Director Christopher Nolan states that he believes the theatrical cut of sci-fi classic Blade Runner is the definitive version of the film. Blade Runner, originally released in 1982, has come to be regarded as one of the most influential sci-fi films of all time. The movie helmed by Ridley Scott and based on the Philip K. Dick novel Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep tells the tale of Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford), a Blade Runner who must hunt down man-made beings known as Replicants after they illegally return to Earth to confront their creator. While the film was not an immediate hit, Blade Runner has gone on to become a cult classic and even spawned a highly acclaimed sequel from Dune director Denis Villeneuve.
Blade Runner is one of those films that is famous for studio meddling, and as such, there are several different cuts. The three most well-known versions of Blade Runner are the Theatrical Cut, the Director’s Cut, and the Final Cut. While it is common for Blade Runner fans to argue over which is the best, most favor 2007’s The Final Cut, as this is the cut that Scott had the most hand in (despite its name, the director’s cut was only assembled using notes from Scott). It’s also true that most fans do not prefer the Theatrical Cut, with reasons varying from the inclusion of a studio-mandated “happy ending” to the voiceover by Deckard. It seems, however, that this is not a universal opinion.
During an interview on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, The Dark Knight and Inception director Nolan states that he believes the Theatrical Cut to be the definitive version of Blade Runner. During the interview, Nolan discusses how he first saw Blade Runner on VHS, since he was too young to see the film in theaters. The movie captured his imagination, and according to Nolan, he watched it “hundreds of times, literally hundreds of times.” While admitting that he knows that Scott is not a fan of the Theatrical Cut, Nolan makes his opinion plain: “It is the best version of the film.” See his full quote below:
It is the best version of the film. It’s imperfect – and it seems presumptuous and I’m a huge fan of Ridley Scott, so I don’t want to go up against his view in a sense – but the reality is, that tension between the marketplace, between the studios, between the fights, the creative stuff that happens when a film goes out, unless they literally pull the film out of the director’s hands and recut it, and bastardize it in some way, I think really the authoritative version of the film tends to be the one that goes out there in theaters.
Nolan goes on to say that, even with the voiceover, there are elements of the Theatrical Cut that he finds he misses when watching subsequent cuts of Blade Runner. For him, unless a studio has taken a film completely “out of the director’s hands and recut it,” the authoritative version of the film tends to be the one that ends up in theaters. In a way, it is not surprising to hear this opinion from Nolan, as he has long been an advocate for the cinema experience in this new era of the ever-growing popularity of streaming services.
Whether fans agree with Nolan’s beliefs about Blade Runner‘s theatrical cut or not, it can’t be denied that the film has had a huge impact on the director. Elements of Blade Runner can be seen throughout his films, from the dark, rainy depiction of Gotham city in Batman Begins to the sheer scale of all of Nolan’s blockbuster projects. Despite Blade Runner‘s theatrical cut being passed over for “better” versions of the film, its influence can be felt throughout one of the 21st centuries most defining filmmakers.
