Now, the real reason I got up early and schlepped to this panel: Blade Runner: The Final Cut. It'll be out December 18th, and it's been eagerly awaited for years. Charlie has three discs worth of stuff to show us, and I'm gauging whether or not I can run up to the stage, grab the discs, and make it to the door before the security goona grab me. Anyhow, there are five versions of the film included in this set : the Final Cut: The Orginal Cut (with voiceover and happy ending): the International Cut; the 1992 Director's Cut, and the Work Print. Over 47 minutes of deleted scenes, things like unused Harrison Ford voiceover tracks, and more. There's also a three hour documentary included, called "Dangerous Days: Making Blade Runner" Well, I know where the money in my wallet is going.
Charlie got to wade through boxes and boxes of dailies from the film, unseen scenes, and a wealth of information. They produced the documentary, and got to talk to pretty much every that was ever involved with the film. When they interview Edward James Olmos, he says, "Did you get Harrison?" Well, the answer is yes. They did. They showed an extremely short clip of Harrison from the documentary saying "It was a bitch." Cue giant applause.
He also showed us some new and old footage from the movie, complete with some of the never-used Harrison Ford voiceover. It's totally like seeing a brand new movie. 95% of the scene was alternate takes, different angles, and new shots. Awesome stuff. He also pulled out a clip of the Joanna Cassidy scenes, which were reshot for this special edition. She was greenscreened into the special edition, and looks back in character, but sadly the DVD decided not to cooperate and we only saw a few seconds before it got chewed up. Still, I'm impressed that they shot new scenes for this. If you watch the original, you can see that there is clearly a stuntwoman playing Zhora in those scenes, and this is a great fix.
They also brought in Harrison Ford's son Benjamin Ford to reshoot the scene with Abdul Ben Assan, the snake dealer, which is famously out of sync. Hopefully this won't Star Wars: Special Edition-these up like Lucas did by adding in a CGI Jabba the Hutt, but so far it looks amazing.
josh [email] said at 2:03 AM 07-27-2007: October 5 is when Mr. Scott's Blade Runner: The Final Cut will hit a few theaters in New York and L.A. The rest of us will have to wait until December 18, which is when Warner Bros. Home Video aims to release three separate editions of the movie's long-awaited "definitive" cut. Here's the platter breakdown:
1. The two-disc Special Edition, which will probably run you about 18 bucks.
2. The four-disc Collector's Edition, which has two more discs and therefore a lot more stuff.
3. The five-disc Ultimate Collector's Edition, which will contain all of the above plus a fifth disc AND some "Deckard Briefcase" packaging. More those hardcore sci-fi mega-nerds out there. (Hiya fellas. See you at Best Buy.)
Regarding the new version of the film, it's been remastered, rescored, and all kinds of rejiggered -- hopefully for the best. (Long-running complaints about voice-over narration and origami aside, It's not like the last version was really "lacking," now was it?) New scenes and dialog have been added; effects have been polished; you name it. Extras-wise, sheesh. Where to begin? Audio commentaries, a 3.5 (!) hour retrospective documentary and (deep breath) "hours of enhanced content containing featurettes and galleries devoted to over 45 minutes of deleted and alternate scenes recently discovered in deep storage and approved by Ridley Scott, visual effects as well as background on author Philip K. Dick, script development, abandoned sequences, conceptual design, overall impact of the film and how it lead to the birth of cyberpunk. Trailers, TV spots and promotional featurettes will also be included." Whew!
brad [email] said at 12:57 PM 07-27-2007: I honestly don't see why people are so crazy about this movie. It's a visually stunning film, but there's nothing too amazing about the plot. I enjoyed it, but it's not something I really care to see again. The book it's based on is far more interesting.
brad [email] said at 2:41 PM 07-27-2007: It just didn't do much for me. I like character driven movies too, but to me, even the characters were a little underdeveloped.
josh [email] said at 3:09 PM 07-27-2007: not every movie has to be character driven either. i wouldn't say bladerunner was character driven or really plot driven. its an atmosphere and mood movie mostly.
reggie [email] said at 6:02 PM 07-27-2007: I'm actually in agreement with you to a degree. I've only seen BR once and that was years ago. It didn't blow me away then but given how much it's revered I've always been willing to give it another chance. The only reason I've waited is because I started hearing murmurs about this version.
neilbert said at 3:41 PM 07-27-2007: Blade Runner is also having a "showcase" run in L.A. and NYC in the theaters; in 4k digital projection. Cocks at WB should release Blade Runner wide, as it could only make them money. I saw Blade Runner on the Big Screen in 1992 for the "director's cut" and it was fucking amazing; the detail in that movie is unrivaled.
chrisx [email] said at 6:41 PM 07-27-2007: One of my 5 all time favorites.
Of course this destroys the value of my laserdisc versions of the international cut, the director's cut, and the Criterion version- but so what?? I will watch every minute of this Ultimate Wet Dream DVD Collection!
Truly, seeing it on the big screen would be best. I saw the Director's Cut in the theater several times and the original as well(perks of being old).
milky [email] said at 2:20 PM 07-29-2007: I'm glad they put the workprint in. The version I'd stumbled on somehwere online was C-/D+ quality from a camcorder.
The chances of someone giving this another theatrical go look slim... if so, it will be so limited, I'll never get a looksee.
I saw the international cut on cable roughly two dozen times when I was young, the VHS theatrical more times than I can remember, and the Director's Cut many, many times.
I'll watch the hell out of this and covet it like no other in my collection.
