Denis Villeneuve has helmed many tough projects. But Blade Runner 2049 was, in his opinion, topped the list.
Appearing at the BFI London Film Festival, the Dune star reflected on the famed sci-fi sequel — whose original film Ridley Scott directed — he said lightly, “Doing the sequel of one of the great Ridley Scott masterpieces was probably the worst idea I’ve had.”
The challenge to lead the sequel was so big that Denis believed it could end his career at the time. However, he nonetheless carried on because it was worth it, the filmmaker recalled.
“I figured to make a sequel to my favorite film is a beautiful way to end my career,” the 57-year-old noted, “I thought it was very romantic.”
Since its release in 2017, Blade Runner 2049 reportedly has become a darling of critics, but at the same time, the film failed to make a mark at the box office.
Elsewhere in his conversation, Denis recalled the epic scene in Dune: Part Two involving the riding of sandworm.
“I realized that, the way I wanted to approach this, I didn’t want to compromise,” he explained.
“Most important with visual effects is, how will you shoot it? And I wanted to shoot it with natural light. And I realized it would take months to shoot it. Each shot was very complex.”
“Each shot took sometimes half a day, sometimes a day, sometimes a week for one shot because of the complexity. If I had done it myself, I would still be shooting,” the Canadian filmmaker concluded.
