Hey folks, Harry here. I'm very curious to see the 'new cut' of BLADE RUNNER that Ridley is putting together that will be a part of some 'super' dvd next year... and actually doubly so for LEGEND, because LEGEND is one of those films that I always felt was missing quite a bit storywise, but had loads of style and lushness. If only the rest of it was there. Here's an account of BLADE RUNNER's original DIRECTOR'S CUT that was shown by the Cinematheque in Los Angeles' screening at The Egyptian Theatre. Please note that on Halloween, Bruce Campbell is showing a certain film that you may be interested in attending... details below...
Hey Harry,
Last nite I attended the screening of "Blade Runner-The Director's Cut," which is part of the American Cinematheque's tribute to Ridley Scott. The Cinematheque is, I'm sure you know but others may not, based out of the beautiful Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood. Besides seeing the film in it's widescreen splendor on a giant screen, the man himself Ridley Scott will be present for post Q&A. How cool is that? Pretty damn cool if you ask me. The print shown was supposed to be the work-print from 1991, that one contains footage that was not in either the original or director's cut of 1992. We were informed that the reason that they went with the 1992 cut is that they could not find a 1991 cut that was worth showing. Especially, when the director will be there to watch it.
The event sold out weeks ago so I was one of the smart guys who bought his ticket the day they went on sale. I went to "Alien" last Friday and sat in the balcony. I haven't seen that one in the theater since it first came out, I wanted the best possible seat. For this one I sat towards the front so that I can get a better view of the master. The last time I saw this version was when Warner Bros had their anniversary film tour back in the late '90s. I was already looking forward to it when were informed that we will have a special treat with this film. The print we were about to watch was newly printed by Warner Bros. from the original negative, was completely supervised and worked on by Ridley Scott just days ago, and has only been viewed by Ridley Scott. We were the first to see it in public. Oh well, I guess I should have sat in the balcony.
The print looked amazing and it was shown in 6 track dolby surround. I was kind of hoping that they would add a digital soundtrack but I guess that would have been too much to do with what little time they had. It was like watching it on my DVD but on a 70ft screen.
The post Q&A was interesting, most filled with him discussing his inspirations for the film, his interpretations, and most interestingly, the is Deckard a replicant discussion. If you really want to know, he said he is. Watch the film and you will see clues to that conclusion. Another amusing bit, was that the tacked on happy ending of the original version was created from outtakes from the rushes of the opening canyon sequence of "The Shining." I don't want to say much more since I imagine that most of this will be covered when we see "Blade Runner-The Final Director's Cut" some time next year.
Yes, there will be a new and final cut of "Blade Runner" to be released next year in a collector's DVD set. It may be a two disc set. Footage will be restored and it will be released for the first time in Dolby Digital. He didn't say when it would come out but it is next year.
Also, later this year or sometime early next year, we will finally see the director's cut of "Legend" with half an hour of footage restored to the film. He is either referring to the DVD that is due later this year or a brief rerelease next year.
Well, that's it. Oh, in a completely unrelated subject. On Halloween night, they will be showing for the first time a newly printed, restored, 35mm print of "The Evil Dead." They said Bruce Campbell will be there, they are trying to get other cast members and crew, and they are hoping Sam Raimi will be able to free his schedule to show up as well.
Until next time,
The Film Maven
And then there was this account too...
Hey Harry:
I just got back from a retrospective on Ridley Scott at the Egyptian after which there was about a 45 min Q/A...Here are some basic tidbits you may already know but I thought I'd share. (BTW we got to see a brand new print of the 1992 Directors cut and it was awesome.)
First there were camera crews there from WB to shoot the Q/A so that it might be part of the new DVD release of Blade Runner due sometime early next year. It sounds like it will include at least a few extra scenes as DVD extras if they aren't put back into the movie. (The hospital scene was the one mentioned for possible re-introduction into the film.) He also mentioned he might just snip some of the "dead" spots out of the film just to tighten it up.
As the Q/A went on he also dropped a nice little update on a new possible re-release of Legend with 25 minutes added back in. Even if the re-release doesn't happen the deluxe DVD will be out by X-mas 2002.
A whole bunch of fans in the balconey also commented how they wanted a new soundtrack to be available for the movie since alot of the films score is not on the soundtrack. RS looked like he may have taken that to heart.
It was a great evening with RS, although there were two very funny bits that came out. The end car scene in the original cut of the movie was added on by RS as he felt pressure from the studio to have a better ending that the elevator scene. The funny part is that he called Stanley Kubrick and asked if he had any extra footage from the beginning of the Shinning. SK being the gent that he was gave him the footage (like 17 hrs of car footage) and just ask that he not use any of the footage he used in the Shinning. The other funny moment was when RS kept referring to how good Harrison Ford was as Skywalker in the Star Wars film. No on had the heart to correct him, but every time he said it...it got a bigger laugh.
Just a reminder to everyone...go check out the Egyptian Theatre/American Cinematheque retrospectives and films they show...the do a great job.
Peace,
PS you can call me...Bean
