ITALY: Director Ridley Scott screens a re-edited version of his 1982 hit 'Blade Runner' at Venice Film Festival
- 00:01:26
- ITN Source
ITALY: Director Ridley Scott screens a re-edited version of his 1982 hit 'Blade Runner' at Venice Film Festival
Director Ridley Scott on Saturday (September 01) presented a re-edited version of his cult science fiction thriller 'Blade Runner', 25 years after the film was first released. 'Blade Runner', which takes place in the year 2019, follows policeman Deckard, a "blade runner" trying to catch four artificially created human replicants who have escaped from a space-based colony. The lead role is played by action hero Harrison Ford. While Ford was not present at the Venice Film Festival, where Scott's 'Final Cut' is screening out of competition, cast-members Daryl Hannah, Rutger Hauer and Edward James Olmos were on hand to meet and greet press and fans. Rushing between press appointments, Hauer told Reuters he was not enjoying the festival as he was "working". At a news conference, Scott tried to explain the reasons for re-editing the film which upon its release was nominated for two Academy Awards and various international prizes. " I think too many people started getting involved mainly because the film was so, we now know, the film was so kind of unique in its characterisations and in, I guess, the vision of the movie so when we finished the movie and previewed it, that's what they do in Hollywood, they preview them to find where they are and how they are going market it and what sometimes we forget in Hollywood that previewing is purely a tool, it's not means to the end and the problem is it easily slips sideways into the means to the end and the end itself. I think that's what happened to Blade Runner so out of it came a hybrid version of what I'd originally intended or what we'd originally intended. Consequently, and I'm not saying that was the reason but I think one of the reasons was we had a bad opening, bad previews, confused previews. I was killed by some critics, which was kind of bizarre and anyway then I thought it would be gone away for ever..." the director said. "Are you bored? Should I speed it up? Is this interesting?" he joked. 'Blade Runner: The Final Cut' will be introduced during a special midnight screening at the Venice Film Festival on Saturday, after which it will be launched in New York and Los Angeles in October and released as a collector's edition DVD later in the winter.
ITN Source | September 6, 2007
