Ridley Scott’s sour grapes over ‘Blade Runner 2049’: “I have to be careful what I say”
Sequels are quite often cursed. Even a seasoned pro like Ridley Scott struggles to get the dreaded sequel right.
What is it that makes a perfect follow-up? When Quentin Tarantino was talking about trilogies, he explained that he believes any films which come after an original shouldn’t just replicate the formula of the first, rather, they should elevate the original and create something new in the process. He obviously managed to achieve this with Kill Bill, but the movie franchise he credited with perfecting the sequel was when Clint Eastwood teamed up with Sergio Leone.
“I think there’s only one trilogy that completely and utterly works to the Nth degree, and that’s A Fistful of Dollars, For a Few Dollars More, and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly,” he said, “It does what no other trilogy has ever been quite able to do […] The first movie is terrific, but the second movie is so great and takes the whole idea to such a bigger canvas that it obliterates the first one. And then the third one does the same thing to the second one, and that’s kind of what never happens.”
Of course, while that might be Quentin Tarantino’s opinion, there are plenty of sequels out there that people hail as being as good as, if not better than, the original. One of these came in the form of Blade Runner 2049, the sequel to the sci-fi classic that was made with Harrison Ford and Ryan Gosling.
Blade Runner will always be considered a classic piece of science fiction. Originally based on the novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, the film took the complicated concept laid out in the Philip K Dick book and brought it to the silver screen. Harrison Ford’s performance is often hailed as being a classic; meanwhile, the closing “tears in the rain” speech has gone down in cinema history as being one of the greatest final scenes of all time.
Naturally, there were a lot of rolled eyes when it was announced a sequel was in the works, followed by the regular complaints about how filmmakers should just try to leave original entertainment alone and instead try to come up with new ideas. However, Blade Runner 2049 brought with it a brand new storyline, it wasn’t a blatant continuation of the original, and instead introduced a new story to fans that was incredibly well received… by most.
Ridley Scott, who wrote and directed the original adaptation, wasn’t a huge fan of the sequel. When he was asked for his opinion on what most people thought was a pretty solid film, Scott didn’t hold back with his critique. “I have to be careful what I say. I have to be careful,” he said, “It was fucking way too long. Fuck me! And most of that script’s mine.”
Scott went on to say that he helped write the majority of the script that ended up making it into the movie; however, he isn’t credited as he doesn’t like going through the process of proving he was in the writer’s room. “I sit with writers for an inordinate amount of time and I will not take credit,” he said, “Because it means I’ve got to sit there with a tape recorder while we talk.”
Despite helping out with a lot of the script, Scott wound up not enjoying the final cut of the movie, saying it was way too long for the plot.
