Blade Runner The Final Cut Sir Ridley Scott, Rutger Hauer and Edward James Olmos

This year marks the 25th Anniversary of Blade Runner and to mark the mementos occasion, Blade Runner - The Final Cut has been released. The film recently premiered at the Venice International Film Festivalwhere Sir Ridley Scott told reporters that this is the "movie I really intended to release". Additionsinclude new and improved special effects and never-before-seen scenes that Scott added specificallyfor the new edition. (Deckards replicant status is still unclear however). The film looks stunning andScott received a ten-minute standing ovation, a considerably different reception to what occurred aquarter of a century ago. Back then it was deemed a failure and yanked from cinemas to make way forSpielbergs ET. Gaynor Flynn caught up with Sir Ridley Scott, Rutger Hauer and Edward James Olmos atthe ritzy Italian festival, and hes what they had to say 25 years on

Gaynor Flynn: What was going on in your life back then?

Ridley Scott: Well I was extremely successful inadvertising, extremely. So I could afford to be myown completion bonds and I could pay for the dealsbasically. But my first engagement in feature filmwould be The Duellists and then the next one was Alienso the beginning of the film career was pretty damngood. So when I was going to Hollywood to do thisfilm which was based on a novel by Philip K Dickcalled Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep at first Isaid no because it was another science fiction. I wasmixing Alien and I thought I dont want to do anothersci-fi and to cut a long story short I said you knowwhat, leave it with me. Ill come out and see youguys. So came out and met Hampton Fancher who was verybright and great fun so I got on board.


Gaynor Flynn: At the time was it regarded as a disappointment or asuccess?

Ridley Scott: A disappointment. Lots of cult fanatics and freakswrote me lots of letters basically saying we loved themovie but for the general audience which when youreat $22 million youre making it for the generalaudience, that was a failure. I think, we barelybroke even.


Gaynor Flynn: What was your reaction at the time?

Ridley Scott: I was really devastated. That was thefirst time I went through that very bad disappointmentand out o that you evolve and clear your head andafter that the mantra is its only a movie.


Gaynor Flynn: Its aged superbly well, why do you think its had thatlongevity?

Ridley Scott: I think its way ahead of its time. Ithink what it did it side stepped us from the viewthat space is always about space ships and the futureis always about spaceships. And whilst theyve havebeen films about the urban future, there was a Frenchfilm in fact with Eddie Constantine called Alfavillebut they age pretty badly. The one I loved most wasOn the Beach. The original writer was Neville Shute,and it was made it into a very, very good movie withGregory Peck and Ava Gardner. It didnt play wellbecause everyone felt it was really depressing becauseit was about the end of the world, really well done. Ithink the same thing with Blade Runner, I think theyfound the future mechanics of what Ive donedepressing. Funny enough we touch on all kinds of shitlike global warming and pollution.

Rutger Hauer: I think the movie is better than what itwas before. I think its a more honest movie in a waybut I havent seen Ridley in 20 years and when I hearhim talk its really nice to hear that this is whatthey were hoping to do in the beginning.


Gaynor Flynn: Have you seen the movie in the last 25 years?

Rutger Hauer: Ive seen the directors cut when it cameout in 1982. And there was a voice over in the scriptand the first thing we did when the writer was therewas say get the voice over out of the way. Its funnyhow people got use to the voice over but I never gotuse to it but I never think it was telling me anythingI needed to know in order to watch the movie more. SoIve seen it a couple of times over the last threedecades.


Gaynor Flynn: Blade Runner turned you into a sex symbol didnt it?

Rutger Hauer: What are you going to do? You know Ijust go to work and play and thats what I do. Itsbeyond me why you can do that for so long because mostpeople cant but it seems like I can so I do and Ilike it.


Gaynor Flynn: What was your life like 25 years ago?

Rutger Hauer: Youll have to buy my autobiography. Its out soon.


Gaynor Flynn: What about a thumbnail sketch?

Rutger Hauer: Well I was an actor with a repertorytheatre company for four years after acting school. Iwas acting in a small company out in nowhere basicallybecause I wasnt sure about acting anyway and Ithought I dont think Ill learn much in school andmaybe with this little company that does relativelyconventional plays like Beckett and Pinter I will.They were playing for farmers, that was the charm forme. They would bring the theatre out into the countryrather than asking the country to come into thesetemples we create for our f***** selves and I thoughtit was interesting. And I got discovered by some guywho came to see a performance and there was a fencingscene in there and I was a pretty good fencer and hesaw that and said thats pretty amazing. He said wellit so happens Ive written this Robin Hood series andits going to go on television and you would be a goodchoice. He said can you ride a horse? I said yeahIve been riding horses since I was 14 so that was howI got discovered for film.


Gaynor Flynn: What was Harrison Ford like to work with? He was ahuge star at the time?

Rutger Hauer: Yeah he was an established star and Ithink he was having trouble with Ridley. I dont knowthey just seemed to not click together and I felt thatbut I five scenes with him and all of them are tiny. He hits me over the head once, he saves me on theroof, he shoots me well big fucking deal and hemisses, what else do I have with him? On the otherside of the wall that was not him on the other side ofthe wall, so I think I literally had two days where Ihad one scene with him, I never saw the guy, he wasworking hard. I have no idea really. Weird, but true.Actors dont hang out. The most creative part ofmaking a movie is before you start, you get to sniff acouple of your colleagues and then the moment you hitthe set youre too busy, and now you shoot reallyfast, theyre possessed.


