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BLADE RUNNER Anniv Screening W/Rutger Hauer and Joe Turkel

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Masao

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Post Mon Jul 02, 2007 4:20 am

BLADE RUNNER Anniv Screening W/Rutger Hauer and Joe Turkel

I just got this from a group I am in:





"Hey, everyone. "Moriarty" here with some Rumblings From The Lab.
Pretty cool. I can imagine this screening was a dream come true for
fans of this film, and I still remember bitterly arguing with friends in
the summer of ?82, telling them that CONAN and BLADE RUNNER and
Carpenter?s THE THING would all be classics in the years to come, defending
these films passionately. Now, to see that be true, it?s a constant
delight, and I would imagine it must be a rush for guys like Rutger Hauer and
Joe Turkel to soak up a bit of the love that exists for the film out
there.

Hi Harry,

Omac reporting here from NYC where Saturday night I attended what was
billed as a 20th anniversary screening of Blade Runner, this in
conjunction with a sci-fi/ comics show that was taking place at Madison Square
Garden over the weekend. The film was shown at the Clearview Cinema on
East 59st and was attended by both Rutger Hauer and Joe Turkel, who
appeared both before and after the screening.

Turkel was fit and limber, he boasted that he was 75 and he really
looked as if he could be 10-15 years younger. The guy joined the army, in
his mid-teens, to fight for us in WW2, and Saturday night appeared as if
he was ready to do it again. Hauer looked heavier but relatively fit.
He rambled a bit but never seemed less than honest and charming.

After the show both actors engaged in a spirited, detailed, tag team Q
& A. Here are some highlights:

Harrison Ford on the set: Both actors noted that they found the
superstar a totally professional, intense, self-absorbed and brooding sort.
Turkel noted: ?He always looked me in the eyes?. Hauer commented that he
thought the Ford performance brought a great ?heaviness? to the tone of
the film and he seemed to indicate he felt this the appropriate
approach.

Hauer said that he viewed Blade Runner as the pinnacle of his career
but then sort of noted ?We are here to talk about Blade Runner, so what
else do you think I would say?? Whatever the case, Hauer seems to have
deep affections and strong feelings about the film and the Replicant,
Roy Batty. He gave his overall take on the film?s storyline as ?a
bumbling detective decides he wants to get blowjobs from a fuckdoll?.

Hauer talked at length about Batty?s death scene on the roof. He said
that Batty?s death speech was originally written to be more than a full
page of dialogue but that he thought most of it sucked and talked
Ridley Scott into letting him cut it down. He kind of hinted that he had
created some of the lines that were still there -- which he seems to
dearly love. He also mentioned that he had suggested the dove, which was
supposed to have come from Sebastian?s apartmet. Hauer talked about how
they could never get the dove to take off when it was released (he did a
hilarious improve of the dove stepping from his hand, walking down his
leg and dropping to the ground) so they ended up shooting the insert of
it taking off over the roof -- just so we would know it flew away to
where it?s still flying around in some John Woo flick :)

Hauer seemed said he always worried if the final shot of the dove was
just a bit to much. Also, he feels that the films final scene (Deckard
leaving with the girl) is ?too Hollywood,? but he didn?t elaborate on
what he would have preferred instead. He seemed to feel that this was the
movie?s one great flaw.

Hauer said he understood the incredible effect BR had cast over every
futuristic movie made since and he noted that he almost felt sorry for
the creatives ?who had to struggle to do something different. Blade
Runner has had its time at the head of the film psyche, and now, I think,
just in the last few years, it?s finally dying away?.

Turkel talked about giving advice to an aspiring filmmaker who had
recently completed his first film, then revealed that the fellow was in the
audience and he was only 7 years old (the kid got some cheers). He
noted that when he had worked with Wise, Scott and Kubrick (X3) he had
always noted a common, relentless perfectionist instinct for detail. He
quoted Kubrick as saying, ?Always keep your camera or your actors
moving?. Turkel said he loved Kubrick (with whom he worked over 30 years) but
was deeply disappointed with EYES WIDE SHUT. He referred to Kubrick?s
last film as seeming to him ?like an old prize fighter who answers the
bell one time too often.? He pointed out how some of the blocking in EYE
WIDE SHURT was repetitious of scenes from PATHS OF GLORY: ?Stanley was
just repeating himself?.

Hauer chimed in here: ?Hey, hey, lets show some mercy for the old prize
fighters... there?s glory in just answering the bell?. Turkel said he
found Ridley Scott to be (predictably) reverential of Kubrick to the
point where (during the filming of BR) he would ask Turkel how he thought
Stanley would do this or that. Turkel said that Scott had seen Kubrick
at parties but had been hesitant to ever approach him. Turkel told
Scott: ?Next time you see him, just walk up and say ?Joe says hello??.

Turkel talked about a missing BR scene (unfilmed?) where, after Batty
kills Tyrell, the dead Tyrell would be revealed as a robot, the real
Tyrell would be seen in suspended animation at the top of the
building/temple. Someone then asked if there was ever talk of a sequel and Turkel
said, with a wink and a smile, that ?of course it would have to be all
about the real Tyrell?.

Toward the end Turkel went back to discussing the great directors he?d
worked with and the perfectionist ethic: ?This is what all the great
ones have?. As an illustration of this he recounted an incident on the
set of The Shining where Kubrick had halted shooting when Stan realized
an ashtray on the bar was not vintage. Hauer, a recent veteran of many
quickly shot B flicks, took a bit of an exception to his friends remarks
and added: ?Young directors must have the vision, but you must also
keep it moving! Don?t think for a second that there isn?t someone
standing ten feet away eager to replace you. Don?t overstep your bounds in
some obsession to be number one! Brilliance is unique to individuals and
shows itself with time. If you?ve got power, use it... don?t abuse it?.

It was a small crowd and by evening's end things had become so pleasant
that Turkel stood in the aisle and personally said goodbye to everyone
as we left.

-OMAC Turkell"
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Post Mon Jul 02, 2007 11:37 pm

Fantastic read, thanks.

As fas as I know, the Tyrell cyro scene was never filmed.
[In reference to A Good Year] "So anyway, fuck 'em. It was a good film."
-Ridley Scott
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ridleynoir

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Post Tue Jul 03, 2007 12:31 am

That is from the 2002 Starfish International Fundraser event at Madison Square Garden (that is why he called it 20th anniversary screening).

It is old news but still very cool none the less.

Here is a link to Rutger's site with audio and video downloads of the interviews...

http://www.rutgerhauer.org/rutgerhauer.org/ny2002.php
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