Introduction
Released on June 25, 1982, it’s hard to believe that Blade Runner is now 40 years old. When it was first released in 1982, it set new standards for visual imagery and groundbreaking special effects. It also created an appreciation for the value a superior production design could bring to a film.
Blade Runner also revels in the seamy side of humanity. Its very title has almost become synonymous with the concept of a futuristic dystopia. Incorporating a film noir style lifted right out of the 1940s, the film features beautiful sets jarringly juxtaposed against a world filled with grease, grime, dirt, smoke, trash, and darkness. Along with lots and lots of rain.
Source Material
Blade Runner was taken from a famous science fiction novel written in 1968 by Philip K. Dick called “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?” It told the post-apocalyptic story of a society in the not-so-distant future which uses androids to do dangerous work. Despite being similar to humans in every way, they are still considered machines to be exploited and their humanity is ignored.
Hollywood had been intrigued with the book for years and the success of Star Wars in 1977 had turned science fiction into big business. As a result, many producers were looking for new hot properties related to the genre.
Enter Ridley Scott
At the time, Ridley Scott looked like a stellar choice to serve as director for the project. The British filmmaker had just had a huge hit with the 1979 science fiction classic Alien. He seemed to have the sensibility needed to recreate the futuristic world depicted in Dick’s novel. Scott had come from a commercial background and was highly regarded for his ability to tell stories with sophisticated imagery.
Scott worked with visual stylist Syd Mead to change and grow the scope of the project. Subsequently, it quickly became evident that this was going to create pressure on the film’s original budget of $13 million. As one of the film’s productions designers described it:
“When Ridley takes out a pencil, it’s hundreds of dollars. When he takes out a pen, it’s thousands…”
Budget Concerns
The film’s production company began to get cold feet and decided to withdraw from the project. Eventually, a multi-part deal with several entities was cobbled together. It included a completion guarantee that would force Ridley Scott to surrender partial control of the film in the event it went past schedule or was over budget.
This stipulation would later become a major factor as Blade Runner got underway. However, initially, Scott was given the green light to proceed with the film. Yet, on the very first day of filming, the problems started.
Upside Down Columns
When Scott showed up on the set, he was aghast to find that the columns created for the interior scene had been built upside down. The set designer had assumed that since the camera would never see the ceiling, the more sophisticated-looking end of structures should be on the floor. Scott became irate and insisted that the set be reconstructed. When he was told this would take several days, he insisted they do it in seven hours.
Scott also insisted the scene be illuminated with flickering lights as if reflected by a pool of water. When members of the crew complained that this made no sense (they were indoors… where was the water?), Scott replied it didn’t matter. He explained that visuals were going to take precedence in this production and the audience was just going to accept it. This led one of the onsite producers to report back to the studio:
“After just one day, we’re already FIVE days behind schedule.”
Not Your Typical Shoot
As Blade Runner moved deeper and deeper into the shooting schedule, it became glaringly obvious that this wasn’t going to be your typical production. Virtually every scene was shot at night. This meant that crew call was usually late in the afternoon. Quitting time was 6 am the following morning.
What made the shoot particularly grueling was that every shot needed to look “wet” to reflect the constant rain in a future Los Angeles. As such, it was necessary for the cast and crew to stand outside under sprinklers for virtually the entire shoot. This went on every night for weeks on end without a break.
Equipment soon started to malfunction and mildew covered the props. Costumes had to constantly be replaced, fingers started to prune, and tempers began to flare. One crew member would later complain that working on Blade Runner was like being trapped in a Pennsylvania coal mine.
Perfectionism
The star of Blade Runner, Harrison Ford, later described the experience of shooting the film as “a b****.” It quickly would become evident that Ridley Scott’s aesthetic tastes were completely alien to the culture of big-budget Hollywood filmmaking.
Scott obsessed over the look of every shot, proving to be an utter perfectionist when it came to everything looking just right. The crew didn’t appreciate being constantly told their best efforts were coming up short, especially after working night after night soaked to the bone. The pressure cooker was starting to boil because of Scott’s perfectionism. Blade Runner was two weeks behind schedule after three weeks of shooting.
The financiers behind the film’s completion guarantee began to get nervous. They asked for a meeting with the director to discuss the reasons behind all the delays. Scott told them that he was trying to make a different type of film and told them he intended to finish the film at his own pace.
Bad Press
Trouble was also brewing on another front. One of the crew members got hold of an article containing an interview Scott had recently given to a British magazine. He was asked if he preferred working with English or American crews. Given the fact he knew what kind of audience read the magazine, Scott naturally said he preferred the British style. Using a cockney accent, he jokingly said that the English film crews were more apt to salute and say “Yes, Guv’nor” when given a direction.
