Ridley Scott Says Blade Runner 2 Must Have Harrison Ford

Rick Deckard could return in the Prometheus director's forthcoming return to his Blade Runner saga.

By Matt Holmes /

There's only one film on the lips of every film fan this week and that's "Prometheus". Well, more or less anyway. Despite the "Alien" universe film now just days away from opening in the UK this Friday and the buzz at an all time high, when The Independent spoke to the 74-year-old legendary director Sir. Ridley Scott recently they somehow thought about asking something non-"Prometheus" related. Though when that film in question is a similarly exciting "Blade Runner" sequel, we can't really blame them. Announced last year when Scott was deep into directing "Prometheus", a return to the world of replicants is in the offing for Scott with Hampton Fancher, writer of the very first draft that eventually became "Blade Runner", recently hired to develop the film's story. Unlike "Prometheus", this film will be a sequel though won't follow Harrison Ford's replicant killer Deckard as the main character, instead we here this time the story will focus on a female heroine. Though just because he won't be the main focal point, don't rule out cranky old Ford (who turns 70 in July), and who has spent the last three decades distancing himself from the original over a disagreement on the theatrically released cut, from appearing in the movie. Scott tells The Independent that he is planning to make room for a Harrison Ford cameo;
€œI don€™t think it€™ll be Harry € he explained. €œBut I€™ve got to have him in it somewhere. That€™d be amusing.€
"Blade Runner" was of course set in 2019, a year that is now a lot more foreseeable. In the original, organic robots with superhuman powers called replicants were hiding on Earth and it was up to the blade runners to hunt them down. Ford played Deckard, a kind of Raymond Chandler/Humphrey Bogart esque runner who falls in love with a replicant and is determined to keep her alive. Having an ageing Ford appear in the sequel would of course conclusively answer the age old question over whether Deckard was or wasn't a replicant in the film (and answering that query the wrong way I'd say) but in any event we are an awful long way from any deal being made. There is no script yet, Hampton Fancher has just gotten around to start writing it and Scott's focus for now will be on prepping his low-budget thriller "The Counselor", based on Cormac McCarthy's first original screenplay, as his next film. That movie will star the mouth-watering cast of Michael Fassbender, Brad Pitt, Javier Bardem, Penelope Cruz and Cameron Diaz and we suppose if "Prometheus" hits as big as expected this weekend, then another follow-up could be on the cards before the potential of a "Blade Runner 2". So early days for now regarding "Blade Runner 2" and financiers Alcon Entertainment have said previously not to expect Blade Runner 2 (which probably won€™t be called that) to start shooting until at least mid-2013 for a release 2014. Whenever it does happen, Warner Bros will distribute and it will be one of the biggest talked about films of that particular year. Just like "Prometheus" that opens this Friday.