Do Androids Dream of Electric Beats?

February 28, 2016 12:57 AM

A sequel to Ridley Scott's 1982 classic sci-fi "Blade Runner" has finally been assigned a release date in early 2018. The movie will be directed by Denis Villeneuve (most recently, "Sicario" and "Enemy"). But - who should score the new film? FACT Magazine presents who they would want to hear soundtracking Ryan Gosling and Harrison Ford’s adventures with the replicants.

Vangelis - Blade Runner Soundtrack

posted by sapagan (100 comments total)

Obviously this sequel is An atrocity and a Thing That Should Not Be.

But if you accept it as a given and pick someone to do the soundtrack which would be an equivalent to the Vangelus score? That's a tough question. I'd go for Future Sound of London for the big push synth feel and also because their work cries out to be some kind of soundtrack.

But mostly just don't make this movie.
posted by Artw at 1:03 AM on February 28, 2016 [19 favorites]

I saw only one of Denis Villeneuve's films, Prisoners. It was very solidly made, though I had issues with the script. It's a beautiful looking film (despite the extremely dark theme), but then again most of that credit goes to DP Roger Deakins, who should be the DP of everything.
posted by zardoz at 1:21 AM on February 28, 2016 [2 favorites]

Good news! Roger Deakins will also work Blade Runner 2.
posted by sapagan at 1:25 AM on February 28, 2016 [8 favorites]

I can't help seeing every reboot / late sequel as a missed opportunity to do something original instead. The amount of squandered talent involved is incredible.
posted by pipeski at 1:27 AM on February 28, 2016 [23 favorites]

Gosling was a pretty good robot in Drive and Lars and the Real Girl. He'll make a great replicant in this!
posted by a lungful of dragon at 1:31 AM on February 28, 2016 [4 favorites]

I don't feel a sequel is necessary, but it could be worse; they could've gotten J J Abrams or Michael Bay to direct. Imagine the flaming chimneys of Los Angeles with Bay at the helm, or the lens flare in a replicant's eyes in the Abrams version.
posted by dazed_one at 1:33 AM on February 28, 2016 [10 favorites]

I would love it if they used this as a jumping off point to really pay tribute to Philip K Dick's work. Just pull in all kinds of details and concepts from all of his stories. Maybe Deckard visits an autofac, or someone turns up with a can of UBIK, or the turning point for a main character involves a pink beam of light... I don't know, I mean, that just seems like a respectful way to go about it, considering they're arrogant enough to manufacture basically an original sequel to one of his stories without his input. It'd certainly be more entertaining than the bland, po-faced action movie we're probably going to get.
posted by One Second Before Awakening at 1:54 AM on February 28, 2016 [9 favorites]

Ford and Gosling's charachters should both be named Deckard and both be hunting each other down. It should never be made clear if Ford Deckard was a replicant, if Gosling Deckard's name is anything more than a co-incidence, how much time has passed to age Ford Deckard, or if the events of the first movie are remembered by either Deckard. There should be hints of sinister motivations and manipulation by hidden forces that resulted in the situation. Whichever Deckard lives should more or less be insane by the end if it. If you're going to make a new PKD movie, go for the feel of creeping paranoia and wrongness that PKD was so good at creating, and that so few of the films captured.
posted by Grimgrin at 2:00 AM on February 28, 2016 [32 favorites]

I hope they restore all the animal husbandry that was a core theme of the source material.

Oh, and Mercerism.
posted by zompist at 2:07 AM on February 28, 2016 [19 favorites]

Issues around making up a sequel aside, Villeneuve is a good choice of director. I expect he'll get the mood and look of the film right.
posted by eviemath at 2:12 AM on February 28, 2016

Geir Jenssen (Biosphere)
posted by Hairy Lobster at 2:21 AM on February 28, 2016 [1 favorite]

Good news! Roger Deakins will also work Blade Runner 2.

