David Bowie Was Director Denis Villeneuve's First Choice to Play The Villain in BLADE RUNNER 2049

We're only a week away from the highly anticipated sequel of Ridley Scott's iconic Blade Runner to hit theaters. Harrison Ford and Ryan Gosling are joined by Jared Leto who stars as the evil Niander Wallace. But, it turns out that Leto wasn't exactly who director Denis Villeneuve had as his first choice to play the role. In a recent interview with Metro, Villeneuve reveals that he wanted David Bowie to play the film’s main villain before the music legend passed away following his cancer diagnosis.

“Our first thought [for the character] had been David Bowie, who had influenced ‘Blade Runner’ in many ways. When we learned the sad news, we looked around for someone like that.”

The director wanted an actor with a similar rock star vibe as Bowie, which led him to Leto, who had just wrapped production as the Joker on Suicide Squad. Leto went method for the role and used contact lenses that blinded him during the production.

The character Niander Wallace is described as a “manipulative replicant manufacturer” who uncovers a key to humanity’s demise, setting him on a crash course with Ryan Gosling’s Officer K. Villeneuve also revealed that Gosling’s role was written specifically for the actor. 

Blade Runner 2049 opens nationwide October 6.