Harrison Ford’s Blade Runner Gripe

It's often been described as a masterpiece - indeed Empire readers saw fit to vote the movie number 15 in their all-time Top 100 films - but Ridley Scott's Blade Runner failed to make much of an impression on its own star. Speaking to an American newspaper this weekend, Harrison Ford was decidedly lukewarm about the movie, 'I didn't like the movie one way or the other,' he said. 'I was a detective who did not have any detecting to do. In terms of how I related to the material, I found it very different.' Talking about the most contentious part of the film - the voiceover that was eventually taken off the later-released Director's Cut version of Blade Runner - Harrison says; 'I contested it mightily at the time. It was not an organic part of the film.' Not only that, but Harrison had no time to look at the scripts before the voiceover was recorded. When he entered the studio a writer handed him the script just moments before recording began. 'I said, "OK, let's not even talk about it. I'm just going to pick this up and read each one eight times. I'm not going to argue with you about any of the language. I'm not going to argue with you about the appropriateness of this. I will record each of these speeches eight times. You take your choice."' The cause of Harrison's unusually lacklustre voiceover now becomes clear; 'I had no chance to participate in it, so I simply read it.' He says. 'I was very, very unhappy with their choices and with the quality of the material.'