Best. Decision. Ever.
posted by zardoz at 2:32 AM on February 28, 2016

Gosling could make a great ambiguously human Blade Runner. When I first saw the news of the casting, this was literally my reaction. Considering the first news would be Harrison Ford as Deckard and Gosling on board, I'm even somewhat optimistic about it.

As for the soundtrack, my top five picks in order would be
- the Ex-Machina team, Geoff Barrow and Ben Salisbury.
- the Drive team, Cliff Martinez and Johnny Jewel.
- the Social Network/Girl With The Dragon Tattoo team Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross.
- Vangelis, because giving the Tron soundtrack to Daft Punk instead of Wendy Carlos was one of the many mistakes.
- Clint Mansell, if he's willing to put together stuff by Autechre, Monolake, Trentemoller, etc.

Also, I approve unrestricted violence against the first fucker that suggests acoustic strings or great orchestral scores. Actual mob-style violence. Hammers on fingers.
posted by lmfsilva at 2:35 AM on February 28, 2016 [5 favorites]

I am a fan of sequels even though they are inevitably awful. -Joss Whedon
posted by fairmettle at 2:46 AM on February 28, 2016 [2 favorites]

I can only imagine this working if it somehow outdoes the original in mood, pacing and characterisation - or takes the whole thing in a fresh and deep direction. Any amount of the current trends for excessive and fast-dating CGI, complex but unpaced plotting, and action set pieces, and it's dead in the water. I'm managing my expectations.
posted by iotic at 2:59 AM on February 28, 2016

(one addendum to my Drive team,Cliff Martinez and Johnny Jewel entry: IIRC Refn wanted Jewel, the studios wanted Cliff Martinez, who ended up using some of the Italians catalog, and did the score in Jewels' style, so it wasn't a "team" as much as one guy copying another in the score, but leaving the actual songs of the other guy. Which still worked)
posted by lmfsilva at 3:01 AM on February 28, 2016

Indiana Jones and the Ravages of Time. Star Wars: Grandpa Dozes Off. Pension Runner. Geriatric Witness. Air Force 98 going on 99. The Care Home Fugitive. Nursing Girl.
posted by the quidnunc kid at 3:10 AM on February 28, 2016 [3 favorites]

Four Tet and Tortoise could be interesting.
posted by old_growler at 3:11 AM on February 28, 2016 [5 favorites]

Mica Levi is too good for this nonsense, but if they ever get around to making that Ubik film...
posted by thetortoise at 3:14 AM on February 28, 2016 [2 favorites]

I like what David Grellier does under the College moniker, also as heard on the Drive soundtrack. His release Heritage is pretty close to what the idea of Blade Runner 2 feels like to me.

Also, Jon Hopkins (Open Eye Signal for example) could be interesting for a more modern, minimalistic interpretation.
posted by Satorian at 3:26 AM on February 28, 2016 [2 favorites]

No Sean Young, no sale.
posted by The Tensor at 3:49 AM on February 28, 2016 [6 favorites]

"Good news! Roger Deakins will also work Blade Runner 2."

Yeah, and for those who didn't already know, he's the Coen's DP. He's amazing.

With regard to the specific post ... holy cow, how did I not already know about Holly Herndon? I'm not sure that I think Cliff Martinez is quite right for BR2, but I love his work on The Knick.
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 3:52 AM on February 28, 2016

i resent this prompt, but the goto for noodly pseudo-new age synth-wanking in the modern age is oneohtrix point never...
posted by ennui.bz at 4:07 AM on February 28, 2016 [3 favorites]

I'm a lot more interested in how Ubik and Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said (both "in development") are going. Those two are based on books by PKD. Unlike this "sequel."
posted by kozad at 4:08 AM on February 28, 2016 [1 favorite]

It's tricky; even if BR2 somehow transcends itself toward an unlikely masterpiece, as the original proved so much of a great film's success lies in its score and the two are utterly interlinked. Something remarkable was going on between Scott and Vangelis during that editing phase and I've read various accounts over the years of Scott winding up at the end of each day at the composer's studio in west London and spending hours in each other's company. In a way, I suspect the soundtrack is more 'collaborative' than we realise and I think really helped in making the score such an organic part of the film. There are various moments in Blade Runner where the 'music' fuses so wholly with the background soundscape it's hard to determine where one ends and the other begins.