Copies of the article were circulated among the crew working on Blade Runner. It made a tense situation even worse. Most of the crew stopped talking to Scott, and t-shirts were distributed with the words “Yes Guv’nor My A**!!” boldly printed on them. Scott responded by having his own t-shirt made. It simply said: “Xenophobia Sucks.”
The dueling t-shirts could possibly have helped to slightly ease the increasing tension. However, with each passing night, more and more crew members on the set of Blade Runner were failing to show up for work. This would only exacerbate the situation, as their replacements had to be brought up to speed.
The Pressure Builds
Alarmed at the direction the film was going and with the budget headed in a skyward direction, the producing team visited the set almost every night to urge Scott to hurry up. They would literally stand behind him while he directed a scene and tell him each take was “good enough.” Still, Scott stuck to his guns. As he later explained:
“Sometimes [people] don’t comprehend what I do for a living on a big movie. My performance is just as important as any other person’s working on that film – particularly the “star.” My film… is at the end of the day, my movie. It may be a team thing as well, but I’m taking the knocks, I’m taking the lashes, and I probably developed it… So yes, it’s MY MOVIE.”
On-Screen Mistakes
As the production of Blade Runner crawled to a finish – and the financial backers repeatedly kept threatening to pull the plug on the film – a sense of urgency was added to the already difficult proceedings. As a result, the on-screen mistakes (in the original release of the film) began to pile up.
One example of this is the scene in which the replicant (android) played by Darryl Hannah first meets the character of Sebastian for the first time. In it, she bolts and runs headlong into a parked vehicle. The window shatters when she hits it with her arm. But it wasn’t planned that way. The actress cut her arm and required stitches.
Another mistake occurs as the replicant Zhora (Joanna Cassidy) is gunned down by Deckard (Harrison Ford) while her character runs through a series of glass windows. They literally couldn’t find a wig that came anywhere near to matching her hairstyle. It’s painfully obvious that the stunt double used in the shot is a completely different woman. This sequence was a specific instance in which a producer was standing behind Scott telling him to get on with it.
More Mistakes…
A third mistake can be seen in the original release version of the film. During the final sequence where Batty (Rutger Hauer) stalks Deckard through a building’s interior, you can plainly see the shadow of the cameraman on the wall.
Finally, at the end of the film, when Batty dies, he releases a pigeon into the sky. However, the poor bird was drenched from multiple re-shoots in the rain and just flopped around on the ground. So they got another pigeon. The problem was by the time they located a “back-up” bird, it was the final night of filming and the sun had come up. As a result, even though the film takes place at night, the pigeon is inexplicably seen taking flight into a blue sky.
Don’t Let the Door Hit You…
The day after production finally wrapped, Scott and many of the principles involved in the film received a telegram from the producing team. It simply stated that the film was vastly over budget and as of that moment, their services were no longer required. The message was clear: don’t let the door hit you on the way out.
However, having gone this far, Scott wasn’t about to back down. Without compensation, he continued working with the post-production team to edit the film and add the critical visuals the film needed.
Astounding Visuals
After 30 years, the visuals remain nothing short of amazing. You still gasp when Blade Runner opens with a slow zoom across the oil refineries outside of Los Angeles. With Vangelis’ music as a backdrop, the gas explosions pop right off the screen. When you get to downtown L.A. and see the monstrous electronic billboards featuring a close-up of a Japanese geisha towering over the street below, you feel like you’ve entered another world.
There are moments of incredible beauty too, such as when Deckard tests Rachel (Sean Young) to see if she’s a replicant. As a screen comes down behind them, we’re treated to the awe-inspiring sight of the sun setting against the horizon. The light reflects off the set’s flawlessly polished floor and the specially designed columns Scott had worked so hard to make look just right. It might just be one of the most beautiful shots in cinema history.
When all was said and done, Blade Runner ended up costing almost $30 million, well over twice the film’s original budget. As a point of comparison, Star Wars (1977) which was made just five years earlier, and had roughly three times as many special effect shots, cost only $9 million to make.
Disastrous Preview Screening
The first cut of Blade Runner ran nearly four hours. After a lot of hard work, Scott got it down to a little less than two and prepared the film for a preview screening. The producers remained skeptical. They thought the film was too hard to follow and didn’t have enough action to hold the interest of the average moviegoer.
