Alcon Entertainment got their wish. After publicly pleading for Harrison Ford to return, the studio announced late Thursday that he will return for the sequel to Ridley Scott’s iconic sci-fi film Blade Runner.
In addition, the studio found their director. Denis Villeneuve, who directed Jake Gyllenhaal in Prisoners and Enemy, is set to direct.
While Scott is perhaps too busy to direct himself, he will still be instrumental on the project. He is credited with co-creating the idea behind the story with original Blade Runnerwriter Hampton Fancher. Fancher co-wrote the screenplay with Michael Green. “We are honored that Harrison is joining us on this journey with Denis Villeneuve, who is a singular talent, as we experienced personally on Prisoners,” Alcon’s Andrew Kosove and Broderick Johnson said in a statement to TheWrap. “Hampton and Michael, with Ridley Scott, have crafted a uniquely potent and faithful sequel to one of the most universally celebrated films of all time, and we couldn’t be more thrilled with this amazing, creative team.”
In 2011, Alcon snapped up film, TV and franchise rights Blade Runner from Bud Yorkin, who will remain a producer on the sequel. In May 2014, the studio released a bizarre statement, publicly offering Ford a chance to play Deckard once again.
“It’s written and it’s damn good,” Scott told Entertainment Weekly of the script in August. “Of course it involves Harrison, who is a survivor after all these years — despite the accident...So yes, that will happen.”
Blade Runner was released in 1982 by Warner Bros. to little fanfare and even negative reviews. Since then - and multiple different cuts later - the film has become a cult classic, widely hailed as one of the best sci-fi movies ever made. It was loosely based on Philip K. Dick’s Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?.
Villeneuve just finished Sicario with Emily Blunt and was going to take on The Story of Your Life next.
image courtesy of Jennifer Graylock/INFphoto.com