To somehow recapture that would be impossible and wrong; my instinct would be to veer away from some kind of electronic pastiche and back toward the orchestral, with maybe just a nod toward its Vangelis heritage. Someone like Nico Muhly, maybe, although I felt his Kill Your Darlings score was too concessive of the mainstream. John Corigliano; I don't think he's done any film work for years, but Altered States is still for me outstanding. You need someone who can really bring something to the table, providing there's something on it worth writing about.
posted by specialbrew at 4:11 AM on February 28, 2016

they should get Peter Watts to write the script, then this could be the entire soundtrack. but i guess at that point they might as well just go ahead and make a 'blindsight' movie...
posted by ennui.bz at 4:12 AM on February 28, 2016 [6 favorites]

I'm reminded of the Tron sequel and the limp Daft Punk score that people all thought was so great...why? I mean—I enjoy Daft Punk just fine, and new Tron was visually beautiful, but the score was just limp nothing compared to the Carlos original.

A great film score is so rare these days.
posted by sonascope at 4:15 AM on February 28, 2016

The original is un-sequel-able. And shouldn't be sequeled. Because the original was a Sui-generis take on an almost completely different feeling/meaning source material.

Now if they decided to do Ubik as though they were doing more of "Blade Runner" then I could maybe get behind that. But as is they should maybe call the sequel,like, Deckard's last run or something else that has, in the end, nothing whatsoever to do with the source material.

I really like the movie, but I also really really liked the book, and Philip K. Dick generally and think he's never gotten the movie-I-zation his books deserve and it would be nice to see someone at least try.
posted by From Bklyn at 4:16 AM on February 28, 2016

Vangelis is incomparable. The score should be purely electronic — that much seems clear — and have a certain quality about it. So if I had to choose someone who wasn't Vangelis, it might be Solar Fields, whose music gets close to Vangelis' at times. Or someone else on the Ultimae Records label, like Aes Dana. Or it could be Jon Hopkins. Or maybe Tycho. Or Ulrich Schnauss.

But no one else, if anyone's asking me.
posted by scamper at 4:30 AM on February 28, 2016 [7 favorites]

Sigh: 158 movie sequels currently in the works
posted by Harald74 at 4:31 AM on February 28, 2016 [1 favorite]

I think a LEGO Blade Runner movie could work.
posted by SPrintF at 4:43 AM on February 28, 2016 [6 favorites]

I understand the economic reasons for sequels, and sometimes sequels are a good thing, creating a set of movies that basically stand together as a body of work, like the Aliens movies, perhaps, or the Mad Max movies. But it's still overdone and feels almost desperate a lot of the time.

My first reaction is that a new Blade Runner score should be spare and electronic, minimalist in the way that Spring Breakers was lush, which just means that this would be the expected solution and that a more surprising and effective use of music would take a different path.
posted by Dip Flash at 5:17 AM on February 28, 2016 [1 favorite]

Goblin, obviously. Like Dawn of the Dead or Suspiria. You don't want the same feel as the original. It shouldn't even look like the original -- it's 2050 or something. The world should be very different by now, and probably much more dangerous and chaotic, since (a) everything was going to hell in a handbasket the last we saw, and (b) a better world wouldn't make for a real thrilling thriller.
posted by kittens for breakfast at 5:24 AM on February 28, 2016

Vangelis or go home.
posted by sutt at 5:28 AM on February 28, 2016

I wonder if Richard D. James is interested.
posted by solarion at 5:37 AM on February 28, 2016 [6 favorites]

Skipping around the (very good) soundtrack debate, didn't I read, somewhere, that Harrison Ford thought that the script was one of the best he'd ever read?

