50 Fun Facts About Blade Runner

Who directed the 1982 film Blade Runner?

He took the job after leaving the slow-moving production of Dune, wanting a faster project after his brother's death.

Who plays Rick Deckard?

Steven Spielberg, then finishing Raiders of the Lost Ark, strongly praised his work when the producers were deciding.

Which novel is the film adapted from?

Philip K. Dick died shortly before the film's release, but he saw an effects reel and said it looked exactly like his interior world.

In which year is the original film set?

Elon Musk timed the Cybertruck's debut to coincide with the film's November 2019 setting.

Who supervised the film's special effects together with Richard Yuricich?

Many of the techniques had been developed on Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and some shots were exposed 16 times over.

Which company manufactures the replicants in the 1982 film?

Its towering headquarters echoes the Stadtkrone Tower in Fritz Lang's Metropolis.

Who plays Roy Batty, leader of the escaped replicants?

Scott cast him without ever meeting him, on the strength of his Paul Verhoeven films.

What is the name of the procedure used to tell replicants from humans?

It measures blush response, heart rate and eye movement while asking questions about empathy; the novel spells it 'Voigt-Kampff'.

Which replicant shoots the blade runner Holden during his test?

He fires on the second question of the interview.

What model number are the fugitive replicants Deckard is sent to retire?

K, the hero of the sequel, is a Nexus-9.

How long is the built-in lifespan of the film's replicants?

Screenwriter David Peoples added the premature-ageing twist, which Dick called a 'first-class piece of work'.

Whose memories were implanted in Rachael to give her an 'emotional cushion'?

She tries to prove she is human with a family photograph before Deckard tells her the truth.

Who plays Rachael?

Screenwriter Hampton Fancher originally wrote the role for his then girlfriend Barbara Hershey.

Which actress plays Pris, the 'basic pleasure model'?

Debbie Harry turned the role down.

What is the hobby of Gaff, the officer played by Edward James Olmos?

He leaves a paper unicorn outside Deckard's apartment in the final scene.

What is 'Cityspeak', which Gaff uses in the noodle-bar scene?

Olmos drew on many ethnic sources; his first line is partly Hungarian.

What clue found in Leon's hotel room leads Deckard to Zhora?

Zhora works at a strip club, and Deckard shoots her after a chase.

What is the job of J. F. Sebastian, who shelters Pris and Roy?

He suffers from a premature-ageing disorder, so his life is short like the replicants'.

How does Roy kill his maker in the penthouse scene?

He kisses his maker first, after demanding more life and being told it is impossible.

What does Deckard find on the floor as he leaves with Rachael at the end?

Combined with Deckard's unicorn dream in the Director's Cut, many read it as proof he is a replicant himself.

Which actor rewrote the 'tears in rain' speech himself the night before filming it?

He cut the scripted 'opera talk' down and added the line about moments being lost in time.

How many words long is the 'tears in rain' monologue?

Critic Mark Rowlands called it 'perhaps the most moving death soliloquy in cinematic history'.

Which cosmic landmark does Roy mention seeing C-beams glitter near?

The 'attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion' come from the same speech.

Which Greek composer wrote the film's synthesizer score?

He came to it fresh from his Oscar-winning Chariots of Fire; the official soundtrack album was delayed for over a decade.

Which actor did screenwriter Hampton Fancher have in mind when writing Deckard's dialogue?

Producers also spent months in talks with Dustin Hoffman before he departed over differences in vision.

Where did the title 'Blade Runner' actually come from?

Scott liked the name and producer Michael Deeley bought the rights to the titles.

Which historic downtown Los Angeles landmark served as a filming location?

Other locations included the Ennis-Brown House and the 2nd Street Tunnel.

What are the film's flying police cars called?

Designer Syd Mead's drawings became 25 vehicles; two ended up at Disney World and were later destroyed.

Which artist did the director hire as concept designer for the film's look?

Moebius was offered a job but declined to work on an animated film, a choice he later regretted.

Which Edward Hopper painting did Scott cite as a mood source?

He also mentioned 'Hong Kong on a very bad day' and the industrial north-east of England.

The pastoral aerial shots in the original theatrical happy ending were surplus footage from which film?

Scott contacted Kubrick to borrow the unused helicopter photography.

What did the crew's mocking T-shirts say during the so-called T-shirt war?

Scott, who had compared US crews unfavourably with British ones, replied with a shirt reading 'Xenophobia Sucks'.

Which of these was added to the US theatrical cut after poor test screenings?

Ford hated recording it and said he went 'kicking and screaming to the studio'.

How many different versions of Blade Runner have been shown?

The best known are the Workprint, US Theatrical, International Cut, Director's Cut and Final Cut.

Which version is the only one over which the director had complete artistic control?

It was released for the film's 25th anniversary and reached Ultra HD Blu-ray in 2017.

Which big film opened close to Blade Runner in June 1982 and is blamed for hurting its box office?

The Thing, Star Trek II and Conan the Barbarian were all in cinemas that summer too.

Why did producer Alan Ladd Jr. choose June 25 as the release date?

Both of his previous hits had opened on May 25.

Which of these brands seen in the film is cited as an example of the so-called 'Blade Runner curse'?

Atari, Bell, Cuisinart, Pan Am and RCA all had setbacks too; Tsingtao beer did better afterwards.

In which city is Philip K. Dick's novel set?

The book's Deckard hunts six androids and dreams of buying a real animal to replace his electric sheep.

In the novel, what company makes the androids?

Deckard visits its Seattle headquarters, where Rachael Rosen twice fails the empathy test.

What live animal does the novel's Deckard buy his wife after retiring three androids?

Owning real animals is a status symbol in the book because most species are extinct.

Who directed Blade Runner 2049?

Scott stepped down to executive-produce; Nolan was once named as an ideal choice but never planned to direct.

What is the name of Ryan Gosling's replicant blade runner in the sequel?

It is short for his serial number, KD6-3.7.

Who plays Joi, K's holographic girlfriend?

She did four months of speech training in English before auditioning.

Which musician did Villeneuve consider for the role of Niander Wallace before his death?

Jared Leto got the part partly because he seemed to have Bowie's rock-star sensibility.

In which city was most of Blade Runner 2049 shot?

The stock exchange building doubled for a Las Vegas casino, and the shoot earned a 25% Hungarian tax rebate.

Which cinematographer won the Oscar for Blade Runner 2049?

The film's other Oscar was for Best Visual Effects; it also won both categories at the BAFTAs.

Where does K finally track down Deckard in the sequel?

Deckard is living alone there with a dog and a lot of whisky.

Which composers replaced Jóhann Jóhannsson on Blade Runner 2049?

Villeneuve wanted something closer to Vangelis's original soundtrack.

Which Hong Kong film mogul helped finance Blade Runner after Filmways pulled its backing?

Producer Michael Deeley put the $21.5 million package together in just ten days with the Ladd Company and Tandem Productions as the other partners.