“Why Did I Do That?”: Blade Runner 2049 Gets Candid Reflection From Denis Villeneuve 7 Years Later

As he continues to grow a different sci-fi universe, Denis Villeneuve is looking back on his experience making Blade Runner 2049. The 2017 movie served as a legacy sequel to Ridley Scott’s 1982 classic adaptation of Phillip K. Dick’s Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, chronicling the journey of modern replicant K as he untangles a deep conspiracy surrounding Harrison Ford’s Rick Deckard. Also led by Ryan Gosling, Ana de Armas and Sylvia Hoeks, the movie garnered widespread acclaim on release, but was a box office disappointment, only grossing $267.5 million against its reported $185 million production budget.

While speaking with The Hollywood Reporter for Dune: Part Two‘s release, Villeneuve reflected on his time with Blade Runner 2049. The filmmaker spoke candidly about some of his concerns with initially making the sequel, hailing Scott’s original as a “masterpiece” and recalling having the original director’s involvement, and revealing a major lesson he took away from the experience. Check out what Villeneuve said below:

Blade Runner is one of my favorite films, and it’s absolutely a masterpiece. Ridley Scott is one of my favorite filmmakers, and even though he had given his blessing, it was very important for me to hear it and see it in his eyes that he was OK with me doing the movie at the time. But I was constantly thinking about the original film as I was making Blade Runner 2049. It was impossible not to. So 2049 was really a love letter to the first film, but it was by far one of the most difficult projects I’ve ever done, and I don’t think I will ever approach someone else’s universe again. I still wake up sometimes at night, saying, “Why did I do that?” I’d declined a few other projects of that scale, but at the time, I said to myself, “It’s a crazy project, but it’s worth the risk of losing everything.”

Blade Runner 2049 Was An Important Step In Villeneuve’s Career

Prior to Villeneuve’s coming onboard the movie, Blade Runner 2049 had endured an infamously lengthy development cycle, with licensing rights and various creative changes delaying the sequel’s arrival. Interestingly, Villeneuve also isn’t the only filmmaker who has expressed some uncertainty over the movie’s production, with Scott himself having previously stated he wished he had shot the movie. The original director departed the sequel in favor of making Alien: Covenant, which similarly underperformed at the box office, but was far more divisively received by critics and audiences alike.

Despite his reservations, however, Villeneuve making Blade Runner 2049 was ultimately an important step in his growing career at the time. The Oscar nominee had already explored the world of the sci-fi genre plenty prior to the sequel with the likes of the Jake Gyllenhaal-led Enemy as well as the acclaimed Amy Adams and Jeremy Renner-starring Arrival. Unlike some of these projects, though, Blade Runner 2049 was Villeneuve’s first big-budget effort, with a comparison to his various other releases below:

Considering Villeneuve’s ultimate dream was to bring Frank Herbert’s Dune franchise to life on the big screen with his movie duology, understanding the ins and outs of a big budget project in the vein of Blade Runner 2049 was a necessary step for the filmmaker prior to it. Moreover, the fact that Villeneuve was so easily able to step into another creative’s universe and bring his own take to it while also staying true to the original was the best sign that he would be the right person to re-adapt Dune for modern viewers.

Blade Runner 2049

R

Sci-Fi

Action

Drama

Mystery

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Set thirty years after the original film, Blade Runner 2049 is a sci-fi neo-noir film by the director of Dune, Denis Villeneuve. The film follows LAPD replicant officer K, who discovers a devastating secret that could throw society into total chaos. To stop a potential war between replicants and humans, he’ll need to locate missing former blade runner Rick Deckard and uncover the truth.

Director

Denis Villeneuve

Release Date

October 6, 2017

Studio(s)

Warner Bros. Pictures

Distributor(s)

Warner Bros. Pictures

Writers

Michael Green , Hampton Fancher

Cast

Ryan Gosling , Harrison Ford , Jared Leto , Ana De Armas , Robin Wright , Lennie James , Dave Bautista , Carla Juri , Hiam Abbass , Barkhad Abdi , David Dastmalchian , Mackenzie Davis , Sylvia Hoeks

prequel(s)

Blade Runner

Budget

$150 Million