FAKE EDIT: Yeah, according to Ridley, "I sent him this [script] and he said it’s the best thing he’s ever read. It’s very relevant to what happened in the first one."

Sicario was a nicely-filmed and -acted piece of cinamatic nihilism and brutalism; never saw Prisoners, but by all accounts it was also nicely shot and unsettling. I don't know if it's possible to take that talent and turn it into something as visionary as the original Blade Runner, but maybe we can get something refreshing out of it (in the best case, I think of aForce Awakens to Star Wars sort of comparison, which may fill some with terror, I suppose)
posted by jpolchlopek at 5:46 AM on February 28, 2016

The coolest thing about Blade Runner was the wealth of side-detail. The bouquet, if you will, that gave the film it's flavor. Example: Spinners (the flying cop cars) were just part of the landscape. In the sequel, they should try for this again. Simple noir story, with lots of cool side detail and painterly eye-candy. Resist, RESIST, I say, the urge to stage a fistfight on a moving Spinner, or have the last half of the movie a Spinner chase through Los Angeles.
The best film scores seem to be the ones that stand on their own. Compare, for example, the melodic soundtrack of Star Trek: The Motion Picture, to the forgettable noise backing Star Trek: The Lens Flare. It's almost like they have some algorithm generating film scores these days.
posted by jabah at 6:08 AM on February 28, 2016 [6 favorites]

Surprised at the hate for Daft Punk' Tron soundtrack, I thought it was the only salvageable thing from that trainwreck.
posted by octothorpe at 6:18 AM on February 28, 2016 [5 favorites]

I, too, thought the Tron Legacy soundtrack was pretty damn good. But then again, I liked the movie, too.

Someone mentioned Clint Mansell upthread - I am reminded of his work on "Moon" (which was effing TERRIFIC) and think that something in the same vein would work well here.
posted by Thistledown at 6:21 AM on February 28, 2016

There are various moments in Blade Runner where the 'music' fuses so wholly with the background soundscape it's hard to determine where one ends and the other begins.

One of the things that elevates BR to my all time favourite film is the bizarre and utterly remarkable way the soundtrack and sound design work together so perfectly. Unfortunately none of the extensive behind the scenes material really goes into the sound design at all, which is a real shame since it's on a par with Star Wars and Jurassic Park for me in terms of sound design.

Something else I've always found notable is that even the characters' vocal performances seem to fit into the soundtrack a lot of the time, and a lot of the line deliveries seem strangely musical. It's very odd, and I have to wonder if that was a deliberate directing choice.
posted by Jon Mitchell at 6:27 AM on February 28, 2016 [3 favorites]

I really like the movie, but I also really really liked the book, and Philip K. Dick generally and think he's never gotten the movie-I-zation his books deserve and it would be nice to see someone at least try.

You can't really fault people for at least trying, but fair point. See also, Alan Moore
posted by iotic at 6:29 AM on February 28, 2016

i can't wait for the direct to video Blade Runner 3.
posted by cjorgensen at 6:36 AM on February 28, 2016 [3 favorites]

The correct answer is Burial.
posted by davebush at 6:36 AM on February 28, 2016 [12 favorites]

Surprised at the hate for Daft Punk' Tron soundtrack, I thought it was the only salvageable thing from that trainwreck.

It's pretty great. I know a lot of people use it as writing music.
posted by Artw at 6:38 AM on February 28, 2016 [1 favorite]

I don't know about Watts, they should base the script on a random Ted Chiangmai story.
posted by Artw at 6:39 AM on February 28, 2016

Blade Runner and Ghostbusters are my two favorite movies, probably, so the Universe is really testing my patience.
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 6:41 AM on February 28, 2016

The actual correct answer is Skinny Puppy.
posted by Mezentian at 6:42 AM on February 28, 2016 [3 favorites]

The correct answer is Burial.

