3 Things 'Blade Runner' Teaches Us About Filmmaking

R.I.P. Rutger Hauer. He had 172 roles, and this film was his pinnacle. All good wishes!

I worked as a lighting technician on Blade Runner. The industry in Hollywood still had a grouping system at that time. So I was easily bumped off a show since I was only a group 2 at the time. The scenes that I worked on were not on the backlot at The Burbank Studios (now Warner Bros. Studio Facility). They were principally near the corner of Broadway and Third in Downtown Los Angeles. They were using the entrance of the historic Bradbury Building, that they had modified by putting large like Turkish pillars outside it like a portico. The Bradbury is a beautiful building that was pretty rundown at the time. When the Bradbury was built in 1893, it was considered futuristic, although a person today wouldn't consider it as such. I credit Blade Runner with saving this building. It is a quadrangle with multiple stories, essentially hollow inside, creating a large atrium, that is covered with a large glass skylight. We were shooting Daryl Hannah's entrance into the Bradbury. Although I worked a lot doing the prepping of lights on the surrounding buildings during daylight hours, at night I was in the bucket of a condor, which was a relatively new innovation in filmmaking at the time. I was running a coal burning arc, stationed south of the Bradbury on Broadway. By the end of the decade, coal burning arcs would be replaced by HMI's... At the time I was told that the movie depicted Los Angeles in 2016, after China had won a war against the US. That was the reason for all the Chinese neon. There was a great amount of gloss that dressed the set, that really didn't read on camera. Like the parking meters that said $5 a minute. There were posters for holographic pornos. They had large street sweeping machines, that didn't sweep, but only sprayed disinfectant into the trash in the gutters. The first time I had ever heard about sushi was the mobile sushi bar parked in the middle of Broadway as set dressing... I also rigged the Pan Am Building, which is catty-corner from the Bradbury. There are scenes in there also. My last day on the show, I advance rigged the Ennis House... Then I every so often passed the shoot on the studio's backlot, New York Street, though I never worked on Blade Runner for the remainder of the show. You never know if a show is going to be a hit or not while you are working on it. The only indicator I ever figured out was if a show is fun to work on, it probably wouldn't be successful. Downtown LA at that time was a pretty sleazy place, Blade Runner was the first time I ever saw rats outside of captivity. Some 15 years later, I would live across the street in the renovated LA Metropolitan Water District Building. The last fight scene in Blade Runner takes place on the roof of that building. The building has 3 penthouses, made from the former offices of the infamous William Mulholland. Nicolas Cage occupied all three of them when I lived in the building... It was interesting when I worked on the movie The Replacement Killers, it seemed that show was intentionally going to all the locations where Blade Runner was shot Downtown...

I worked on BR too, but as a utility stuntman. This was one of the most difficult shoots I've ever worked on, not because of the gags (not many stunts, except the rooftop scene), but the extreme hours and conditions. On the exteriors, we all worked from 6PM to 6AM everyday, until the sun came up. The set guys erected three gigantic sprinkler systems on New York Street that kept the entire set in a perpetually raining downpour. With so many high-voltage wires going through the pools of standing water, I'm kind of surprised that no one got electrocuted. Ridley was a total perfectionist on every detail of the set, to the point of obsession, but his films are so rich in detail, that it's worth the effort. I noticed that even things like the parking meters has such detail that it was very easy to believe you were in an different world, not just a movie set. I believe that it was very helpful to the actors to work in such surroundings, immersing them in such incredible environments, not just typical Hollywood sets. If you are lucky enough to work on a Scott set, it's an experience you will never forget.

I learned, as a 13 year old in 1983, that Blade Runner was the greatest movie ever. And now, in the year it was set, I still think it's the greatest movie ever made.

Forty years since I first saw Blade Runner. I was 20, now I'm 60, it still makes me cry. Thank you.

For me, Blade Runner stands alone as the greatest science fiction film I've ever seen. I know many (including you) pick 2001 - and I totally get it - but there is something about Blade Runner that still impacts me 35 years later. It's so unique, so layered, yet at its core is so human.

Roy Batty died in 2019 and sadly, so did Rutger.

I had the great pleasure of working with Syd Mead in 2010 on a video game project. I was Director of Creative Development on a futuristic racing title and we hired Syd to design the vehicles for the game. He was by far the most talented, humbl, and unassuming artists I've ever worked with. He always gave his best and strove to elevate the project. He was a gentle, quiet, genius and I feel honored to have had the opportunity to work with him. Eventually, the game was canceled when the Publisher went out of business. Still, his legacy lives on in Blade Runner and other projects.

Watching this I'm just reminded of how good Sean Young was in this role. She's not a great actor by any stretch, but her stunning looks and weirdly detached demeanor (a real problem in other contexts) combine to make for the perfect casting choice.

R.I.P. Rutger Hauer. :( (the best actor we Dutch ever had)

“It is sometimes an appropriate response to reality to go insane.” ― Philip K. Dick, VALIS

Blade Runner is a masterpiece in cinema

I am born in 1981. I borrowed a copy from a neighbor when I was about 11, knowing nothing of the film, no cover or anything. From the first scene I was blown away. I could not believe what I was seeing. I watched the movie two times that day. To this day, I watch it at least once a year.

I've seen the Final Cut probably a dozen times but watching this video makes me want to see it again! One of my favourite movies of all time, and the atmosphere of the city is a huge part of why.

The thing you can learn from blade runner is that- as long as you have Vangelis' music in the background, everything is golden.

november 2019 is blade runner month.

The characters, the amazing world, the dreamy music, the art direction, the Director, the cinematography, all added up to PERFECTION..

This is one of the most beautiful films ever made. The set design, art direction, and camera work all work together so perfectly, its magnificent

Syd Mead and Ralph McQuarrie are basically Gods.

I was there for a few days during the shooting of the tunnel car scene, near Little Tokyo, Los Angeles CA. They closed off or diverted traffic when shooting was getting close to starting which was usually around midnight. That tunnel has been used in a lot of movies i believe.