STACK #156 Oct 2017

FEATURE CINEMA

As any fan of Blade Runner will know, the music score by Vangelis is as intrinsic to the identity of the film as the noirish mood. Tasked with capturing the essence of Vangelis’s haunting themes for the sequel is Icelandic composer Jóhann Jóhannsson – who has worked with Villeneuve on Sicario and Arrival – along with contributions from Benjamin Wallfisch and Hans Zimmer. “There was a lot of talk [as to whether] we try and do what Vangelis did and design a new sound,” offers Villeneuve. “I felt there’s no Blade Runner without a Vangelis vibe. We worked with a CS-80 – the Vangelis synthesizer – on the movie; it needs these sounds to be alive. We need the Vangelis spirit in the movie, it doesn’t work without it.”

movie, and he said yes right away. He said it’s going to be weird when they realise that two Canadians have hijacked Blade Runner,” he laughs. As a filmmaker, Villeneuve says he looks for inspiration in life, not other movies, and evolving the future world of Blade Runner gave him the opportunity to reflect the present. “The good news is that we are still there in 2049, which is optimistic. For me, good sci- fi is an exploration of today’s world. It’s not interesting in what it says about our future, it’s interesting in what it says about our world today.”

[Ridley] told me he’d be there for me, anytime, but would also leave me alone. It will be my movie, which was very generous

when first offered the project, citing the enormous responsibility and pressure that came with it. “The truth is, at the beginning, I was very excited and touched that they came to me and trusted me,” he says. “Then I read the screenplay and fell in love with the story; I thought it was very powerful. But I was saying to myself, ‘It’s an insane task, dangerous.' I’m used to flirting with disaster but this is another level. Once I said yes, the way to deal with the pressure is that once you accept your chances of success are very small, it becomes a pure artistic gesture of love toward the first movie. When you make a sequel to a masterpiece, once you find that space of peace, you are totally free.” Villeneuve adds that he received the full support of Ridley Scott – who serves as an executive producer on the film – when the pair met to discuss the sequel. “He told me he’d be there for me, anytime, but would also leave me alone. It will be my movie, which was very generous,” he recalls. “I also remember that he shook my hand and looked me in the eyes and said ‘Listen, if you do your homework correctly, that can be fantastic. If you don’t, that can be a disaster.’ And he was right.” Harrison Ford was already onboard when Villeneuve signed on, and the director duly notes that without him, there would be no sequel. “Harrison is part of the DNA of the story – I had to be approved by Harrison Ford, not the other way around,” he laughs. As to Ryan Gosling’s involvement, he says it was co-writer Hampton Fancher’s idea to cast him as the protagonist. “When they gave me the screenplay, they said ‘Listen, you will do

what you want and cast who you want, but we think Ryan Gosling could be a good actor for this.’ And when I read it, it was obvious – it was written for him.” Villeneuve adds that Gosling proved pretty easy to convince. “We had a very long meeting, talking about our love of the first

Blade Runner 2049 is in cinemas on October 5

It’s not easy using green…

“In a movie like this there are a lot of VFX, but the goal was to do as much as possible on camera, meaning there are no virtual sets – all of them have been constructed,” says Villeneuve. “There are very few shots dealing with green screens. We built the apartment and the streets because we wanted to control the lighting, the atmosphere, and the look of the movie on camera, and then add little bits of computer imagery after that. It made for a better relationship between the actors and the world.” The director also makes it clear he’s not a fan of the green screen process. “I tried to work sometimes in the green environments and it sucked out my energy,” he admits. “I admire a director who can do that, but I can’t. I could never make The Jungle Book . I put Amy Adams in a green environment for one day [on Arrival ] and at the end of the day I was so depressed. I’m very old school in that regard, and I had the chance to build everything. But there are still a lot of shots that are only possible with a computer.”

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