I'm gonna looooove you more than anyone.
posted by sapagan at 6:54 AM on February 28, 2016

I wonder if Wendy Carlos would consider collaborating with one of her technological descendants
(Clint Mansell, Amon Tobin, Trent Reznor, ....)

Oh wait, that's damn near anybody and everbody.
posted by nickggully at 6:55 AM on February 28, 2016 [5 favorites]

Well, they've found a way to make me wildly enthusiastic for Ghostbusters, not really sure such a feat is possible for Bladerunner.
posted by Artw at 7:01 AM on February 28, 2016 [1 favorite]

I think the new Blade Runner should be entirely silent, and taking place in a thread on MetaFilter, so basically just a screencast of the existential confusion and despair arising from the realization that most of us here are, in fact, artificial entities.

Are we expensive? Very.
posted by mbrock at 7:04 AM on February 28, 2016 [3 favorites]

I had read the title, and was expecting something very different.
posted by arrjay at 7:17 AM on February 28, 2016

I'm most afraid that the new movie is going to be a plot driven action movie with predictable "Save the Cat" screenwriter beats.
posted by octothorpe at 7:18 AM on February 28, 2016 [2 favorites]

I'm more an more convinced that Scott is utterly blind to script quality, so to the extent that he is involved that doesn't seem unlikely.
posted by Artw at 7:21 AM on February 28, 2016 [1 favorite]

Disney will buy this franchise and put in in their "It's a Small World " experience.
posted by effluvia at 7:40 AM on February 28, 2016 [1 favorite]

Come now, "a release date in early 2018" is wrong. Surely you mean "inception date".
posted by doctornemo at 7:45 AM on February 28, 2016

Disasterpeace would be a good choice for the soundtrack. Or maybe OGRE Sound, or Makeup & Vanity Set.

Wendy Carlos fit with the first Tron movie; Daft Punk fit with the sequel, which had a different flavor. I have no complaints there. I see the sequel basically as a high-budget extended Daft Punk video anyway, though it may have been a bit less coherent than Interstella 555.
posted by Foosnark at 7:46 AM on February 28, 2016 [5 favorites]

One Second Before Awakening suggests
they used this as a jumping off point to really pay tribute to Philip K Dick's work. Just pull in all kinds of details and concepts from all of his stories
Reminds me of the odd, pretty good, and underseen Lovecraft film, The Resurrected. It starts off as Charles Dexter Ward, then races into a bunch of other HPL, like "Rats in the Walls", if memory serves.
posted by doctornemo at 7:51 AM on February 28, 2016 [1 favorite]

The actual correct answer is Skinny Puppy.

Actual actual answer is to take random pop songs and have Andy Rehfeldt metalize them the way he did "Call Me Maybe."
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 7:55 AM on February 28, 2016

I have mixed feelings about this of course but the only answer for anyone with a soul is FlyLo.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 8:07 AM on February 28, 2016 [2 favorites]

Also it should be set in Dubai.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 8:07 AM on February 28, 2016 [2 favorites]

Get whoever selected whomever scored Mad Max: Fury Road to make the choice.
posted by Apocryphon at 8:22 AM on February 28, 2016

Oh, it will be great. A series of flashbacks reveals that Gaff revives Roy Batty on the rooftop and smuggles him out of the city to meet up with Deckard and Rachel. They learn the secret of indefinite lifespan from a mysterious junkyard guru, and the replicants now sport futuristic life-support suits bristling with tubes, etc. For years they have been living on the run as mercenary detectives, with a couple of quirky younger replicants rounding out their Ragtag Bunch of Misfits. Then one day, Ryan Gosling shows up with an offer they can't refuse . . .

El-P would be a perfect choice to produce the soundtrack.
posted by mubba at 9:10 AM on February 28, 2016 [2 favorites]

If this is half as good as Prometheus than it will have met all my expectations.
posted by AGameOfMoans at 9:15 AM on February 28, 2016 [2 favorites]

Just name the new love interest Siri.

