Denis Villeneuve discusses ‘Blade Runner 2049’: ‘biggest artistic challenge’ and make universe his own
At the recent Blade Runner 2049 event at SDCC, the film’s director Denis Villeneuve was on hand to talk about making a sequel to Ridley Scott’s groundbreaking sci-fi classic 35 years after the original.
“I have to find a way to make that universe mine,” Villeneuve told Heat Vision, via THR. “I have to find a way to not feel like a vandal going in a church, making graffiti on the walls.”
He added that it was quite the uphill battle in some respects. “It’s by far the biggest artistic challenge I have ever done. To take someone else’s universe and to try to digest and make it my own is a strange process. I did that once, I would not do it again.”
Screenwriter Michael Green said he considers Blade Runner 2049 to be more of an expansion of Scott’s universe, rather than a direct sequel per se.
“One of the things you have to do when you want to honor something is incorporate and go larger. You don’t want to just do the high school play. You don’t want to do a remake,” he said. “When it first came out we were doing this, a lot of people just thought we were going to re-do it again. That feels like it would be dishonoring something that is wonderful. It was looking for ways to explore the world further and make it bigger.”
Ryan Gosling stars as Officer K with Harrison Ford returning as the key figure: Rick Deckard.
Warner Bros detailed some events between the two films: Replicant prohibition happened in 2023, the Wallace Corporation (led in the movie by Jared Leto’s Neander Wallace) helped repeal prohibition in 2030, and by 2049, most humans who can afford it have fled to off world colonies.
Edward James Olmos, who played the mysterious Gaff in the first film, also reprises his role.
Blade Runner 2049 also stars Lennie James, Ana de Armas, Robin Wright, Mackenzie Davis, Carla Juri and Dave Bautista.
Blade Runner 2049 will arrive in theaters on October 5.