwriter Hampton Fancher to develop the plot for the sequel. Michael Green would also work on the script from the story written by Fancher. On November 25, 2014, Scott announced that he would not direct the sequel, noting that he would only executive produce and confirming Harrison Ford in the cast. On April 17, 2015 it was reported that Ryan Gosling would star in the film alongside Ford, with Canadian Denis Villeneuve ultimately directing the film. Although on February 18, 2016 Alcon Entertainment announced the release date for January 12, 2018, April 20, 2016 Warner reported its advance for October 6, 2017, three months earlier than it was scheduled. On October 6, 2016, just one year after the premiere, the official title was revealed, Blade Runner 2049 , and on December 19, The first teaser trailer for the film was released.

The sequel takes place in dystopian California in the year 2049 and in it a Nexus-9 blade runner, K, finds the remains of a replicant who was pregnant, something that was thought to be theoretically impossible.. K will then have to find his son and destroy all evidence related to him to avoid a war, coming to discover that he is linked to the missing Deckard. Despite having been created to obey the orders of his superiors, he will begin to break them when he collects clues, such as the wooden horse from one of his memories, that lead him to deduce that he himself could be that child. With the help of his Nexus-9 secretary, Luv, the tycoon Niander Wallace —CEO of Wallace Corporation— will steal the skeletal remains and also try to locate the son and Deckard in order to find the secret behind the reproduction. replicant.

Other sequels and related media

David Peoples has said that in his script for Soldier (1998) he tried to create an "indirect sequel" to Blade Runner and that both films take place in the same universe. In the film a Blade Runner Spinner appears as part of the scenery, and Sergeant Todd's service record 3465, which shows the battles in which he has participated, includes the one at the Gate of Tannhäuser and that of Orion's Shoulder, which he also has tattooed on his arm. Both locations are mentioned in the final monologue of Blade Runner. However, Soldier is an unofficial sequel, as it has never been formally approved by the society that owns the titles. rights of Blade Runner.

The television series Total Recall 2070 was initially intended as a spin-off of Total Recall, a film also based on a story by Philip K. Dick, We may remember it for you wholesale, but it ultimately developed as a hybrid between it and Blade Runner. Numerous similarities to Scott's film were noted, as well as The Steel Vaults by Isaac Asimov and the series Holmes & yo-yo.

Various connections between the Blade Runner and Alien franchises have been discussed. In addition to the fact that both sagas have some phrases and similar planes in common, in Blade Runner Gaff's Spinner screen shows images with the inscription "Purge" and a kind of hatch that had already been used in Alien (1979), also directed by Ridley Scott. Also, in the extras on the DVD of Alien in its 1999 edition, it is indicated that Captain Arthur Dallas (Tom Skerritt) worked as a freelance for the Blade Runner Tyrell Corporation. Similarly, a bonus Blu-ray of Prometheus (2012) notes that the character of Eldon Tyrell, CEO of Tyrell Corporation in Blade Runner, was Peter's mentor. Weyland (Guy Pearce), founder of the Weyland Corporation in the Alien saga.

In November 2021, in an interview for the BBC (via Indie Wire), Ridley Scott revealed that Blade Runner would make it to television with a live-action series. We've already written the pilot and the bible for Blade Runner. (...) We are going to present Blade Runner as a 10-hour series", the director assured, referring to the project. And in February 2022, it was confirmed that the series Blade Runner 2099 was under development by Amazon.

Differences with the novel and Dick's reaction

Philip K. Dick, author of Do the androids dream of electric sheep?

Hampton Fancher's original screenplay was loosely based on the novella Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick. However, Fancher's script focused more on environmental issues and less on issues of humanity and religion, which was the central part of the novel. When Ridley Scott joined the film, he wanted to make numerous changes to the already written script. and eventually hired David Webb Peoples to make the alterations after Fancher refused.

As a result of differences in Fancher's script from the novel, numerous rewrites before and during filming, and Ridley Scott's failure to fully read Dick's work, the film departed significantly from its original inspiration. The changes have prompted many critics and fans to consider both as independent works, despite the fact that the novel was reprinted in 1982 under the title Blade Runner with the original name in parentheses below, for reasons of marketing due to the popularity of the film. Some of the novel's themes were minimized or eliminated entirely, including population fertility/sterility, religion, the media, real and synthetic pets, or emotions.

First, Philip K. Dick criticized Fancher's early drafts in an article in Select TV Guide of Los Angeles. However, after watching various clips of Douglas Trumbull's special effects on KNBC-TV news, reading the February 1981 version of the script—which he called a "quantum leap upward"—and watching the filming of a chase of Ford through the show Hooray for Hollywood on KABC-TV, he became enthusiastic about, despite the fact that the plot differed significantly from that of his book and his skepticism about Hollywood.

"I couldn't believe what I was reading! It was simply sensational: it was still the script of Hampton Fancher, but miraculously transfigured, so to speak. Everything had been simply rejuvenated in a very fundamental way [...] I was surprised that Peoples could make some of those scenes work. He taught me things about writing that he did not know [...] You read the script and then you go to the novel, and it's like two halves of a meta-work, a meta-artefacto. It's just exciting. As my agent Russell Galen said, "When a Hollywood film adaptation on a book works, it's always a miracle." Because it can't really happen. It happened with The Man Who Fell to Earth and has happened Blade RunnerI'm sure now."
—Philip K. Dick, in September 1981, after reading the film script signed by Fancher and Peoples

Although he did not get to see the film in its entirety, in December 1981, shortly before his death, Dick was invited by the producers to the studio where it was being edited. There he had a meeting with Scott and was able to view 20 minutes of scenes from Blade Runner. Dick was captivated by them and asked them to be shown again, also stating that they had captured the texture and tone of the scenes. images he had imagined. The writer died in March 1982, about three months before the film's premiere. In the end credits of Blade Runner there is a dedication of it to Philip K. Dick.

Roy Batty's final monologue

Asterism known as the shoulders of Orion. On the left, the Betelgeuse star, and on the bottom right, Bellatrix.

The monologue delivered by the replicant Roy Batty before he dies has been considerably influential in the world of science fiction. It also appears as part of "Tears in Rain", the last track on the film's official soundtrack.

Original

I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhäuser Gate. All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain. Time to die.

Literal translation

I've seen things you wouldn't believe. Flame attack ships beyond Orion's shoulder. I've seen C-rays shining in the dark near the Tannhäuser Gate. All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in the rain. Time to die.

Original dubbing for Spain

I've seen things you wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire beyond Orion. I've seen C-rays shining in the dark near the Tannhäuser Gate. All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in the rain. It's time to die.

Original dubbing for Latin America

I've done things that you people couldn't even imagine. I attacked ships with fire in the interplanetary colonies. I've seen stars shine in the night with a thousand colors. All these moments will be lost in time, just like weeping in the rain. It's time to die.

Redubbing for Latin America in 2003

I've seen things you could never imagine. Fire fighting ships on Orion's shoulder. I've seen lightning flashing in the dark near the entrance of Tannhäuser. All these moments will be lost in time, just like tears in the rain. It's time to die.

Although initial versions of the monologue were written by David Webb Peoples, the final form in which it appears in the film also featured input from actor Rutger Hauer, who cut lines from the original script the night before shooting and he added "will be lost in time, like tears in rain", since the ones in the script seemed too long for that moment. Other alternative versions of the soliloquy were shot, although this was the one that was kept in the finally released montage.