Gaynor Flynn: Were you nervous about making this film?

Rutger Hauer: Yeah I was nervous. There are momentsfor every actor in the shooting when you know that youhave the part and I have to say that over the yearsits a great feeling when you start a movie and youknow you have the part but most of the time you dontand then theres a moment that you find it. With thisfilm I had to start to kill my father the f******. Ihad to kill him and it was such a complicated scene,and such an operatic scene and so complex and so bigthats the scene that I had to start with. But youreally have to buy my autobiography, its out thisyear and a lot of Blade Runners in there.


Gaynor Flynn: What was going on in your life 25 years ago. What doyou recall?

James Edward Olmos: I for one felt the film was a greatcommentary on the society we live in and thats why Ichose to do it. I dont know if youve seen any of myfilms, theyre entertaining but they have substance. Thats the only kind of film I make and this was avery important film at the time and still is becausewhere were going with our lives we could honestly endup with technology trying to kill us. For four yearsweve been doing Battlestar Gallatica which isliterally walk through the door that Blade Runneropened in 1982, it deals with man creating technologythat comes back to kill them. But for me this film 25years ago reads stronger today than on the day wefinished it.


Gaynor Flynn: At the time was it a tough call to do the film or not?

James Edward Olmos: 25 years ago, early on in your career, did you get anyadvice on whether to do it not, was it considered a good career move at the time?


Gaynor Flynn: 25 years ago, early on in your career, did you get anyadvice on whether to do it not, was it considered agood career move at the time?

James Edward Olmos: I just knew Ridley Scott was making it,Id seen The Duellist, Id seen Alien. The man wasvery strong and so that was good because Im hard towork with. Anybody whose worked with me will say thesame thing. Why am I hard to work with? Im hard towork with because I really have the best interest ofthe project Im working on therefore all of us shouldwe all not try and make this the best projectpossible? So Ill go up to a director and say excuseme sir why are you putting the camera there? What domean why am I putting the camera there? Yes why areyou putting the camera there, I want to learn. Why areyou doing that?


Gaynor Flynn: Directors love you then....

James Edward Olmos: They hate me. Ridley loved me. So I lovedworking with Ridley became when I came in he did notbecome afraid of me.


Gaynor Flynn: We know Daryl Hannah suggested the idea of thegymnastics because she was gymnast. Did you make anysuggestions that were incorporated into the film?

James Edward Olmos: I suggested the usage of language thatcreated city-speak. Ridley didnt run from it heembraced it. It became part of the whole spectrum ofhis culture. When I introduced the Asianess of thestory, he loved it.


Gaynor Flynn: What was going on in your life 25 years ago?

James Edward Olmos: I for one felt the film was a greatcommentary on the society we live in and thats why Ichose to do it. I dont know if youve seen any of myfilms, theyre entertaining but they have substance. Thats the only kind of film I make and this was avery important film at the time and still is becausewhere were going with our lives we could honestly endup with technology trying to kill us. For four yearsweve been doing Battlestar Gallatica which isliterally walk through the door that Blade Runneropened in 1982, it deals with man creating technologythat comes back to kill them. But for me this film 25years ago reads stronger today than on the day wefinished it.


Gaynor Flynn: Were you still playing in rock and roll bands?

James Edward Olmos: I was still playing in rock and rollbands and starring on Broadway on a piece thatlaunched my career. Its probably one of the mostprolific characters in the theatre today. The AmericanTheatre Wing, which hands out the Tonys and is thecurator for all the theatre for the last 150 years orso in the USA, it proclaimed the character I developedin 1978 has been one of the three most prolificcharacters ever to rise on the American stage. TheresStanley Kowalski from Street Car, theres Willie Lomanand theres El Pachuco from Zoot Suit. Thats where Icame from. Id done 18 years of theatre by the time Igot to Ridley. Id done one movie before I didRidleys and that was Wolfen with Albert Finney.


Gaynor Flynn: Daryl how about you, what was your life like 25 yearsago?

Daryl Hannah: I was a teenager I was going to collegeand Id just moved out to LA to continue working inmovies.


Gaynor Flynn: Moved from where?

Daryl Hannah: Moved from Chicago. I was going to USC.I was lying to my teachers that I was sick because Ithought Id get in trouble if I told them I was in amovie so I dropped out for the semester while I madethe movie and I like had to repeat the semester likethree times cause I kept having to drop out to doother movies. I was living in a one room flat withRachel Ward who tested for the part of Rachaelactually, so we were both screen testing for the samemovie together. I was really excited about being inmovies because I just wanted to live in an imaginaryworld all the time and that be my job.


Gaynor Flynn: Were you a fan of science fiction?

Daryl Hannah: I liked anything based in imaginationand thats a world thats definitely based inimagination. Anything that was fabricated and awayfrom reality.


Gaynor Flynn: Why did you want to escape?

Daryl Hannah: Just because I was a kid who lived in my imaginationanyway so I just wanted to have the sets and costumesto do it rather than just do it in my head. And BladeRunner was exactly that. Id look around me and therewere these massive sets and every prop was like amuseum piece. Every corner, everywhere you looked, thedetail, things you never even saw on screen that werejust so unbelievable, it was great I didnt have towork at all I was in another world. And thats what Ithought it was going to be like and thats when peopleask me whats my favourite movie its Blade Runnerbecause its the most of what I wanted movie making tobe like.