This was posted at the hometheaterforum.com and gives us some insight to why we still don’t have the “Blade Runner: Special Edition”
I just attended a lecture at my college being given by producer Alan Ladd, who was one of Blade Runner’s many producers. Thankfully, there was at least one person in the audience who couldn’t resist asking about the film’s troubled DVD release, and here’s what Mr. Ladd had to say:
-Ladd insisted that Ridley Scott wanted the narration when the film was first released. Ladd said that Scott came to him when the film was in post and asked for permission to do a narration. Scott said that he wanted the film to have a noirish-old detective movie feeling. Ladd says that Ridley Scott’s comments after the film’s release claiming he never wanted it was just not true.
-As has been widely reported, Harrison Ford and Ridley Scott did not like each other at all. Alan Ladd said that Scott and Ford didn’t even talk to each other after the first day.
-Ladd claimed the version originally released was the cut that Scott had presented to the studio as his director’s cut. Ladd expressed unhappiness at the current DVD release being labeled as a director’s cut because it was just an unfinished earlier workprint of the film.
-Ladd said that Scott filmed the unicorn sequence originally and it was Scott’s decision to pull it from the film initially.
-Ladd says that one of the film’s other producers, Jerry Perenchio, has the final say over whether or not any new versions of the film can be issued. Ladd said that Perenchio and Scott absolutely loathed each other. Perenchio is a billionaire, and has no financial need for the film to be reissued. He believes that it’s in legal limbo because Perenchio hates Scott and is suppressing any new versions purely out of spite.
-Ladd says at one point people were being brought together for work on a special edition DVD, and that he was interviewed, or at least contacted about being interviewed, before legal issues brought the film to a halt. Ladd says that Scott was considering having Ford re-record a new narration before the plug was pulled on the project.
…and, of course, the question on everyone’s mind:
-Ladd is not optimistic at all about the film being reissued or redone. He actually stated that he believes because of the conflict between Perenchio and Scott that it will never happen.
So I guess some of that is stuff we all know, and maybe a couple new little tidbits, or maybe not. As the film was made over twenty years ago, it is possible that some of Ladd’s recollections may not have been completely accurate. However, I will say that Ladd spoke about a great many films and his knowledge and memory of the work he had done seemed pretty good. I wish I had better news to report.
As it says above, Blade Runner was made over twenty years ago and hopefully Ladd’s memory isn’t 100% accurate, but then again this might be the reason to why we should (?) forget about ever getting a “Blade
Runner: Special Edition”..
Source: The Alt.fan.blade-runner newsgroup.
The Home Theater Forum: Some Blade Runner info from Alan Ladd (producer)
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