t Denis Villeneuve’s command, rain begins
to fall. Waves crash against a vast sea
wall that shields Los Angeles from an
enraged ocean. It’s deep into the night,
and only the sporadic searchlights that
dance across the water provide any
illumination. An effect one could happily
describe as Blade Runner-y.
“Action!”
Out in the half-light, Ryan Gosling,
wrapped in a hefty overcoat, finishes his
push-ups and Sylvia Hoeks, head-to-toe in
skin-tight artificial leather, concludes her
lunges.
At an unseen signal, they set off. No
quarter is given: Gosling’s Officer K and
Hoeks’ Luv come to expertly choreographed
blows. Finally, with an ungentlemanly swivel
of his hips, K launches Luv into the surf.
Fictionally speaking, it is 2049 in a noir-
soaked LA, 30 years after Blade Runner’s
cop hero Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford) fled
the city with Rachael, his replicant (read:
android) lover, his own humanity dependent
on who you ask. But in real-world terms
it’s October 2016, on the outskirts of
Hungary, where the Blade Runner 2049
shoot has taken over a giant water tank.
The long-awaited sequel is two-thirds of the
way towards completion and nothing seems
amiss, though Ford himself is ensconsed
in his trailer, replaced by a stunt double
snared in cuffs in a nearby Spinner craft.
As the scene is recomposed for another
take, Villeneuve heads in our direction. “I
feel for my actors, but it is important to
be in contact with the elements, no?” he
tells us with a laugh. “I am on day 65 of
shooting, I think, and I have seen three
greenscreens so far. We are trying to do
this in the spirit of the original. In order to
step forwards, you have to step backwards.”
Villeneuve had initially thought to shoot
in downtown LA, but it had become too