The actual sequel is easy to imagine and could've make a good film but it was done earlier: "Love Story" a sweet story where you know the ending.

The visual dark image of a science fiction world five years after the shininess of storm troopers was a visceral shock to the head. And right now it's hard to show near future amazing science that's amazing without either too obviously violating physics or looking like something that's be in the news next week. These days flying cars signal fantasy or over the top wacky. There are no shortage of issues with potential cyborg/replicants but the environmental feel that folks are expecting near future is more like scorching dry mad max than dark wet noir.

Now a scene at a school for Pris 'bots' getting out of control could make for great shots in the trailer.

Or set it on the out planets where the clean shiny humans live like kings and a huge CGI replicant rebellion has huge amazing exploding space stations but ends with all the replicants finally dying in a huge heap of bodies. Then panning over to the one super smart replicant all twisted and gone; his eyes open and he quietly whispers with a smile: "it's darwin time humans".
posted by sammyo at 9:21 AM on February 28, 2016 [1 favorite]

maybe there wil be some swords or knives this time
posted by thelonius at 9:34 AM on February 28, 2016 [1 favorite]

A movie about Roy Batty's four years would be interesting to see.
posted by maxwelton at 9:44 AM on February 28, 2016 [4 favorites]

There should not ever be a movie of Ubik.

It's one of PKD's most visual novels. It's impossible to read without entire scenes replaying in your head later, down to pacing, staging, sets and cast. And that's why it shouldn't ever be made into a movie.

Because this is a story about how reality plays out in each our own heads. There are somewheres around thirty or three hundred million fully-realized movies of it at this point, and every single one of them is wrong to the other thirty-to-three-hundred-million-minus-one.

Just... leave it alone. Let that beautiful, imperfect gem be.
posted by ardgedee at 10:02 AM on February 28, 2016 [3 favorites]

A score by Disasterpeace or Mansell or Broadcast, over Edward James Olmos as drunk pensioner Gaff, stalked by Ron Perlman as his replicant ex-lover, watches the Deckard story play out at a distance in what amounts to two hours of the last minute of Pontypool but with slow lingering shots of painstaking miniature photography and the lurking, unfulfilled threat of action while everyone smolders and smokes cigarettes at each other under neon in the rain.

Everyone hates it for years until the weird theories about cryptic editing choices start popping up.
posted by Mister Moofoo at 10:17 AM on February 28, 2016 [2 favorites]

A movie about Roy Batty's four years would be interesting to see.

I love the idea of a prequel, but who takes M. Emmett Walsh's inevitable place at the end? John C. Reilly?
posted by rhizome at 12:10 PM on February 28, 2016 [2 favorites]

After this soundtrack, I'm of the opinion Clint Mansell should write every soundtrack for every movie ever.

A soundtrack so good that for several years every trailer for every Hollywood movie used it, a soundtrack so good that people that couldn't stomach the movie bought and loved the soundtrack.
posted by el io at 12:17 PM on February 28, 2016

Everything in the first movie and everything that has happened between the first and the second had been a memory implant .

My musical vote - Eluvium.
posted by hoodrich at 12:27 PM on February 28, 2016

If this is half as good as Prometheus than it will have met all my expectations.

Ouch.
posted by bongo_x at 12:42 PM on February 28, 2016 [1 favorite]

Tim Hecker
posted by PBR at 12:43 PM on February 28, 2016 [5 favorites]

The coolest thing about Blade Runner was the wealth of side-detail. The bouquet, if you will, that gave the film it's flavor. Example: Spinners (the flying cop cars) were just part of the landscape.

It's true, but also, now that we're 30 years into the future it's interesting to see what details were wrong. I rewatched parts of BR and the original Total Recall recently, and it was striking how in both movies people talk to each other on video-phones that are fixed in place. The flying cop cars each had a videophone set in the dashboard. In Total Recall the videophones were basically land-lines, fixed in place in apartments and bars the way that payphones used to be.

