“Blade Runner” old notes show that studio execs hated the movie at first

“Blade Runner” old notes show that studio execs hated the movie at first March 16, 2013

On Facebook today the great American film critic Roger Ebert posted a link to this story about what some fans believe is the greatest science fiction movie ever -“Blade Runner” and I’m sharing the REDDIT Salon story here.

One executive’s comment said, “The movie gets worse with every screening.”

Click here to see the actual notes.

“Blade Runner” (1982) was directed by Ridley Scott starring Harrison Ford is loosely based on the 1968 sci-fi novel by Philip K. Dick (1928-1982) “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?” Dick died a few weeks before the movie was released. In 2007 he became the first science fiction writer to be included in the Library of Congress; ten of his films have been made into films such as “The Adjustment Bureau” and “Minority Report”.

Here is a synopsis of “Blade Runner” from Wikipedia

“The film depicts a dystopian (opposite of utopian) Los Angeles in November 2019 in which genetically engineered organic robots called replicants – visually indistinguishable from adult humans – are manufactured by the powerful Tyrell Corporation as well as by other “mega–manufacturers” around the world. Their use on Earth is banned and replicants are exclusively used for dangerous, menial or leisure work on off-world colonies. Replicants who defy the ban and return to Earth are hunted down and “retired” by police special operatives known as “Blade Runners”. The plot focuses on a brutal and cunning group of recently escaped replicants hiding in Los Angeles and the burnt-out expert Blade Runner, Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford), who reluctantly agrees to take on one more assignment to hunt them down.”

As 2019 draws near, the year in which the “Blade Runner” story takes place, the Million Dollar Theater in the Broadway Theater District in Los Angeles is having a special showing on Saturday, March 23. Unfortunately (or fortunately), it’s a sell out; tickets were priced from $18-$50. This theater is the first one ever built by Sid Grauman (1879-1950) who also built the Chinese and Egyptian theaters.

Science fiction is one of the most interesting and satisfying ways for us to exercise our moral imaginations, and often our theological imaginations as well, and to reflect on what it means to be human by considering what is not, or seeks to be.

 

 


Browse Our Archives