Blade Runner Replicated?

[Perpetual Man]

It has been reported in a reputable SF magazine that the current producers of the forthcoming Terminator movie Salvation have obtained the rights to the library of work by Philip K Dick including Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

When asked if they intended to remake the book that inspired Blade Runner they said there are plenty of other projects they want to look at first, but would not rule it out, refering to the book as Blade Runner they said that they would try and bring something fresh and exciting to it - and in doing it equal the brilliance of the first attempt!?!

Is that possible???

 

[manephelien]

I doubt it. Blade Runner is a cult movie, and the brilliance of the final cut is astounding. Wait another 30 years at least before remaking it.

 

[Overread]

I doubt it. Blade Runner is a cult movie,

ergo it has a big following - and thus a garenteed massive audience that will go to see it and get the box office ratings up

Wait another 30 years at least before remaking it.

that is what they should do - but with money driving everything and remakes the order of the day in Hollywood I can't see them waiting that long

 

[Perpetual Man]

It scares me to some degree that they are even thinking of doing it, no matter how long they put it off, they are still thinking about it...

On the other hand there are plenty of bits and pieces from the book that did not make it into the film. Would it make a difference if they did not call it Blade Runner?

 

[Dave]

Would it make a difference if they did not call it Blade Runner?

Sadly, fewer people would go to see it, and therefore it would never get made for the reasons given by overread. Call me cynical, but I doubt you would ever get a faithful adaptation of 'Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep' now, all we would ever get would be an adaptation of an adaptation i.e. 'I am Legend'.

 

[Vladd67]

So if a remake was made which as you say would probably be an adaptation of an adaptation, who would you see as Deckard now?

 

[Rodders]

Does it have to or need remaking? If they have the rights, would that not include Sequal rights as well?

 

[Connavar]

Personally i dont care much how many times they remake Blade Runner.

I would be happy if they left the other works of PKD alone. They can do anything they want with Blade Runner as long i dont see new PKD movies like Next,PaycheckTotall Recal....

 

[GrantG]

Total Recall is a fine movie, but I don't even know why Hollywood bothers to purchase the rights in the first place. I really don't see how Next was Phildickian by any means (wasn't the original story about a gold-colored mutant boy?) and I'm troubled by the fact that some people will see bad adaptations like that and think that's what PKD is all about. Who would ever consider reading a PKD book after they saw Paycheck?

But although a new movie about it sounds like a bad idea (it will probably star Paris Hilton as the love interest and contain mostly CGI action sequences), Blade Runner itself would have sounded like a bad movie before we all saw it.

PKD himself wasn't happy with the production. Ridley Scott never read (or finished) the novel and changed several things. Scott changed the title simply because he thought it sounded cool. The casting of Harrison Ford probably would have had Internet forums accusing the filmmakers of cashing in on his Star Wars success. The liberties (or downright exclusion) they took with the main chickenhead character in the story probably would've had fans throwing fits, as well... this would have sounded like a terrible movie, right?

So yeah, a remake sounds like a bad idea now, but if they go back to the book, I think it could be a decent picture, so I'm not giving up hope just yet. And as for who should be the main character, I cast my vote for Paul Walker. I know most of the crap he's been in has been just that, but I liked him in those Clint Eastwood movies. Or even Ryan Phillipe (spelling?).

Ooo! Get Clint Eastwood to direct it! He's got the Midas touch!

 

[Michael01]

Yes, and call the movie by a shortened version of the book's title: Do Androids Dream? Takes something from it, but might work better for a movie.

Paycheck was also based on a PKD book? I keep getting surprised by this stuff. Unfortunately, it looks like I'm in the minority again, because I liked that movie. Is it because I haven't read the original story yet?

EDIT: Part of the reason I'm so surprised by this all the time is the only PKD book I've read thus far is Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? But I really loved that book. I guess I could at least look up a bibliography...

 

[Connavar]

Yes, and call the movie by a shortened version of the book's title: Do Androids Dream? Takes something from it, but might work better for a movie.

