Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner (1982) set the bar for science fiction films so high that not many have been able to reach it, let alone cross it, even today. Starring Harrison Ford in the lead role, Blade Runner made $41.6 million at the box office. Despite the fact that the film wasn’t appreciated well enough initially, it is considered among some of the best cult classics today.
Another sci-fi film by Ridley Scott faced a similar fate – Alien. The 1979 film was met with a successful box office run but mixed reviews from the audience. Fast forward a few years, and Alien is now considered one of the best sci-fi/horror films in history. While Ridley Scott later returned to direct two more films in the franchise, the same cannot be said for the Blade Runner film series. Why? Well, the filmmaker had to choose between the two and he could only choose one.
Ridley Scott Didn’t Like Choosing Between the Two Franchises
After Ridley Scott created Blade Runner and Alien, he stepped back from the franchises and a series of other filmmakers jumped on. For Blade Runner, Luke Scott directed two short films and one was directed by Shinichiro Watanabe. The sequel to Blade Runner, Blade Runner 2049, was released in 2017 and was directed by Denis Villeneuve.
As for the Alien franchise, James Cameron, David Fincher, and Jean-Pierre Jeunet came on board. However, Scott soon reprised his position in the franchise in the prequel films, Prometheus and Alien: Covenant, starring Michael Fassbender. So why did Scott come back to do Alien and not Blade Runner?
Well, Blade Runner 2049 and Alien: Covenant were both released in 2017, with just a five-month difference. This means that Scott could only work on one project and he simply chose to do the latter. However, he feels as though he shouldn’t have had to choose between the two.
The filmmaker told Empire,
“I shouldn’t have had to make that decision. But I had to. I should have done ‘Blade Runner 2.”
Scott is certainly bitter about the fact that he couldn’t direct the sequel to one of his life’s best works. Talking about the scheduling conflicts between the two projects, he told Screen Daily,
“We wanted to get this [Blade Runner sequel] made…If you get it on paper, don’t wait. I had to let it go, which was a bit of a bugger but there we are.”
At least he served as one of the producers of the films! Perhaps Scott’s little disagreement with lead actor Harrison Ford had something to do with the decision?
Harrison Ford & Ridley Scott’s Disagreement about Blade Runner
In the film, Ford’s character, Rick Deckard hunts replicants aka synthetic humans. However, in Scott’s perception of the story, the hunter is also amongst those who he is hunting, that is, Rick is a replicant too. On the other hand, Ford was absolutely against the idea as he wanted his character to be a human.
Just before the release of Blade Runner 2049, Villeneuve told CinemaBlend that the two were still arguing about the human/replicant debate.
“Harrison and Ridley are still arguing about that. If you put them in the same room, they don’t agree. And they start to talk very loud when they do. it’s very funny…So I decided that the movie…Deckard in the movie, is unsure, as we are, of what his identity is. Because I love that. I love mystery.”
What side are you on though? Do you, like Scott, believe Rick was a replicant, or are you on Ford’s team and believe that Rick was simply a human?
You can stream Blade Runner 2049 on Netflix and you can rent Alien: Covenant on Prime Video.
Source: Empire
