With Blade Runner 2049, Denis Villeneuve pulled off a cinematic miracle – delivering a long-awaited sequel to Ridley Scott’s sci-fi masterpiece that somehow lived up to the legacy of the original. Since then, he’s been hard at work on his upcoming adaptation of Dune – but that hasn’t stopped the neon-lit future of Blade Runner from percolating in his head.
Speaking to Empire in the 100 Greatest Movies Of The Century issue (Blade Runner 2049 came in at number 45 on the list), Villeneuve looked back at his experience working on the film – and hinted that he might not be done with that universe yet. “It’s such an inspiring place, the Blade Runner world,” he says – adding that he would be interested in another movie if it was ‘unconnected’ from the first two. “The problem is have is the word ‘sequel’. I think cinema needs original stories. But if you ask me if I’d like to revisit this universe in a different way, I can say yes. It would need to be a project on its own. Something disconnected from both other movies. A detective noir story set in the future… I wake up sometimes in the night dreaming about it.”
Do androids dream of electric sheep? Do French Canadian filmmakers dream of spin-offs to iconic science-fiction cinema? Hopefully Villeneuve’s ideas might make it to the screen one day, rather than becoming lost in time, like tears in rain. Read more of Empire’s new Denis Villeneuve interview in the March 2020 issue, on sale now.