When the film was finally screened for a preview audience in Denver, their worst fears were realized. Blade Runner got abysmal scores. Feedback after feedback forms came rolling in with the same four words:
“I don’t understand it.”
Emergency Fixes
Scott realized something drastic needed to be done and promised the producers he would work with them to improve the film’s chances at the box office. The director would later state:
“If it doesn’t work for the audience, then it doesn’t work…being ahead of time is as bad as being behind the times”
Scott agreed to shoot a new ending for the film, one which would provide a “happy resolution” as Deckard and Rachel literally ride off into the sunset. They rented a flatbed pickup truck, put the shell of one of the film’s futuristic cars on it, and shot the final close-up scenes while driving outside of Los Angeles. However, they realized they needed some wide shots of beautiful scenery to further sell this incongruous upbeat ending.
Scott and his team approached legendary director Stanley Kubrick, who two years earlier had shot mountain vistas in Montana for his film The Shining (1980). Being a fan of Scott’s previous film Alien (1979), Kubrick enthusiastically agreed to let him use the leftover stock footage for his new movie.
The Dreaded Voice-Over
Scott turned to an even more sticky issue. How to dumb down the rest of the film for a mass audience. It was decided that a voice-over was the best way to accomplish this. Unfortunately, Scott and the film’s producers quickly butted heads on how “literal” to make the copy. Scott wanted to preserve some of the intelligence contained in the original film, while the producers pushed hard for more blow-by-blow descriptions.
As their disagreements mounted, it wasn’t long until Scott was finally thrown out of the editing suite. The producers then brought in their own writers. When Harrison Ford showed up to do the recording, he found one lone man madly typing away next to the recording booth. He went up and introduced himself, hoping to have some input into what he was supposed to read.
However, instead of being courteous to one of the world’s biggest movie stars, the man didn’t say a word. Instead, he waved his arms dismissively as if to tell Ford to go away. Later on, when Harrison Ford was handed what he was expected to say in front of the microphone, he gagged.
Despite the differences he had with Scott on the set, Ford couldn’t believe this was something that was going to improve the final product. The actor even had his agent consult the terms of his contract before performing the voiceover recording, which was done under protest.
Disappointing Box Office
After a tortuous production, Blade Runner finally made its public debut in June 1982. Business the first night was solid but dropped off precipitously after that. Most of the reviews were mixed.
When all was said and done, Blade Runner ended up grossing $33 million, very close to its final cost. However, if you throw in marketing and distributing costs, it probably lost money. At the time, conventional wisdom held that the project was a “failed experiment.” Some held it up as an example of style not triumphing over substance.
The Summer of 1982…
Part of the problem was the time frame in which the film was released. Five years earlier, Star Wars had reset moviegoers’ expectations when they went to the theater. Gone were the gritty, thoughtful, and complex films of the early 1970s. Movie audiences were now expecting escapist fare with their large buttered popcorn.
To get an idea of what we’re talking about, take a look at some of the other major films released that same summer (1982):
- E.T. the ExtraTerrestrial
- Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
- Poltergeist
- Conan the Barbarian
- The Road Warrior
- Tron
- Rocky III
- Fast Times at Ridgemont High
- An Officer and a Gentleman
- Firefox
Not bad films, but about as far away in tone from Blade Runner as one can get. Just imagine the reaction of teenagers who had just seen E.T. or Star Trek the week before. Then going to see Blade Runner thinking it was going to be another fun sci-fi romp. Small wonder that word of mouth drove a complete collapse in box office sales.
Home Video Reassessment
Home video was just beginning to take off in the early 1980s and Blade Runner turned out to be perfectly suited for a more intimate viewing experience. People who never got a chance to see it in the theater were dazzled by the special effects. The privacy of their homes also gave them time to properly digest some of the movie’s more complicated themes, such as whether the character of Deckard is, in fact, a replicant.
Blade Runner went on to become so popular it was among the very first films to be made available on DVD. It’s since been re-cut and reissued no fewer than six separate times. Further, in 1997, the Visual Effects Society named it the second most visually influential film in cinema history, after Star Wars.
The Legacy of Blade Runner
Despite huge advances in special effects technologies, Blade Runner remains a fascinating cinematic experience and continues to inspire filmmakers right up to the present day. One of them is Guillermo Del Toro, the director of Pan’s Labyrinth (2006), Hellboy (2004), and The Shape of Water (2017). Del Toro sums up Blade Runner this way:
“This movie to me embodies the elegance, the power, and the uniqueness of the film experience. It doesn’t depend on a screenplay… It is the most classical, beautiful, purest moviemaking and writing…it’s pure cinema.”
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