BEIJING, Sept. 3 (Xinhuanet) -- Twenty-five years ago director Ridley
Scott, instead of being the toast of Hollywood, was toast following the release
of the sci-fi movie "Blade Runner," which was trashed by critics and pulled
from theaters.
Sunday, in Venice, Ridley got a measure of revenge when he presented the
final cut of a film that is now considered a cult classic. And this time he's
the only cook in the kitchen.
"I was a new kid on the block in Hollywood, so driving to those studios
every day was a magical mystery tour. But it was hard, the whole process of
making the movie became quite difficult," he told reporters at the Venice Film
Festival after a press screening.
"I wasn't used at that point in my career to having too many cooks in the
kitchen, and I think there were many people who started to get involved," he
added. "So out of it came a hybrid version of what I'd originally intended.
Consequently ... we had a bad opening, bad previews, confused previews. I was
killed by some critics ... then I thought it would be gone away for ever."
The futuristic thriller is set in a moldy, rain-drenched Los Angeles in the
year 2019 and follows policeman Deckard (Harrison Ford), a "blade runner" trying
to track down and kill four human replicants who have escaped from a space-based
colony.
The response at early sample screenings before the official release in June
1982 was so poor that the producers forced Scott to add voice-overs to the film
and change the final scene to make it a more "happy ending."
Scott, 69, said he had almost forgotten about it until he saw clips on
music television channel MTV and realized that his film "was having a strong
influence on younger generations."
Over the years, five versions of the film have been released, but Scott
said the "Final Cut" ¡ª which will be issued as a collector's DVD edition later
in the winter ¡ª was "really as it was intended to be." Scott's international
hits include the first "Alien," "Thelma & Lousie" and "Gladiator."
(Agencies)
