The movie Ridley Scott calls his “most complete and personal film”
The science fiction genre would look a lot different if it weren’t for the innovative mind of British filmmaker Ridley Scott. Responsible for two of the most revolutionary sci-fi movies in cinematic history and two of the most important films of a truly special era for the industry in the 1970s and early 1980s, Scott’s contribution to the genre has been as important as those by H. G. Wells, Philip K. Dick and Stanley Kubrick.
These two movies were 1979’s Alien and 1982’s Blade Runner, back-to-back features made mere years apart that would significantly alter the course of science fiction for the rest of the century. An iconic and distinctive extraterrestrial horror, the 1979 movie introduced a terrifying new force into sci-fi in the form of the Xenomorph. With horrifying beasts that spoke of a fear of sexual violation, Scott’s film took cosmic horror to new levels of disturbing.
Suggesting a darker force at play that wished to toy with its victims before using their bodies for its own benefit of reproduction, a terrifying concept that inspired the slasher craze of the 1980s, Scott’s film slipped nicely into the zeitgeist of cinematic horror. Starring Sigourney Weaver as heroine Ellen Ripley, the film is also celebrated for its feminist roots, with the protagonist often being cited as one of cinema’s greatest female action stars.
It was Scott’s follow-up, however, that he would hold most dear, calling 1982’s Blade Runner his “most complete and personal film” in an interview in 2002 with The Guardian.
Set in 2019 (the screenwriters got their prediction a little off), Scott’s movie takes place in a futuristic version of Los Angeles that’s teeming with androids, aliens and a multitude of flying cars. The story follows police officer Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford), who is tasked with pursuing and terminating four androids (named replicants) who have stolen a spaceship in the hopes of discovering their creator.
Whilst Alien had relied on a masterful creature design from Swiss artist H.R. Giger, the success of Blade Runner instead hinged on state-of-the-art effects from the finest minds in the industry. As the filmmaker told Wired in 2007: “My special effect was the world. That’s why I put together people like [industrial designer] Syd Mead, who were actually serious futurists. The big test is saying, draw me a car in 30 years’ time without it looking like bad science fiction. Or, draw me an electric iron that will be pressing shirts in 20 years without it looking silly”.
Speaking further about the film’s distinctive design, he adds: “I wanted the world to be futuristic and yet feel — not familiar because it won’t be — but feel authentic. One of the hardest sets to design was the kitchen. It’s easy to fantasize about Tyrell’s giant neo-Egyptianesque boardroom, but imagining a bathroom and kitchen in those times, that’s tricky. Nevertheless, fascinating. I love the problem”.
Still a beloved science fiction flick, Blade Runner has inspired filmmakers like Christopher Nolan, Steven Spielberg and Denis Villeneuve, remaining a classic of the genre to this very day. Villeneuve adored the film so much that he created a sequel named Blade Runner 2049 in 2017, with Ford returning to the cast alongside Ryan Gosling, Jared Leto and Ana de Armas.
