Alcon Debunks Harrison Ford/Blade Runner Rumor

Deadline has received confirmation from Alcon Entertainment's Andrew Kosove that the rumor of Harrison Ford being pursued for the new Blade Runner is false. He stated that they are still in early stages of the breaking what the story will be and haven't even chosen a writer yet. So the casting of the film is the further thing from their mind at this point. Ford isn't ruled out completely but the rumor has been debunked for now. Kosove also mentions they could end up making the new Blade Runner film in the vain of Prometheus. Still set in the same universe of the first film but still being a stand alone movie.

“It is absolutely patently false that there has been any discussion about Harrison Ford being in Blade Runner,” Kosove told me. “To be clear, what we are trying to do with Ridley now is go through the painstaking process of trying to break the back of the story, figure out the direction we’re going to take the movie and find a writer to work on it. The casting of the movie could not be further from our minds at this moment.” Kosove said they didn’t want in any way to disparage an iconic actor like Ford, but it certainly sounds as though they do not plan to continue his story line. “It’s like asking if we’re going to make the sky red or blue, there has been no discussion about it,” he said. “What Ridley does in Prometheus is a good template for what we’re trying to do. He created something that has some association to the original Alien, but lives on its own as a standalone movie.” Asked point blank if Ford could resurface, Kosove said: “In advance of knowing what we’re going to do, I supposed you could say yes, he could. But I think it is quite unlikely.”

I previously stated that the best way to tackle this project was to mimic the connection between Alien and Prometheus. It seems like Kosove and Ridley very well could be going in that direction. If I have to come up with a writer that could do this subject matter justice it would be Damon Lindelof. He previously worked with Ridley and 20th Century Fox on Prometheus and seems to have retained all the suspenseful elements/tone from the original Alien film. There has been some speculation this will be next for Ridley but many projects have come up that have scripts in place. I expect a film of this scale with the amount of artwork needed would take at least a year to develop it's concept art.

Could Harrison Ford Join The New Blade Runner Film?

Twitch is reporting a rumor that Ridley Scott and producers are in talks with Harrison Ford for the new Blade Runner film. Ridley Scott recently confirmed the movie would be going in the direction of a sequel when he originally signed on to direct the project. The assumption would be that Ford is playing Deckard if he returns. Currently the project is without a writer with the previous news of Scott Z. Burns hired being debunked. Scott has many other films in development and it's unclear when this film could go into production.

The original hook of Blade Runner is that we never quite know if Deckard is a replicant himself or not. It's ambiguity is the reason why the film is so interesting. A similar theme used in the work of Philip K. Dick which was also seen in the original Total Recall, where it's unknown if Doug is really a spy or just in a coma. If Ford does come back it would answer that question.

I believe with how interesting Prometheus has ended up becoming from it's trailer and loglines. A new Blade Runner film should go the Prometheus route and not use characters from the previous film. Not a complete blank slate but create new characters within that established universe. We've haven't seen many aspects of that world yet. Including the off-world colonies, how replicants are used as slaves, their rebellions and the wars they are forced to fight.

Screenwriter For New Blade Runner Film To Be Announced Soon

ThePlaylist while talking to producer Andrew Kosove about many his projects in development. The conversation moved towards the new Blade Runner movie which currently has Ridley Scott attached to direct. Ridley has given the impression in recent interviews that Runner could be one of this next films if everything comes together. Kosove mentions that they haven't decided whether it will be a prequel or sequel. Also, an announcement on the film's screenwriter will happen early in the new year.

Sometime in the first two months of the new year we'll announce who the screenwriter will be and whether or not it's a prequel or sequel. And then we'll be off to the races.

Here's the thing about Ridley. Ridley is a special guy. He's a force of nature. He's got a lot of stuff that he's working on. I believe it's an extremely high priority for Ridley, that's what he's said to me. This project is moving forward aggressively in development. 

 

Currently the director is finishing up post-production on Prometheus which recently had it's teaser trailer released this week (jaw-dropping awesome!). Apparently he's been bitten by the science fiction bug and wants to make more films in the genre. He has gone as far to say that if successful there could be sequels to Prometheus exploring that universe. Not to mention development on a film based on the novel Forever War.

Ridley could very well could expand the Blade Runner world similar to what he's doing with the Alien universe in Prometheus. A lot of avenues haven't been explored since we basically only saw a film noir set in a futuristic Los Angeles, off-world colonies and replicant rebellions sound too good not to focus on. That being said, Ridley has fingers in a lot of projects and could easily jump into something else.