Blade Runner producer says a new film won’t appear till at least 2014, Harrison Ford not expected to return

The big, out-of-nowhere news yesterday was that filmmaker Ridley Scott would officially be returning to the classic and hugely influential sci-fi world of BLADE RUNNER to direct a brand new film. That’s pretty much all we knew.

The LA Times’ 24 Frames, however, got a chance to speak with Alcon Entertainment producer Andrew Kosove, giving a little background as to how Scott landed the job as well as what to generally expect from the project:

“The Alcon people simply wanted to see if Ridley would sit down with them. The filmmaker agreed, and shortly after the rights deal closed in March, Kosove and his partner Broderick Johnson flew to London to meet with the director. Over the course of one meeting, they hashed out how a new film would look, how it could avoid seeming too similar to the many movies that have since paid homage to the original, and how different the new film should be from the original itself. They eventually decided it should stand as separately as possible.”

“Everything Ridley does as a filmmaker is fresh,” said Kosgove. “I believe he sees an opportunity to create something that’s wholly original from the first ‘Blade Runner.'”

Which sounds very much like Scott’s approach to his upcoming PROMETHEUS.

Right now, though, the search is on for writers, which could take anywhere from weeks to months. But when could we conceivably expect to see this new film in theaters? The earliest the movie could begin shooting is “early” 2013. The producer says that it would likely take at least 18 months to secure a writer, get a script in working order under Scott’s supervision, cast, and then begin production. So essentially, the soonest we could see the film would be sometime in 2014.

Meanwhile, when asked about Harrison Ford’s ‘Rick Deckard’ and if he would have a place in this project all, Kosgove stated:

“In no way do I speak for Ridley Scott… but if you’re asking me will this movie have anything to do with Harrison Ford, the answer is no. This is a total reinvention, and in my mind that means doing everything fresh, including casting.”