The Battle for Blade Runner: Examining the Cutting of the Classic Film
he editing of Blade Runner is a complicated and sometimes messy subject, a film that never could fully be executed to the director’s original vision but one that Scott stubbornly refused to let die. It has been a slow process of over twenty years but finally a true version of the film has emerged. But let’s start at the beginning.
In early January, Scott also finally filmed footage of the unicorn for Deckards dream (it was not outtakes from Legend (1985), as some believe). This element was Ridleys personal obsession, with its implications that Deckard is a replicant, and the scene was completed and cut togetherstudio executives, however, hated and did not understand it, and demanded it be exercised. It is unclear if this was included in a version screened for the studio that month. The film was shown to executives again in January, this time with the newly-recorded second voice-over, but this screening went even worse than the first one. One response-card that Scott received back stated this movie gets worse every screening. Realising that perhaps the film didnt need the voice over, Scott scrapped it but retained one section of it as Deckard watches Batty die in the rainthis is the version that was first shown to the public in preview screenings in Denver and Dallas. This version of the film has now been dubbed The Workprint. The preview, however, did not go smoothly, as a significant percentage of the audience still expressed confusion and indifference over the picture, feeling it was too bleak, too slow, too confusing. Troubled that the film still did not seem to work, Scott continued to tweak the film. This resulted in a third voice-over recording. This was spearheaded by executive producer Bud Yorkin, and a television writer friend of Yorkins, Roland Kibbee, wrote this version; Scott was not involved. Ford was fed up with the voice-over by now, had not wanted to do them in the first place and was tired of the long and troubled film. The general consensus is that he read this version bad on purpose, hoping it would be forced to be omittedbut nonetheless these readings were included in the finished film (this misplaced decision is attributed to Yorkin and/or Tandem). The Denver and Dallas sneaks also generated another controversial additionthe happy ending. Many viewers thought the film was too bleak and dark, and that there needed to be some kind of resolution and optimistic future for the two leads at the end. Thus, Ford and Sean Young were gathered together for a day and filmed driving a car through a wooded area. The rest of this scene was filled in with unused aerial footage from The Shining (1980), and Fords final voice-over session filled in the rest. This ride into the sunset ending was actually based on an ending included in the shooting scriptbut that version was faithful to the bleak tone of the film. In the planned version Deckard and Rachel are seen driving away from the city and into a wooded areaand Deckard thinks he sees his unicorn galloping in the woodsbefore a large pullback reveals that the wooded area turns into a desert. The car stops for a moment and then drives off into the desolate landscape. By the end of the shoot, time and money prevented this from being filmed. The new version of the film was then previewed at San Diegoto a very upbeat response. This however, was believed to be generated by the atmosphere of the screeningsci-fi fans populated the theater and the cast and crew of the film attended, which resulted in an exciting mood. Hence, when the film was much better received, Warners believed that Fords overexplanatory narration and the new happy ending had turned the tide. The film was released in 1982 to lukewarm reviews and bad box office, but nonetheless it quickly built up a cult following. In 1989, a film preservationist named Michael Arick accidentally stumbled across a 70mm version of Blade Runner in the Warners archives. It was put aside until 1990 when an LA film festival requested a 70mm copy of the filmand Aricks discovered print was the only 70mm print on hand. Thus it was delivered to the Los Angeles Fairfax Theater unchecked and unwatchedbut what unspooled on the screen was not what anyone had expected: a version of Blade Runner that none had seen. It was actually a lost copy of the Workprint which was previewed in Denver and Dallas in 1982. The audience was ecstatic and all screenings of this rare print sold out. Arick showed the print to Scott himself, who was pleased that it was closer to his original version of the film than the theatrical version, which had slowly drifted out of his control; ideas were bandied about restoring the print for wider release as a directors cut. The print ended up being booked for more festivals, and when tickets began selling out weeks in advance, the press began to take notice. Seeing that there was a large audience for the print, Warners became active in promoting it and arranged large limited engagements in theaters across