DIRECTOR ANSWERS (SOME) BURNING ‘BLADE RUNNER 2049’ QUESTIONS
It’s OK to still be a little perplexed about Blade Runner 2049.
Director Denis Villeneuve leaves a lot unexplained in the complex, futuristic world he created for his critically lauded sci-fi epic, which he says has “a lot of layers.”
Multiple viewings are recommended to better understand the dystopic universe inhabited by Ryan Gosling and Harrison Ford. Villeneuve is still mum about key aspects of the movie, like its ending.
“I’ve been keeping secrets for two years, I don’t know if I can start talking now,” he says.
But Villeneuve did answer a few of our burning Blade Runner 2049 questions.
Q Is Rick Deckard a replicant? AT he question has raged since Ridley Scott’s 1982 Blade Runner: Is replicant hunter Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford) a replicant himself ? Ford has always argued that the character is human, while Scott has maintained Deckard is a replicant. The original novel by Philip K. Dick — the movie is based on 1968’s Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? — was filled with ambiguity.
“In the book, blade runners themselves are doubting their own identity, like a doctor always in contact with sick people,” Villeneuve says. “They start to see symptoms of the sickness. They became paranoid.”
Paranoia is an important theme of Blade Runner 2049.
“Deckard himself is unsure of his own identity,” says Villeneuve, adding that replicant creator Niander Wallace (Jared Leto) “plays with (Deckard) with this at the end.”
Wallace might know, but Villeneuve happily insists even he doesn’t.
“I love the fact that we are not sure,” he says. “It’s more exciting and more dynamic. When you are sure, it’s a dead end. In my heart, I prefer to keep the question alive.”
Q What happened to Las Vegas?
A The lights in deserted Las Vegas are the glow of radioactive fallout in Blade Runner 2049. “That dirty bomb generated a strong amount of radiation, but it doesn’t destroy the infrastructure,” says Villeneuve.
After the radioactivity dissipated, Vegas became barely habitable, the perfect place for Deckard to hide out.
“Nobody wants to live there. Like the Russian city Chernobyl, the place becomes a ghost town,” says Villeneuve. “So Deckard went there after the first movie.” Q How did Los Angeles turn so treacherous?
A The global climate in 2049 is even more berserk than it was in the original film. California copes with never-ending winter and is crowded with refugees. This is starkly demonstrated by the massive sea wall on inland Sepulveda Boulevard, protecting the city from the rising Pacific.
“It’s not a very optimistic portrait of the future,” says Villeneuve, who says filmmakers consulted scientists about future climate and technology. “I would say it’s an exaggeration, an exploration. The ocean rising could happen one day. But not that much. It’s a sci-fi movie.”
Q Why did Deckard get a dog ?
A Dogs
are “very, very rare” in this world. Which is why Gosling ’s Officer K asks if Deckard’s companion Bo is real or replicant. “Ask him,” Deckard growls.
“What I like about the dog is we don’t know if the dog is real or synthetic,” says Villeneuve. “We have the same questions about Deckard.”
Ford says the dog provides “a germ of understanding about this character and his circumstances that he has this wolf-like critter as a companion.”