It's funny what it shows about movie directors in the 80s. Flying cars? Yup. A Mars colony? You bet. Handheld phones with video? Nah man, that's crazy.
posted by A dead Quaker at 12:47 PM on February 28, 2016 [2 favorites]

The coolest thing about Blade Runner was the wealth of side-detail. The bouquet, if you will, that gave the film it's flavor. Example: Spinners (the flying cop cars) were just part of the landscape.

Blade Runner had Syd Mead. Do we have people now that have jobs as futurists, like Syd? I don't feel like we have anyone doing that kind of forecasting of future technology or style, you know what I mean? All the forecasts in our sci fi are just bigger screens, transparent touch displays, goggles, nanobots.

Getting someone into the production phase who can create a new, futuristic world that is as alien and as plausible as the original — that's going to be the key to making this work, I think.
posted by a lungful of dragon at 12:57 PM on February 28, 2016 [1 favorite]

This is my favorite movie of all time, and I was ecstatic when the official Vangelis soundtrack was finally released, only to be appalled on first listen by the goddamn voiceovers in several cuts. So when the Gongo bootleg came out I was thrilled. Then the Esper Edition was mentioned in a MeFi comment and I was back to being ecstatic. And holy shit, I just learned from the Wiki page that there's an even more comprehensive Esper "Retirement" Edition!

What's better than "ecstatic?" 'Cause that's what I am.

Also, I became so familiar with the soundtrack over the years that when I rewatched the film a couple of years ago with my son it was like a really strong deja vu experience.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 1:06 PM on February 28, 2016 [3 favorites]

Obviously this sequel is An atrocity and a Thing That Should Not Be.

Hollywood screws up PKD every time. I want to see Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said or We Can Build You done right where the interpersonal part is the focus.
posted by Ironmouth at 1:38 PM on February 28, 2016

The correct answer is Burial.
Tim Hecker

Yeah these are the right track. Burial is almost too obvious a choice (though it seems to take him a very long time to make music so maybe he should have collaborators).
posted by atoxyl at 1:49 PM on February 28, 2016

I would want them to include Vangelis in the soundtrack. Get a few people to remix them, and see what they can come up with.

Also, there was a Vangelis anniversary edition soundtrack release for Blade Runner with all sorts of music people *haven't* heard. Use some of it...!

Oh, and Gosling? That's fine... but this generation really needs its own Bogart, which is essentially the character type that Harrison Ford plays so well.

Gosling is not that person... but that anti-hero is out there, somewhere... and they should find them. Both Bogart and Ford were only lead actors well into their careers, so young fresh faces only go so far here. Think rugged gangster with a quiet inner conscience meets scruffy nerfherder, FTW.
posted by markkraft at 1:52 PM on February 28, 2016

Not an easy watch (or maybe easy to find), but Incendies is better than Villeneuve's latest three.
posted by starman at 1:53 PM on February 28, 2016

Ah, here it is... the 2 hour, 34 minute anniversary edition of the Blade Runner soundtrack, for those who haven't heard it before.
posted by markkraft at 1:58 PM on February 28, 2016 [3 favorites]

Cut! CUT!
posted by Burn_IT at 2:06 PM on February 28, 2016

I hope Ryan Gosling plays his Deckard Jr. (presumably he'll be the fancy new Blade Runner) as his character from Drive.

New-Rachael: May I ask you a personal question?
Deckard Jr.: ...
New-Rachael: Have you ever retired a human by mistake?
Deckard Jr. (imperceptibly shakes head over the span of a full minute): ...
New-Rachael: B-but in your position, that is a risk?
Deckard Jr (slowly removes toothpick): ...I Bladerun.
posted by turbid dahlia at 6:12 PM on February 28, 2016 [2 favorites]

For the soundtrack, I'd be pretty into having Kuedo on board.
posted by One Second Before Awakening at 6:26 PM on February 28, 2016 [1 favorite]

it was striking how in both movies people talk to each other on video-phones that are fixed in place.

