“Blade Runner” is a cult classic, one of the most iconic science fiction pictures ever made. So purists have been a little uneasy as rumors have spread that a related film will be made. No details have come out on who would be involved and whether it would be a prequel, a sequel or what have you. But there has now been an announcement that they might greet with a sigh of relief: Ridley Scott will be involved. The English filmmaker directed the original as well as dozens of other films, but he’s produced many more movies than he’s directed. He will produce the new “Blade Runner” film, but it’s not yet clear how else he’ll be involved, if at all. We also don’t know who’ll script and, of course, whether Harrison Ford will return as the replicant-hunting Rick Deckard.
But it seems Scott hasn’t quite finished with the world he created in 1982 from Philip K. Dick’s story. He returned to it to make a Director’s Cut in 1991 — and again in 2007, releasing a “Final Cut.”
Perhaps he’ll show us that dystopic Earth in 3-D. He’s made his next film, the “Alien”-related “Prometheus,” in 3-D and, as readers of this column know, has vowed to continue making movies in the medium.
The director’s brother is also looking to the past for one of his upcoming projects. Tony Scott is, apparently, going to remake “The Wild Bunch.”
Hollywood films certainly became more violent in part thanks to Sam Peckinpah, and Hollywood seems to be returning the favor. This is the second of his films to get the doubling treatment: “Straw Dogs,” his dark 1971 film, has been recast with James Marsden and Kate Bosworth as the young married couple who settle in her hometown to find the locals, including her ex-boyfriend, chilly to his intellectual type. That will open in just a few weeks on Sept. 16. The original was shocking in its portrayal of an ambivalent rape in a lengthy sequence.
“The Wild Bunch” is Peckinpah’s 1969 Western that was partly inspired by the violence-soaked “Bonnie and Clyde.” A screenplay already exists, written by Brian Helgeland, who wrote “L.A. Confidential.”
Director Tony, the younger Scott, was last in theaters with last year’s “Unstoppable.” Before “The Wild Bunch,” he’ll likely make “Emma’s War,” based on a book about a British aid worker who marries a Sudanese warlord while she’s abroad. And he might return to his past work, like his brother has, too. Rumor has it he’ll be directing a sequel to his 1986 film “Top Gun,” with star Tom Cruise returning in a smaller role.
Critics sometimes complain that Hollywood is averse to new ideas. It’s not just money-hungry executives who are to blame, though: The creative talent can sometimes be just as eager to revisit the past.
Kelly Jane Torrance is The Washington Examiner movie critic. Her reviews appear weekly and she can be reached at [email protected].
