It’s been a big week for Blade Runner fans. First, Ryan Gosling said he’s going to be the movie, de facto-confirming a rumor that he’s playing the starring role. Now, fans are getting an actual taste of what’s to come, courtesy of the series’ mastermind, Ridley Scott.
Speaking at the American Film Institute’s AFI Festival in Los Angeles, Scott told fans Blade Runner 2 will open with a scene first imagined for the original film. According to /Film, he proceeded to describe that scene in extreme detail:
“We decided to start the film off with the original starting block of the original film. We always loved the idea of a dystopian universe, and we start off at what I describe as a ‘factory farm’ – what would be a flat land with farming. Wyoming. Flat, not rolling – you can see for 20 miles. No fences, just plowed, dry dirt. Turn around and you see a massive tree, just dead, but the tree is being supported and kept alive by wires that are holding the tree up. It’s a bit like Grapes of Wrath, there’s dust, and the tree is still standing. By that tree is a traditional, Grapes of Wrath-type white cottage with a porch. Behind it at a distance of two miles, in the twilight, is this massive combine harvester that’s fertilizing this ground. You’ve got 16 Klieg lights on the front, and this combine is four times the size of this cottage. And now a spinner [a flying car] comes flying in, creating dust. Of course, traditionally chased by a dog that barks, the doors open, a guy gets out and there you’ve got Rick Deckard. He walks in the cottage, opens the door, sits down, smells stew, sits down and waits for the guy to pull up to the house to arrive. The guy’s seen him, so the guy pulls the combine behind the cottage and it towers three stories above it, and the man climbs down from a ladder – a big man. He steps onto the balcony and he goes to Harrison’s side. The cottage actually [creaks]; this guy’s got to be 350 pounds. I’m not going to say anything else – you’ll have to go see the movie.”
In the original version of the Blade Runner script, Deckard shoots the big man then rips off his jaw, revealing he’s a robot. This is a new movie, though, so don’t expect things to play out the same exact way.
For those not intimately familiar with the sequel’s production saga. Scott will produce the Blade Runner sequel, (which is not officially called “Blade Runner 2”). Sicario director Denis Villeneuve will replace Scott in the director’s chair. Harrison Ford will return, presumably co-starring with Gosling. The film is on track to start shooting in 2016.