With all the buzz around Prometheus it wouldn’t be wrong to assume that Ridley Scott is well on his way to making a comeback.
Not that he ever went anywhere, but considering Scott is held up as an iconic sci-fi director it’s funny that he has only directed two science fiction films: 1979’s Alien and 1982’s Blade Runner. What’s even more interesting is that Scott is revisiting both of those films — first with Prometheus, a sort-of-prequel to Alien and with his next film, a sequel to Blade Runner.
The big news on the Blade Runner front is that Alcon Entertainment has announced that Hampton Fancer, who co-wrote the screenplay to the original film, will return to pen the sequel. The fact that this movie will be a sequel and “will take place some years after the first film concluded” is also a new announcement since previously the project was only explained to be somewhat connected to Blade Runner.
In addition, in an interview with the Daily Beast Scott has revealed even more about the film. In the interview he spoke about his tendency to feature strong female leads in his films. When asked how that would factor into the Blade Runner sequel, Scott said, “Funny enough, I started my first meetings on the Blade Runner sequel last week. We have a very good take on it. And we’ll definitely be featuring a female protagonist.” Hmm… wonder where that will lead?
Check out the full press release announcing Fancer’s return below:
LOS ANGELES, CA, MAY 17, 2012—Hampton Fancher is in talks to reunite with his “Blade Runner” director Ridley Scott to develop the idea for the original screenplay for the Alcon Entertainment, Scott Free, and Bud Yorkin produced follow up to the ground-breaking 1982 science fiction classic, it was announced by Alcon co-founders and co-Chief Executive Officers Broderick Johnson and Andrew Kosove.
The filmmakers are also revealing for the first time that the much-anticipated project is intended to be a sequel to the renowned original. The filmmakers would reveal only that the new story will take place some years after the first film concluded.
The three-time Oscar-nominated Scott and his “Blade Runner” collaborator Fancher originally conceived of their 1982 classic as the first in a series of films incorporating the themes and characters featured in Philip K. Dick‘s groundbreaking novel “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?“, from which “Blade Runner” was adapted. Circumstances, however, took Scott into other directions and the project never advanced.
Fancher, although a writer of fiction, was known primarily as an actor at the time Scott enlisted him to adapt the Dick novel for the screen. Fancher followed his “Blade Runner” success with the screenplays, “The Mighty Quinn” (1989) and “The Minus Man” (1999). He has continued to write fiction throughout his career.
Scott also will produce with Alcon co-founders and co-Chief Executive Officers Broderick Johnson and Andrew Kosove as well as Bud Yorkin and Cynthia Sikes Yorkin. Frank Giustra and Tim Gamble, CEO’s of Thunderbird Films, will serve as executive producers.
The original film, which has been singled out as the greatest science-fiction film of all time by a majority of genre publications, was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.” The film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry in 1993 and is frequently taught in university courses. In 2007, it was named the 2nd most visually influential film of all time by the Visual Effects Society.
State Kosove and Johnson: “It is a perfect opportunity to reunite Ridley with Hampton on this new project, one in fact inspired by their own personal collaboration, a classic of cinema if there ever was one.”
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