It's hard to believe, but there have already been three different versions of Ridley Scott's landmark sci-fi thriller "Blade Runner" released in some form or another. There was the 1982 theatrical version that featured Harrison Ford's controversial character narration as Deckard and the Deckard-Rachael (Sean Young) "happy ending" escape. The version most people saw was the cut that was released on home video and played on cable up until 1992. It was actually the international version that was unrated and featured extended action sequences.
After years of rumors about the ending, Scott released a 1992 director's cut in which he removed the Ford narration and the "happy ending" and added the infamous "unicorn" sequence, which suggested that Deckard was a replicant as well -- all how he originally intended the movie to be cut. Most recently, though, a rare version of the film was found in the Warner Bros. archives that was radically different in more ways than can be described here. Confused? Don't be, because Scott and Warner Bros. have now teamed up on a new "Blade Runner: Final Cut" just in time for the film's 25th anniversary. This new "definitive" version, according to Scott, contains added and extended scenes, new and cleaner special effects, and that all-important 5.1 Dolby Digital Audio. And it should be the version you judge the film by.
Scott's legendary career includes "Alien," "Legend," "Thelma & Louise" and the Oscar-winning "Gladiator," but "Blade Runner" arguably still stands as his greatest artistic achievement. Scott came down to speak to the fans at San Diego's Comic-Con this past weekend and spent hours indulging questions from the press. This work on a new "Final Cut" all came to be after the Santa Monica Film Festival asked for a print of the movie. Someone in Warner Bros.' archives found a 65-millimeter print of the movie that it turns out had been the last preview version of the film (Scott recalls them "previewing it to death").
"It started off with Vangelis music and a little bit of Jerry Goldsmith's, and at the end of it, people sort of sat there flabbergasted, thinking, 'Wait a minute, that's not the film I remember,'" Scott says. "That's what really created this interest and also showed the studio there is a lot of interest still in this film."
Although Scott had come off "Alien" and thousands (as he puts it) of award-winning TV commercials, he wasn't prepared for all the "cooks" who wanted a say in the editing of "Blade Runner." The producers and studio executives had forced the new ending and voice-over (which angered Ford for years), and Scott says he just didn't have the energy to fight it at the time.
"There was a lot of hell and I think I did get cross doing it and making it," Scott recalls. "But out of it came, remarkably, a film that still stands on its own legs after 25 years. It gets better as it gets older."
"Blade Runner: The Final Cut" opens in New York and Los Angeles Oct. 5. It debuts on DVD Dec. 18.