Paycheck was also based on a PKD book? I keep getting surprised by this stuff. Unfortunately, it looks like I'm in the minority again, because I liked that movie. Is it because I haven't read the original story yet?

EDIT: Part of the reason I'm so surprised by this all the time is the only PKD book I've read thus far is Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? But I really loved that book. I guess I could at least look up a bibliography...

Paycheck is a short story by PKD not a book. It was more pulp era sf than his other short stories,books. Still not as bad as the movie though.

I saw it years before i read PKD and it might be the worst John Woo movie i have seen.

Philip K Dick can do alot better than Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? so you really should check out his other books. His 60s books are good place to start.

 

[GrantG]

Paycheck was a short story with a clever ending that wasn't filmmable by Hollywood standards because, if I remember correctly, no one died. I think it's in The Philip K. Dick Reader, which you can probably get at Borders or Chapters. I would suggest not reading it all at once. PKD's stuff is best absorbed and dispersed throughout one's lifetime.

I guess I wouldn't be totally opposed to Blade Runner 2 as long as they don't have any returning characters. But would it still be set in 2019, now only ten years in the future?

There was a Blade Runner video game that wasn't a bad "sequel" to the movie. Not that I ever had the patience to beat it.

 

[TheEndIsNigh]

Now when are people going to realise that when you have a 5 star rated film such as BR that regardless of who does the remake they will probably never come close to out doing the original.

Maybe - just maybe if a new medium arrives such as 3D then it could be argued it could be updated though even then I doubt it.

Next it'll be Gone with the Wind, or that other all time classic Pearl Harbour.

 

[GrantG]

At one point they wanted to remake Casablanca with Mel Gibson and Julia Roberts.

You know what? You're right, TheEndIsNigh. I just remembered the remake of Psycho. Although the remake of Cape Fear was great, I can't remember another remake that was worth a crap outside of the string of samurai movies that were remade as westerns.

What really bugs me is I'm only 25 and I always thought I'd be about sixty before I ever saw a remake of something that came out in my lifetime. Nope.

 

[TheEndIsNigh]

Or is it that time dilation is taking place?

You've fallen into the trap of the Chrons - Happy Sixtieth birthday

 

[tangaloomababe]

Grant G you have a good point, no one should see a remake in their lifetime. Blade Runner is a cult movie and should not be replicated, sequeled or touched in any way!

 

[TheEndIsNigh]

At one point they wanted to remake Casablanca with Mel Gibson and Julia Roberts.

You know what? You're right, TheEndIsNigh. I just remembered the remake of Psycho. Although the remake of Cape Fear was great, I can't remember another remake that was worth a crap outside of the string of samurai movies that were remade as westerns.

What really bugs me is I'm only 25 and I always thought I'd be about sixty before I ever saw a remake of something that came out in my lifetime. Nope.

TBy the way. They did remake Casablanca. They did it with Pamela Anderson and called it Barb Wire.

If there was the film that shows that there are no exceptions that prove any rules then this was it.

 

[Vladd67]

At one point they wanted to remake Casablanca with Mel Gibson and Julia Roberts.

can't remember another remake that was worth a crap outside of the string of samurai movies that were remade as westerns.

Didn't they make a TV series of Casablanca with David Soul as Rick?
The thing with Samurai films being remade as Westerns is that a lot of Samurai films were reworkings of Western Novels, so it was just going full circle.

 

[Connavar]

Didn't they make a TV series of Casablanca with David Soul as Rick?
The thing with Samurai films being remade as Westerns is that a lot of Samurai films were reworkings of Western Novels, so it was just going full circle.

Alot of Samurai films reworkings as western novels is a bit too much.

Yojimbo was inspired by Hammet's The Red Harvest. Not a western novel but a Noir one.

Thats one of few famous Samurai movies inspired by a novel from the west world.

 

[AE35Unit]

I'm suprised no one turned to WK Jeter's sequels for movie treatments. I read the first one,not bad.