We don’t know a great deal about the forthcoming Blade Runner sequel, but today we learned something quite substantial: it’ll most certainly be beautiful. Reteaming with director Denis Villeneuve after Prisoners and the recently debuted Sicario, cinematographer Roger Deakins has officially come aboard the project. No stranger to big-budget fare after Skyfall, his involvement greatly adds curiosity to the project.
Produced by Ridley Scott, the film takes place several decades after the conclusion of the 1982 original with Harrison Ford returning and Ryan Gosling in talks for an unknown role (although he isn’t mentioned at all in this recent press release). “Roger is an extraordinary talent and we are very excited that Denis and Roger have chosen to continue their collaboration in bringing the sequel to Blade Runner to the big screen,” the producers said. With production kicking off in the summer of 2016, don’t expect to see the results for a few more years, but we imagine this development will increase anticipation for many.
As for their latest work, which opens in September, Deakins recently said at the Cannes press conference, “Frankly, the person I had in mind was Jean-Pierre Melville. I’m in France, but he has always been my hero as a filmmaker. And for me somehow, I know this subject is very different from gangster films, but there is still the mood to me, that sort of take he had on character building and action sequences. We shot most of the action with a single camera. We had story-boarded quite a bit, but in film you sort of talk about things and work it out as you scout locations and on the day you kind of just react to what’s there, what the actors want to do.”
Are you more looking forward to the project with Deakins’ involvement?