Blade Runner 2049 Director Denis Villeneuve: “I Love Risk.”
Taking over the helm of a classic sci-fi movie franchise can be extremely intimidating, but when you have the task of making a sequel to one of the single greatest movies of the genre and follow in the footsteps of arguably one of the greatest visionaries in Hollywood, the pressure is immense. While some might be terrified by the challenge, acclaimed French-Canadian director Denis Villeneuve recently told Variety that he feels “inspired and excited” to take the reins of the world of Blade Runner from Ridley Scott:
I love risk. All of my projects have come with a certain amount of artistic risk, or sometimes a risk of how you portray reality. I did a movie once about a school massacre and I had a huge responsibility to the victims of those events. I did a movie about a conflict in Lebanon, so there again, you have a strong responsibility to reality. When I did ‘Sicario,’ I felt responsible to how I would portray the Mexican society there. So I’m used to pressure. For ‘Blade Runner,’ it’s artistic pressure, and by far the biggest ever.
Villeneuve went on to say that Blade Runner 2049 will have its “own identity and territory” while remaining “faithful” to the 1982 original movie. To that end, he promised to limit the use of CGI technology:
I’m very old school. I wish I had the chance to do my ‘Aliens’ as animatronics. … I hate green screens. It sucks out all my energy. I get depressed. I have an admiration for directors who can work with that on a daily basis. For ‘Blade Runner,’ we tried our best to do as much as possible in-camera, building everything.
Villeneuve’s most recent film, Arrival, was nominated for eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay. After Blade Runner, he will be diving into a new adaptation of Frank Herbert‘s Dune.
Blade Runner 2049 is slated for an October 6th release.
Arrival was quite captivating so I’m curious to see the types of surprises BR2049 offers. I’m really curious what the music will be like. In our lives there’s plenty of music that can be traced to a time and feel dated (not that that’s bad of course). So I wonder how will they make the music in BR2049 still feel like the first BR, yet still feel like it isn’t dated with the 80’s Dystopia and that this is the future (of the future haha).
I haven’t been able to see Arrival yet, but Enemy was absolutely fantastic mindf*ck and Sicario was crazy intense, with excellent action sequences. IMHO, Villeneuve is one of the greatest directors working today. Interesting question about the music. The teaser is pretty moody and atmospheric. I trust whatever he is going to do.