Scott Z. Burns Talks Blade Runner Sequel
This article is more than 2 years old
You guys know how Ridley Scott does things. He attaches his name to so many things, it’s impossible to guess which things he’ll actually choose to direct. One that many fans would just as well remain in the “unmade” column is the oft-rumored Blade Runner sequel. Well, here’s some ambiguously positive news that should make everyone’s current feelings on the matter a tad more intensified.
A while back, screenwriter Scott Z. Burns’ name was attached to the new Blade Runner project, and was then quickly denied and brushed under the rug. In a recent Collider interview promoting Steven Soderbergh’s Side Effects, however, Burns says he and Ridley Scott have indeed talked Blade Runner, but their future collaboration won’t necessarily be that project. Either way, it’s bound to be an interesting project, as Burns is a hot commodity right now, and his involvement in Dawn of the Planet of the Apes will probably get his name mentioned around these parts a time or two.
When asked about the rumors of his involvement, Burns had this to say:
I talked to Ridley about it at one point as a part of a larger conversation about us trying to find something to do together because I have such admiration for him. I’m as huge a fan of that movie as anybody else who would be reading this or watching it, so what I said to him was, ‘Let’s not do that unless we have something amazing to do or to say, because I don’t want to touch that idea unless I really feel like I have something amazing to contribute and right now I don’t know what that is.’
You have to admire Burns’ desire not to tarnish the original film’s legacy, even if it’s just because he doesn’t want to get a hero blaster to the face if the film is poorly received. But since Scott still seems intent on getting around to this project at some point, will Burns still be on board for it?
I think he and I will probably talk again about Blade Runner, but again it’s less about that specifically and more about he and I wanting to make a science fiction movie together. So I hope that that happens, to me I’m not particularly attached to it being Blade Runner. I suspect by the time we would come up with something, it would be its own thing…
This is so much more exciting to me than hearing about possible Harrison Ford cameos, at least at this point, before they’ve even conceived a concept. This is when I’m allowed to dream.
Ridley Scott’s next film will be the drug trafficking thriller The Counselor, with a dominant cast of Brad Pitt, Michael Fassbender, Cameraon Diaz, Penelope Cruz, and Javier Bardem. Expect more on this once Scott starts hitting the press junkets promoting it.
