01
Do you know Blade Runner wasn’t the
original title?
While the movie is loosely based on Philip K
Dick’s Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?,
the title came from William S Burrough’s Blade
Runner, a film treatment based on Alan E
Nourse’s 1974 novel, The Blade Runner. The
latter has zilch to do with Dick’s story or Scott’s
movie, but Scott loved the term so much that
he used it for Harrison Ford’s replicant-hunting
cop, Deckard. In an alternate universe, the movie
would’ve been called Dangerous Days.
02
Do you know Dustin Hoffman was the
original leading man?
When the movie was in development, actors
such as Robert Mitchum, Christopher Walken
and Tommy Lee Jones were considered to
play Deckard. Scott at one point went with the
unlikely choice of Dustin Hoffman. He said, “I
figured, unlikely though he may be in terms
of his physical size as a sci-fi hero, as an actor
Hoffman could do anything. Therefore, it really
didn’t matter.” Scott eventually chose Ford after
seeing footage of him in a little art-house movie
called Raiders of the Lost Ark.03
Do you know there
are seven versions
of Blade Runner?
Yes, seven. At least. But the
most well-known ones are
the Original Theatrical Cut
(1982), International Cut
(1982), Director’s Cut (1991), and
Final Cut (2007) — the latter two are Scott’s
preferred versions, in which he removed the
producer-imposed changes (a voice-over and
a ‘happy ever after’ ending) and added a few
new scenes (a unicorn dream sequence and a
hint that Deckard may not be human). All four
versions are on Blade Runner’s 30th anniversary
Blu-ray reissue.04
Do you know Blade Runner was
heavily inspired by Asia?
Scott’s futuristic LA was inspired by his time
spent in Asia. “I had shot commercials in
Hongkong, and I just associated that city with
Blade Runner,” said Scott in an Entertainment
Weekly interview. “The future of the city would
either be Hispanic or Chinese. I opted for
Chinese.” There’s another Chinese connection:
The movie was co-produced by the late Run
Run Shaw (of Shaw Brothers), who boarded the
project after one of the backers bailed. So no
Shaw money, no Blade Runner? Discuss.Four things you should know
about the original Blade Runner
(or how to start a 10-minute
conversation about the movie
without actually watching it).
If you want to go full-nerd on Blade Runner, read the book, Future Noir: The Making of Blade Runner, by Paul M
Sammon, or check out Blade Runner: Final Cut on iTunes, which includes the documentary, Dangerous Days.
8 DAYS | 39BY DOUGLAS TSENG