is more diverse and desperate. “I
hope this is a worst-case scenario,”
says Gosling, wondering at the film’s
prophetic powers.
On the four-hectare backlot,
standing sullen against parched
fields, is a lonely farmhouse. This
is for the opening sequence. It is a
sequence with history: lifted from
Dick, it was conceived by Scott to
open the original, with Deckard
“retiring” a farmer, pulling out his
jawbone to find a serial number.
Jettisoned by budget crunches, it has
been revived for the sequel. In some
new guise, this is where we will be
introduced to K.
Next door, an elaborate metal
wall is under construction, part of a
chase sequence through a “trash
set”. Evidence the film has a bigger
budget than its predecessor. “It
is sustained by strong energy and
action,”promises the director. “But we
will not be Marvel or Star Wars.”
Villeneuve has kept to traditional
brushstrokes: models, sets, only
marginal CGI. Full-size spinners
have been winched into the sky.
Weta Workshop has made miniature
cityscapes in tribute to the great
Douglas Trumbull’s miraculous
models. In the props department
there is the gratifying sight of
bicycles, neon-striped umbrellas and
noodle stoves. Ask after a [replica-
detecting] Voight-Kampff machine,
however, and there are hurried
glances and another apology — we
can’t go there. Instead, we’re handed
Deckard’s blaster, which fits snugly
into the palm. Props master DougHarlocker had to replicate it from a
US$250,000 (S$340,000) original
that the collector insisted on bringing
personally, presumably so they could
catch a glimpse of future collectibles.
Gosling had to remind himself not
to gape at the staggering sets — this
was supposed to be K’s daily beat. “I
remember this one scene, one-eighth
of a page: my character goes to a
desk and talks to a guy,” he says. “I
got to set and they had built a desk
that took up the entire soundstage.
It’s going to be in the film for five
seconds.”
It had taken about that long for
legendary director of photography
Roger Deakins to agree to shoot the
film, but six months for him to study
the original. Villeneuve had given
his collaborator licence not to be8 DAYS | 37