10 Alternative Opening Movie Scenes You Never Saw

7. Deckard Kills A Replicant - Blade Runner

Tom Hardy Venom
Warner Bros.

Ridley Scott's Blade Runner kicks off with a note-perfect opening sequence, offering up an eye-wateringly beautiful glimpse of Scott's 2019 Los Angeles, before we witness the Voight-Kampff test being administered to a replicant, Leon Kowalski (Brion James).

But an earlier version of Hampton Fancher's script, back when the film was still called "Dangerous Days," saw Deckard (Harrison Ford) confronting a replicant in its home.

Deckard shoots the "man" dead, and in a shock reveal for the audience, rips out his artificial lower-jaw to show that the man was a replicant. Deckard then snatches his replicant ID and flies away from the scene.

It's never been explained why Scott chose to re-work that evocative opening, though fortunately the scrapped scene ultimately served as the inspiration for Blade Runner 2049's own opening.

In the sequel, replicant K (Ryan Gosling) waits for a rogue replicant, Sapper Morton (Dave Bautista), to return home, and after a brief scene kills it.

Even precise details, such as the replicant cooking soup and being a farmer, were kept in the 2049 version of the scene, even if the context is fundamentally different than had it been included in the original.

Contributor
Contributor

Stay at home dad who spends as much time teaching his kids the merits of Martin Scorsese as possible (against the missus' wishes). General video game, TV and film nut. Occasional sports fan. Full time loon.