BLADE RUNNER 2049 Director Denis Villeneuve Got Annoyed With Ridley Scott Being on Set One Day and Made Him Leave
Blade Runner 2049 may not have been a big box office success but it was an incredibly well-made sequel to Ridley Scott's original film. A lot of fans weren't expecting the sequel to end up being as great as it was.
During an interview with Deadline, director Denis Villeneuve talked about developing the film and how the responsibility he felt in honoring the original. He also explained that Ridley Scott would give him complete freedom:
“I had the responsibility to respect, to honor the legacy of the original movie. Now, he told me right at the start he would give me, total, all the space, all the freedom, he will step away, it will be my responsibility.”
Now, even though Ridley Scott gave him the freedom to make the sequel he wanted, Scott still showed up on set and one day it seemed to annoy Villeneuve to the point where he made Scott leave. However, he did this in a complimentary way. He explains:
“He came on set one day and after a few minutes standing behind me it was unbearable. I made a joke, I said to him, 'Hey Ridley, who is your favorite director?' And he said, 'I love Ingmar Bergman and Kubrick.' I said 'I love Bergman too. So Ridley, how would you feel if you were on set and you had Bergman just behind you?' And he burst out laughing and he walked off the set. Because I was trying to direct Harrison Ford and I was like, 'Nope, it doesn't work.”
Yeah, I can relate to that. When I was going to school to be an artist and animator, I was doing some storyboard art and one of my animation idols came to stand over my shoulder and watch. I was completely sweating bullets and broke under the pressure. The work I was doing ended up completely sucking ass.
It makes sense that Villeneuve would have made Scott leave like that! That's not a fun pressure to feel.