New Look at ‘Blade Runner 2049’; Villeneuve Teases Practical Effects, R-Rating Plus a Sequel

Blade Runner 2049 is still ten months away from its release but the film is already beginning it’s marketing campaign, first with a trailer and now Deckard (Harrison Ford) and the film’s new protagonist Officer K (Ryan Gosling) are gracing the cover of Entertainment Weekly this week along with a spread of stills from the film that showcases the incredible cinematography Roger Deakins is known for.

While speaking with ScreenDaily, Denis Villeneuve jokingly revealed Blade Runner 2049 would not be watering down the adult themes explored in the original as the sequel which takes place 35 years later will earn itself an R-Rating:

“My producers are finding it fun to remind me that it will be one of the most expensive R-rated independent feature films ever made.”

Villeneuve also emphasized how important the use of practical effects in his films is:

“My actors were not walking on green screens all day long. CGI is a strong tool for backgrounds and extensions but what is around the actors needs to be as real as possible. When I watch a movie that’s mostly CGI, I’m disengaged.”

Hollywood has become overly dependent on the use of CGI in films since the Star Wars prequels took computer animation to new levels and it wouldn’t have developed as well as it has otherwise but it’s become exhausting. Overall, the abundance of CGI combined with films being shot on a digital format today has fostered an era of film that lacks the magic of filmmaking. Most films today don’t feel authentic because everything is so artificial. As an audience member, I’m not able to suspend my disbelief and find myself in awe of the events unfolding on screen.

To conclude his interview, Villeneuve confessed he has more ideas for the Blade Runner universe and hopes to explore those ideas in the future:

“I’m doomed, I love sci-fi. I have two more ideas now that I would love to do. [And] Blade Runner could go on… we’ll see how this one goes.”

SOURCES: EW, SCREENDAILY

‘Blade Runner 2049’ Announcement Trailer

Cue up that Vangelis. The long-awaited sequel to Blade runner from Denis Villeneuve is finally here. The announcement trailer doesn’t offer much in terms of the plot other than Officer K (Ryan Gosling) is looking for Deckard (Harrison Ford) but it does contain some stunning cinematography from Roger Deakins(Sicario).

Blade Runner 2049 hits theaters October 6, 2017.

Thirty years after the events of the first film, a new blade runner, LAPD Officer K (Ryan Gosling), unearths a long-buried secret that has the potential to plunge what’s left of society into chaos. K’s discovery leads him on a quest to find Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford), a former LAPD blade runner who has been missing for 30 years.

The film stars Ryan Gosling, Harrison Ford, Ana de Armas, Sylvia Hoeks, Robin Wright, Mackenzie Davis, Carla Juri, Lennie James, with Dave Bautista and Jared Leto. Written by Hampton Fancher and Michael Green. Based on the novel “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?” by Phillip K. Dick. Directed by Denis Villeneuve.

SOURCE: WARNER BROS.

‘Indiana Jones 5’: Lucas is Out

Shortly after Disney acquired Lucasfilm from George Lucas, it was announced that Lucasfilm would be continuing the Indiana Jones franchise along with the Star Wars franchise. After Lucas’ ideas for the story of The Force Awakens were rejected resulting in Lucas removing himself from the production entirely, many wondered if the visionary filmmaker would still be involved with Indy 5.

Steven Spielberg, who is currently helming the on-screen adaptation of the best-selling novel, Ready Player One, was quoted by CBR this summer during a press roundtable for The BFG, saying that he would never make an Indiana Jones film without his best friend Lucas. Spielberg added that Lucas would be an executive producer on the film but that doesn’t seem to be the case anymore.

In an interview with Collider while promoting Inferno, screenwriter David Koepp who is currently penning the script for Indy 5 was asked about Lucas’ attachment to the project.

“He’s not, to my knowledge. I’ve had no contact with him.”

This comes as no great surprise considering Lucas called the executives at Disney “White Slavers” and described his exit from Lucasfilm like it was a divorce last winter in an interview with Charlie Rose. Lucas also was quoted in Hollywood at the red carpet premiere for The Force Awakens that the only movies he would ever make again would be never be seen by anybody but himself and his friends.

SOURCES: COLLIDER, SCREENRANT (via CBR)

JJ Abrams Talks Kylo Ren and That Heartbreaking Scene

Ahead of the 3D collector’s edition blu-ray release for Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens, Lucasfilm has released a clip from the film’s commentary track via USA Today that features director JJ Abrams providing his thoughts on the film’s pivotal scene which cemented Ben Solo’s journey to the dark side.

People have asked me if I think that Kylo Ren was just playing with him the whole time if he meant to kill him from the beginning, and the truth is I think that Kylo Ren in this moment is actually being convinced to walk away from this. Snoke is, as Han says, using him and I think that somewhere Ben knows this.

You can listen to the full clip here.

Ben absolutely knows that Snoke is using him for his power. Snoke is terrified of Luke Skywalker and knows the only chance he stands at defeating the Jedi Master is by using someone else in his bloodline against him. Only a Skywalker can defeat a Skywalker. Ben was on the edge the whole time as he felt drawn back towards the light throughout the film. But as it has been mentioned in the new canon novels, Snoke saw Vader’s final choice to turn back to the light and save his only son as the mistake that doomed the Empire.

Ben was on the edge the whole time as he felt drawn back towards the light throughout the film. But as it has been mentioned in the new canon novels, Snoke saw Vader’s final choice to turn back to the light and save his only son as the mistake that doomed the Empire. Ultimately, I don’t think Ben wanted to make the same mistake.

We know that Ben didn’t learn the truth about his grandfather until he was at least in his early twenties which is still a very impressionable age. Given that Ben resents his parents for their absence in his younger years and for being sent off to train to become a Jedi with his Uncle, it would make sense for Ben to latch onto a figure of such power in his family.

What we still don’t know is how exactly Snoke seduced Ben to the dark side. But one thing is for sure whether he was on the edge or not, his choice to kill his father and extinguish the light within him solidified his commitment to the dark side.

The 3D collectors edition of The Force Awakens hits shelves November 15.

SOURCE: USA TODAY

Indy and Short Round Are Back!

Released today by Artist Patrick Schoenmaker, comes a video short titled “The Adventures of Indiana Jones”. Based upon “Escaping The Tomb,” a piece commissioned by Lucasfilm for the abysmal “Indiana Jones and The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull”. Five years in the making, this animated short features Indy accompanied by his beloved sidekick, Short Round as he swings his way through several adventures. While it doesn’t include the voices of Harrison Ford or Ke Huy Quan, it has a wonderful John Williams -esque score by composers Alexander Reumers and Jorrit Kleijnen.

Image via Patrick Schoenmaker

In an interview with Inverse.com, Schoenmaker details the process of creating the first ever cartoon version of the iconic hero.

They didn’t ask me to do a print in an animated style, but it was just the natural approach for me. My background is in animation, and the seed for how you’d translate the Indiana Jones character into an animated style was already somewhere in my mind. The print was the best chance to explore that.

The preliminary sketches I had were really cartoony, and I felt that it broke with the Indiana Jones world. If it’s too much of a cartoon, it loses the danger and thrill. It becomes too slapstick. Each draft, I started over with what worked in the previous attempts to keep making it better.

After seeing this short, I’m left wondering why there hasn’t been an Indiana Jones cartoon before? Indy seems ripe for a Saturday morning cartoon series. Can you imagine if someone like Dave Filoni or DisneyXD got behind this?

To read the rest of the interview with Schoenmaker, head on over to Inverse.com.

SOURCES: INVERSE.COM, PATRICK SCHOENMAKER