October November Live Magazine

What about Jared Leto joining the
cast?
When I read the screenplay, Francine
Maisler, the casting director
and I, had an epiphany. Wallace
should be played by David Bowie.
And we said to ourselves, that’s it.
It’s him, it’s going to be a long shot
to get him, but let’s try it. Davie
Bowie is like an icon that could had
inspired Blade Runner.
It made total sense for us to try
to bring him back in this world. As
deeply painful as it was for all of us
in the world to lose such a fantastic
artist, I felt in an intimate way also
that it was like we had a muse, an
ideal. I had to find someone that
would have the same qualities as
David Bowie.
Which is not easy to find, you know.
That kind of striking magnetism,
that madness behind the eyes,
that wish to transform yourself and
to create a character bigger than
life. And then Jared Leto came onboard.
I heard stories that one of
the first things he did when he won
his Academy Award was he went to
Alcon and said, I want to be part of
Blade Runner.”
Jared was very interested to play
that part. To play Neander Wallace
is a very tough part, because it’s a
character that will deal with an insane
amount of dialogues. Very difficult
to say. And I needed an actor
that has a kind of strength to embrace
those speeches and to bring
them to life with poetry.
And what can I say? I chose a rock
star, and he just blew us away. It was
very impressive to see him working.
You chose Dave Bautista for Sapper
Morton and made some movie
magic happen.
Dave was one of the first names
that came up, because he’s such a
charismatic and strong presence.
I needed someone that would be
like a giant, but a gentle giant that
can be also a scary giant. I needed
someone that, when you see him at
first, you have empathy for him.
How does the new film relate to the
original in terms of visual style? The
original had an iconic look. How important
was it for you to tie the two
films together visually?
That was one of the big challenges,
to tie both movies visually, and
at the same time create something
that has its own identity. We all felt
the same pressure and the same
responsibility to honor the first movie,
Ridley’s work, but at the same
time to make our own movie coming
out of this universe.
So the good news is that the
screenplay was allowing me to get
out of Los Angeles. And that gave
me the opportunity to think about
what the world will look alike around
the vicinity of the city. The areas
around California, to dream about
this place and to make sure that
it will be logical from an aesthetic
point of view. But at the same time
it will bring a different look to the
movie.
There was one element that, for me,
was deeply inspiring, and that was
the fact that the climate will have
totally changed between both movies.
First movie was more inspired
by bad days in London where Ridley
is coming from. Me, I’m coming from
Montreal. So, the movie is more inspired
by bad days in Montreal,
where it’s all snow and sludge and
cold. And that necessarily brought
visually a difference in the atmosphere
and in the color palette.
And you bring us to Las Vegas, what
can you say about that?
One of the big challenges of the
movie was to recreate another city.
What would Las Vegas look like in
2049? And for that there was only
one man that could give me the
answer. I went back to the original
creator of Blade Runner, the main
dreamer, the architect of Blade
Runner. I went back to Syd Mead.
I felt that he was the only one who
could bring Las Vegas into the Blade
Runner universe. I met the master
I explained my challenge and
he agreed to help me. He brought
back those insanely beautiful views
of Las Vegas that I’m very proud of.
And that I know that honestly, no
matter what people think about the
movie, I know that Las Vegas, the
Las Vegas we created, is a Blade
Runner Las Vegas. I’m very happy
about that. [LAUGHS]
Let’s talk about the sets. Whose
idea was it to have these practical
sets?
It’s a decision that came early in the
film process, that we would use as
little green screen as possible. That
we would use as many practical
sets as possible, and real vehicles