1187hunterwasser:

‘Rather than rely on sketches, the EEG art department used frame blowups of various filmed elements to try out various concepts for the wide vistas of Los Angeles in 2019 (dubbed “Megacity” by the EEG FX crew). By using photos of elements they had already shot, the artists could come up with several different concepts by arranging the cutouts of the various elements. These concepts served as a guide for the matte paintings that were used in the final composite.’ 

Up: One of the frame blowups / Down: Syd Mead’s concept painting in combination with a frame blowup.

1187hunterwasser:

Blade Runner opening sequence (FX Storyboards)

Originally, Roy Batty (Rutger Hauer) was to have a lengthy monologue just prior to his death, as written by David Webb Peoples. Hauer felt this didn’t help in creating any dramatic impact in the scene, so he removed much, keeping the pieces he liked, and then added the last two lines, “All those moments will be lost like tears in rain. Time to die.”

The rooftop chase climax was a combination of live-action shots of Harrison Ford combined with a matte painting.

The term replicants is used nowhere in Philip K. Dick’s writing. The creatures in the source novel are called Androids or Andies. The movie abandoned these terms, fearing they would sound comical spoken on screen. Replicants came from David Webb Peoples’ daughter, Risa, who was studying microbiology and biochemistry. She introduced her father to the theory of replication - the process whereby cells are duplicated for cloning purposes.

Although for many years, Harrison Ford refused to talk about the film, he did contribute to the 2007 DVD documentary Dangerous Days: Making Blade Runner, claiming he has reconciled with Ridley Scott and made his peace with the film. In fact, Ford says the thing he remembers most is not the grueling shoot or the arguments with his director, but being forced to record the voiceover which executive producers Jerry Perenchio and Bud Yorkin insisted be in the film. Ford doesn’t actually mention any names, but in discussing the voiceover which was used in the theatrical cut, he says it was written by “clowns”. In actual fact, Darryl Ponicsan was initially hired to write it, but his version was tossed out. Then Roland Kibbee was hired and his version is the one that was used. According to David Peoples and Hampton Fancher, who had become close friends, when they first saw the film, they each thought the other had written it, and despite the fact that they both hated it, they told one another they loved it for fear of insulting the other’s feelings.

After Pris (Daryl Hannah) first meets Sebastian (William Sanderson), she runs away from him, skidding into his car and smashing the window with her elbow. This was a genuine mistake caused by Hannah slipping on the wet ground. The glass wasn’t breakaway glass, it was real glass, and Hannah chipped her elbow in eight places.

Exasperated crew members often referred to the film as “Blood Runner”.

Director Ridley Scott and actor Harrison Ford had disagreements about the script almost from the very start. Ford hated the voiceover which Scott was proposing and he was against the idea that Deckard may be a replicant, feeling it undercut the human story of Deckard discovering his lost humanity (Rutger Hauer agreed completely with Ford on this point). According to Ford, Ridley Scott and he agreed prior to shooting that Deckard was not a replicant, but then Scott went and shot it to imply he could be, which disappointed both Ford and Hauer.