Well, not only is it hard to predict future tech, but it’s even harder to film tech that doesn’t exist yet after you predict it. It wasn’t that hard in the 80’s to make a mock up of a video phone in your house, but doing a hand held version would have been a bit more of a chore.
posted by bongo_x at 8:05 PM on February 28, 2016

I hope Ryan Gosling plays his Deckard Jr. (presumably he'll be the fancy new Blade Runner) as his character from Drive.

A REAL HUMAN BEING AND A REAL HERO
posted by lmfsilva at 10:56 PM on February 28, 2016 [3 favorites]

Fever Ray.
posted by speicus at 11:38 PM on February 28, 2016 [2 favorites]

I have a sinking suspicion that this film will be another attempt at pandering to the Chinese market.

Nonetheless, for the sound track I would like to hear some Korean or Taiwanese artist that is new to me.
posted by asok at 6:17 AM on February 29, 2016

Between this, Prometheus, and almost-assuredly awful Alien: Covenant, Ridley Scott seems determined to piss all over his legacy as a filmmaker. We call this "Doing a Lucas."
posted by entropicamericana at 9:35 AM on February 29, 2016

The Martian is really great though, because it had a great script. He's an amazing visual storyteller but it really all comes down to the script in front of him.
posted by Artw at 10:13 AM on February 29, 2016

You people are stoned. The soundtrack will be by Swizz Beats with a guest duet by Kelly Clarkson and Sam Smith on, "Love Theme (Deckard's Dream)".
posted by rhizome at 11:55 AM on February 29, 2016 [2 favorites]

Quite surprised at the lack of John Carpenter in the comments ... Though he's probably a little too 80s.
posted by sapagan at 10:35 PM on February 29, 2016

I thought the opening theme song was called "Ride the Unicorn".
posted by bongo_x at 10:39 PM on February 29, 2016

It is. "Deckard's Dream (Love Theme from Blade Runner 2)" [note new title] is used during the sex part.
posted by rhizome at 11:14 PM on February 29, 2016 [1 favorite]

Quite surprised at the lack of John Carpenter in the comments ... Though he's probably a little too 80s.

I thought of Carpenter, but while Vangelis' work on Blade Runner kind of melts into the movie itself, Carpenter usually leads with a pulsating, tense bass/low-end line. He's an incredible composer that like his contemporaries Vangelis and Oldfield used technology to create memorable scores, but I don't think he'd be a match, assuming the director wants to follow the same style as the original film.

One name that did slip my mind was Jean-Michel Jarre. His record last year, featuring collaborations with a lot of people (including Carpenter), and there's some moments with stuff I wouldn't mind on a Blade Runner movie - I could easily see this one as a End Titles replacement.
posted by lmfsilva at 1:19 AM on March 1, 2016 [1 favorite]

Vangelis' work on Blade Runner kind of melts into the movie itself

This is why I would love to see Burial give it a go, though he's never work on a movie before. The whole "Rival Dealer EP" is so immersive and "environmental" (couldn't think of a better word here, "ambient" refers to something different, to something too calm and harmonious, usually). "Come Down to Us" being a perfect example of a soundtrack without a movie.
posted by sapagan at 3:00 AM on March 1, 2016 [1 favorite]

I have a sinking suspicion that this film will be another attempt at pandering to the Chinese market.

The future better still be Japanese. It ain't cybernoir otherwise.
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 3:13 AM on March 1, 2016 [1 favorite]

"The sky above the port was the color of [1980s] television, tuned to a dead [broadcast] channel."
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 8:34 AM on March 1, 2016

Instead of a sequel, I think they should just create a really cool set piece that would be straight out of Bladerunner, get Gosling and Ford to sit at an outside restaurant counter to eat while it's raining outside and reflecting the surrounding neon, and make a really cool animated gif out of it.
posted by SpacemanStix at 10:07 PM on March 1, 2016 [1 favorite]