Its the most difficult thing Ive ever done, he says, his eyes suddenly wide.
Were briefly tempted to offer Villeneuve a hug.
Would it turn what was once a one-off work of flawed genius into just another multiplex-pleasing action franchise?
Would it be glossy-looking yet somehow empty, likeGhost In The Shell,released in early 2017?
I havent seen the full thing, obviously, but what I have seen looks incredible.
Thank you, thank you.
The thing is, I wish you had seen the movie.
It would have been easier to do this interview, and we could have a proper conversation.
They had a bad experience in the past, so now they want to seal it [away].
But the originalBlade Runneris still relevant isnt it?
Im going to see an IMAX print tonight, and I cant wait.
Because its really striking what Douglas Trumbull had achieved in that movie.
I know Ridley Scott found the process of makingBlade Runnerreally difficult.
But I get the impression that he gave you a lot of space to make this your own.
It was the only way to do it.
And Im very grateful to Ridley, because he gave me 100 percent freedom.
He said right at the start, its going to be your movie.
Youre going to be responsible for it, for better or worse.
Im going to give you, in French, its carte blanche you know what that means?
He said if you need me, you might call me.
But he was really, lets say, a godfather to the project, but he let me alone.
Which was the only way to work.
I would not have been able to work with Ridley on my back, its not possible.
Hes someone whos a reference for me, hes a master.
I have deep respect for him in fact, too much!
So it wouldnt have been possible to work with him.
I would not have taken the chance if he had been there.
Did you almost have to forget about the original film to a certain degree?
Yes and no, strangely.
I was whats the word in English habite?
I was thinking about the first movie a lot.
All my decisions were driven by the reference.
I was trying to stay in contract with its poetry and its strength.
Im a very different director than Ridley Scott, you know?
I dont have the same sensibility.
It was like the Bible for me.
That you have to slow down as an audience member, and go with the films rhythm.
To know that he was looking at the movie I was anxious about it.
That kind of melancholic, contemplative [atmosphere] the impression that youre floating over the city.
Thats what I would say.
So did you watch it with [Ridley Scott]?
I would not be there to do that.
That would have been a painful experience!
I would have died in the process.
I didnt want to know when he was looking at the movie.
It meant everything in the world.
I watched the movie with Harrison Ford.
A work in progress, with Harrison.
So that was, [chuckles] an experience Ill remember.
And again, he was very generous with me in the end.
Its interesting, going back to the rhythm and the pace of it.
When critics and audiences first sawBlade Runnerin 1982, it was as though they werent prepared for it.
And then they saw a character who was an anti-hero, that was melancholic, a loner.
To go to the dark side of his art.
Yeah, I think that the new movie is still in a relationship with that melancholia.
For the best, I think.
Yeah, especially for Rutger Hauers character, Batty its an existential journey.
Is that continued into this one, do you think?
Why Im here today is because I fell in love with the screenplay.
It deals with the limits of artificial intelligence and what it means to be human.
Are we going towards machines, and are machines going towards humanity?
The boundaries between that and the anger we have towards our human condition.
Its like all those strong themes are part of the second movie as well.
Philip K Dick, he did a talk once that I read.
He said that the difference between humans and machines is empathy.
And empathy goes back to the Voight-Kampff test in the original.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I wondered what you thought about that boundary, especially today when were surrounded by technology.
We can become anonymous and we can lose empathy for one another online.
Its strange, our technology today.
Because the purpose of technology is to make our lives better at one point.
Its strange how theres something that attacks our very own presence towards each other.
Communication technology is sometimes bringing us more into our individual bubbles.
Its not a good thing for humanity.
Thats what rings true for me now, watchingBlade Runnerthis year.
The sense that everyone inBlade Runnerseems very alone separated by technology rather than united.
Technologys evolved, but humanitys not better.
It doesnt feel that way.
Technologys for rich people.
Im talking about the western world the other half of the world is just trying to eat.
But thats another topic.
Theres a shot in the footage I saw of what is essentially a drone strike.
Its 2049 based on the firstBlade Runner,where theres a 30 year gap that didnt exist.
Was it quite a difficult process, making this film?
The most difficult thing Ive ever done, honestly.
Because it meant to be in someone elses dream, you know?
To take somebody elses dream and make it my own.
When you do a book, I dont believe in direct adaptation.
I think that its a violent process where you transform its like alchemy.
Words cannot be images, and you gotta transform things to make a film out of it.
But this time I was taking a movie and a cinematic dream.
I quickly realised that everybody around me, a lot of the artists, were fans.
I mean, everybody who wanted to work on this movie was a fan of the first.
Still being a Blade Runner movie, but a different one for the best or worst.
I was used to smaller crews.
I needed an ally.
And that was where the movie was born, Id say.
We found there, through those long discussions, the main qualities that would be our guideline.
Until the end, those were our boundaries that defined the world we were about to create.
Until the end, those were our references.
A film like this requires building a whole world on sound stages or with CGI and things like that.
So how important it is to keep a film like this grounded, with those mundane details?
Theres two things here.
Which is, by having theBlade Runnergo to meet someone on a farm.
And its like, thats the original screenplay it started like that.
To give a homage… Thats a thing I thought was interesting to mention.
But again, from the start, I decided Id build everything.
Even in quite an extensive way, sometimes.
We were constructing an apartment, and we constructed the buildings on the other side of the street.
We constructed the city landscape with models.
Fantastic light patterns that would imitate the lights of buildings in the fog.
It was like, the environment was almost 100 percent recreated for the actors.
When theres something unpredictable that is happening the chaos of life.
That joy, that excitement, Im trying to find that with actors.
Because I love the idea that the movie is dreamed by actors first.
Not all the actors, but some of them.
Ryan Gosling became my muse, because he had so many strong ideas tonnes of ideas.
The movies beautiful, for me, because of those ideas, you know?
Sorry, I give long answers!
I love long answers.
It was very important.
And you know what?
Because for them, its a huge difference.
They can focus on the interiority of their character.
They can focus on what matters, instead of trying to figure out whats around them.
So Id say we built all the sets.
I can count on one hand how often I saw a green screen on set.
Theyre there, sometimes, but not a lot.
Its really whats in the background, far away, that is computer generated most of the time.
Im not the only one to do that, by the way.
It feels like its coming back, that approach.
Its a very strong tool, but its not the main answer.
Im trying to find an equilibrium, you know?
It feeds into what you were saying about the actors.
It has an impact on them the atmospheres, the gloominess, the claustrophobia.
One of my favourite films of yours isEnemy.
Its frightening, even though the citys a mundane, recognisable one.
It was a movie that had such an influence on us filmmakers, yeah.
I love that in the context of a thriller you slow everything down and go, Oh!
You point the audience at something small.
For me, those are my favourite moments, too.
Images in cinema are poetic suggestion, you know?
That means something else.
Something likeArrivalexposes your craft a little bit, to slow things down and make something as minimal as that.
Pace and action can be hiding places for a director.
But withArrival, its a tiny number of characters in an enclosed space.
Its scary but deeply exciting.
To find the right length of the shot to keep the tension alive.
Through time, theres something happening.
The shot length is very important.
To create immersive moments.
Listen, when I make a film, its in my heart.
I love cinema deeply.
I take a stab at make films with my limitations and my weakness and my strengths.
That the movies have been welcomed is a joy.
I have no control over that at all I have no idea how people will react to 2049.
I have no idea how theyll receive it.
But I know the movie has a soul.
Thats what I will say.
Denis Villeneuve, thank you very much.
