Blade Runner: Ridley's earlier cut of Blade runner discovered in Santa Monica

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Blade Runner

 

Somewhere in the early 1990s, somebody seemed to have said "Let's dig out the old print and run it for fun"

They called Warners. 

Warners had lost the negative

Somebody panicked, went into a drawer, yanked up the first can that the name Blade Runner on it, a 65mm preview copy, didn't check it and then sent it to Santa Monica for the film festival

There they ran it, and discovered that it was a cutting copy which started off with Vangelis' music and some of Jerry Goldsmith's music as well

It was a copy where they were getting to the end of the short strokes and trying to cut and recut to as it were, save the movie.

This version has no voice-over and had whatt Ridley would call the film noir endings, which is Deckard staring at the unicorn origami in his hand, nodding his head as if to agree and off he goes with Rachael.

Suddenly the audience would have sat there flabberghasted by the end of it thinking to themselves "Wait a minute, that's not the film I remember"

And so it was discovered right there, coming out like a cannon shot, and went everywhere.

Ridley credited this moment with sparking the interest of the studio in releaseing a new version of the film

 

1. The Independent : In the early 1990s, the film was shown at the Santa Monica Film Festival. By mistake, someone had sent an old 65mm preview copy rather than the version originally released. Suddenly, the audience realised that this wasn't the film they knew. Scott credits this screening with sparking the interest of the studio in releasing a new version of the film. (https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/features/the-knives-are-out-how-blade-runner-was-plagued-by-rows-between-its-director-and-star-395955.html)
2. It's hard to believe, but there have already been three different versions of Ridley Scott's landmark sci-fi thriller "Blade Runner" released in some form or another. There was the 1982 theatrical version that featured Harrison Ford's controversial character narration as Deckard and the Deckard-Rachael (Sean Young) "happy ending" escape. The version most people saw was the cut that was released on home video and played on cable up until 1992. It was actually the international version that was unrated and featured extended action sequences."
   
   After years of rumors about the ending, Scott released a 1992 director's cut in which he removed the Ford narration and the "happy ending" and added the infamous "unicorn" sequence, which suggested that Deckard was a replicant as well -- all how he originally intended the movie to be cut. Most recently, though, a rare version of the film was found in the Warner Bros. archives that was radically different in more ways than can be described here. Confused? Don't be, because Scott and Warner Bros. have now teamed up on a new "Blade Runner: Final Cut" just in time for the film's 25th anniversary. This new "definitive" version, according to Scott, contains added and extended scenes, new and cleaner special effects, and that all-important 5.1 Dolby Digital Audio. And it should be the version you judge the film by.
   
   Scott's legendary career includes "Alien," "Legend," "Thelma & Louise" and the Oscar-winning "Gladiator," but "Blade Runner" arguably still stands as his greatest artistic achievement. Scott came down to speak to the fans at San Diego's Comic-Con this past weekend and spent hours indulging questions from the press. This work on a new "Final Cut" all came to be after the Santa Monica Film Festival asked for a print of the movie. Someone in Warner Bros.' archives found a 65-millimeter print of the movie that it turns out had been the last preview version of the film (Scott recalls them "previewing it to death").
   
   "It started off with Vangelis music and a little bit of Jerry Goldsmith's, and at the end of it, people sort of sat there flabbergasted, thinking, 'Wait a minute, that's not the film I remember,'" Scott says. "That's what really created this interest and also showed the studio there is a lot of interest still in this film."
   
   Although Scott had come off "Alien" and thousands (as he puts it) of award-winning TV commercials, he wasn't prepared for all the "cooks" who wanted a say in the editing of "Blade Runner." The producers and studio executives had forced the new ending and voice-over (which angered Ford for years), and Scott says he just didn't have the energy to fight it at the time.
    
   "There was a lot of hell and I think I did get cross doing it and making it," Scott recalls. "But out of it came, remarkably, a film that still stands on its own legs after 25 years. It gets better as it gets older."
   "Blade Runner: The Final Cut" opens in New York and Los Angeles Oct. 5. It debuts on DVD Dec. 18 (0riginal source .http://movies.msn.com/movies/hitlist/07-31-07_2?GT1=7701)
3. Ridley Scott: And [my cut of] the film lay on a shelf for almost, I think 10 to 12 years after that until it was discovered by accident at a Santa Monica Film Festival. Somebody said, let’s dig out the old print and run it for fun. And they called Warners. And with the greatest respect to Warners, they’d lost the f*cking negative, which is like, what? And somebody panicked and went into a drawer, yanked up the first can that had Blade Runner on it, never checked it, sent it to Santa Monica
   
   They ran it. It was a cutting copy with partly Jerry Goldsmith on it, and partly my great musician on it. And it was a copy where we were getting reached to the end of the short strokes and trying to cut and recut to, as it were, save the movie. And this version had no voice-over and had what I call the film noir ending, which is Deckard stares at the origami in his hand, which is a unicorn, nods his head as if to agree and he goes off with his gal. So that got rediscovered. It came right out like a cannon shot, and went everywhere. And of course I know it. I knew it then that it was a very special form of science fiction. It hadn’t really been done like that ever and became a kind of copycat benchmark for most of the TV shows and science fictions. I mean, I got the social order of dystopian society really well, and I think that had never been done before. Now it’s copied again and again. (https://deadline.com/2023/11/ridley-scott-napoleon-gladiator-2-joaquin-phoenix-interview-1235600742/)