the United States, which broke house-records for those in which it was booked. Neither Arick nor Scott were aware that this was happening, and Scott had a number of reservations about the release when he finally found out in 1991. He not only felt that the rough print was not up to the technical standards of a release (having rough picture and temp sound), but he didnt like that it was being advertised as a directors cut. It was then proposed by Scott that the workprint be re-constructed and professionally finished using the original negatives so that the film would retain the polish he strove so hard for, and the unicorn sequence put back in. Arick and Scott then teamed up and decided to create a new, directors approved version of the film that was unlike either the workprint or the theatrical version and had all the elements that Scott wanted. But, alas, these plans fell by the waysidein the confusion of negotiating the release, a second version of the film was being worked on simultaneously: a restored version of the workprint. Since the deal had been to deliver a director-approved version of the film Scott threatened to disown the film if this was released. In August of 1992 a compromise was made: if Arick could deliver Scotts directors cut by the announced date of September 1992, then it would be released in place of the workprint. That left an unbelievably short window of time, and if they were late the remastered workprint would be released instead. With a mere month to be made in, and with Scott also busy on 1492 (1992), the 1992 Directors Cut was not quite what it purported to bebut it was closer than the workprint. Using the theatrical cut as a working base, Fords narration was first stripped away completely, the happy ending cut out and finally the unicorn dream re-inserted, the primary change that Scott was adamant about. The original version of the unicorn scene could not be found but a dupe-print of an alternate angle was discovered and hastily inserted into the film. That, essentially, was the directors cut that found much success when it debuted in theaters and on video that year. 
A truer version of the film still lingered somewhereArick and Scott had made a bigger list of changes, and early efforts were made to instate these in 1992 before the release fell apart. In 2000, however, Scott returned to the film to make a true directors cut. He began re-cutting the film and was practically done before legal rights issues again prompted the deal to fall apart, but eventually it was given a go againand that is what we will now be seeing later this year. By then the original version of the unicorn scene was located, and Scott also had a chance to fine-tune the editing of certain scenes since the removal of narration left some shots lingering. Additions from the workprint were put back in the filmnotably in the Snake Pit club sceneand modern digital technology allowed Scott to correct at least three noticeable flaws in 2006: actress Joanna Cassidy was refilmed and her face inserted over the obvious stunt double in her death scene, Harrison Fords lips altered (using his son) to eliminate lip-flap due to dubbing in the scene with the snake dealer (a change Arick and Scott had proposed in 1992), and wires holding up the practical spinner vehicle removed; the shot of the dove when Batty dies has apparently been altered so as to keep the sky dark and consistent. Arick and Scotts original proposed changes also included re-instating a deleted scene where Deckard visits Holden in the hospital, but the soundtrack for this couldnt be located at the time, and they had also planned on restoring gore that was cut out of the American version but present in international cutsit remains to be seen if these two additions will find their way into the final cut. In any case, when the film premieres on video and in select theatres this fall it will represent a vision of the film twenty-five years in the making, the true directors version of Blade Runner. The video release will also come in various deluxe packages and include four previous versions of the film. For those keeping track: Workprint used in preview screenings in Denver and Dallas; contains different editing in some sequences, some alternate dialog, only one instance of voice-over, no unicorn and no happy ending. The press release called this a restored workprint, and thus is probably the cleaned-up version prepared in 1992 but never releasedwhether it will contain the temp music originally included remains to be seen. Theatrical cut the version premiered in North America in 1982, with voice over and happy ending. International cut the version premiered overseas and featuring a few seconds of extra violence not seen in the American version. Directors Cut hastily assembled in late 1992. Contains the unicorn and no narration or happy ending. Final Cut begun in 2000 and released in 2007, featuring additional editing and refinements from the previous directors cut, digital corrections to technical flaws and the original unicorn scene.