Denis Villeneuve got Blade Runner 2049 because Ridley Scott was juggling projects and Harrison Ford was sick of waiting.
For the longest time, it didn’t seem like a sequel to 1982’s Blade Runner would ever happen, only coming into the realm of possibility decades later. And there was only one man for the job: original director Ridley Scott, who had long desired to get a sequel to Blade Runner going. But as we all know, Scott would become too busy toiling with his Alien franchise to commit to the film. Enter Denis Villeneuve, who took the opportunity to helm Blade Runner 2049 even though he was almost certain it could tank his career.
Denis Villeneuve was initially hesitant to take on Blade Runner 2049 – and is still haunted by it – but saw the challenge as just what his career needed at the time. “I said, ‘OK, if I do one big sci-fi movie, and I risk everything, that’s beautiful. To make a sequel to my favorite film is a beautiful way to end my career…I thought it was very romantic.” Of course, the film offered an entirely new path for Villeneuve, who would next be given the opportunity to reinvent the Dune franchise, the most recent installment of which is one of the highest-grossing films of this year. Blade Runner 2049, meanwhile, would take in more than $250 million worldwide.
As for how Villeneuve became just the right guy for Blade Runner 2049, he remembered, “When I was doing Prisoners, one day [execs] stopped the meetings and siad, ‘Sorry. Ridley Scott is in the next room. We’re not supposed to tell you but we’re doing a sequel to Blade Runner.’ I said, ‘Wow.’…Then, when I was doing Sicario, I got a call. Ridley is the most prolific, over-busy director. And when I direct one movie, Ridley does three things. I think that Harrison Ford was tired of waiting.”
Reluctantly moving away from Blade Runner 2049, Ridley Scott would end up pumping out six movies since 2017, from Alien: Covenant to this fall’s Gladiator II.
How do you think Denis Villeneuve did with Blade Runner 2049? Should Ridley Scott have been the one to direct it? Chime in in the comments section below.