Yesterday Eric brought you the extraordinary news that Ridley Scott was going to step back behind the camera for a new BLADE RUNNER film. Now we knew that Alcon Entertainment had secured the rights for sequels, prequels and TV series to the film. But we didn’t know exactly what was going to go down, and in a way we still don’t know exactly.
Alcon producer Andrew Kosove has spoken out about how all this came about. He really wanted Ridley on-board some how, he just wasn’t aware he would get him to direct.
“We had a few Plan Bs. But we were really focusing on Plan A, which was Ridley.” Kosove and co were getting the rights secured, when they called up Scott Free to see if Ridley would have a sit down with them. Ridley agreed to do so, and some time after they had secured the rights they met with him. It was then agreed that anything new should stand on its own, and be a separate entity.
“Everything Ridley does as a filmmaker is fresh, I believe he sees an opportunity to create something that’s wholly original from the first ‘Blade Runner.” After that meeting, they had a handshake deal, with lawyers working out the details.
Next up, Scott is going to meet with writers. Everyone involved wants to find and be happy with a writer for the project. The length of finding said writer could be weeks or months, according to Kosove. The outlook on the project is that it will likely shoot in 2013, leaving enough time for Ridley to get PROMETHEUS in order. Whether he’ll do something else in between is unknown at this time, but there is a timetable in place.
Kosove also 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. When we made the first announcement there was a lot of skepticism, understandably. And now with Ridley coming back there’s a greater level of comfort. And once we have the writer, I think fans will feel even more comfortable.”
So we probably wont see a film till at least 2014, and no Harrison Ford. This seems at least to me, that this is the approach Ridley has taken with PROMETHEUS and now this one. We’ll definitely be waiting for more news on this one.
Daryl Hannah as Pris in the original BLADE RUNNER