“I Had a Lot of Concerns About the Narrative”. Harrison Ford Called Working on Blade Runner a “Nightmare”
Harrison Ford has some bad memories of working on Blade Runner that stemmed from other artistic visions. The actor even stated that creating one element for the film was a “nightmare” for him.
Although the most famous sci-fi films starring Harrison Ford are Star Wars, it was not the actor's only experience with the genre. He also starred in the acclaimed Blade Runner, which is regarded as a cult cyberpunk masterpiece, however, while the film is widely praised, Ford himself has a problem with one creative decision regarding the production that made working on it a “nightmare.”
The cinema version of Ridley Scott's masterpiece includes a narration by the character played by Ford. And it was this voice-over that posed a problem for the actor, who felt that the film lost because of it. He didn't want to explain things to the audience that they themselves could understand by watching the scene. He told LA Mag about his negative feelings toward this idea.
I remember when they eventually showed me the script, I had a lot of concerns about the narrative. There was actually a voice-over in the original script, and I felt it was telling the audience things that could easily be discovered in the context of the scene.
When work began on Blade Runner, Ford was convinced that it had been agreed that they would work on a version without the narration he hated, however, it later turned out that this one would be included in the film and the actor, whether he wanted it or not, had to record it. But he confessed that it was a nightmare for him (via Vice).
When we started shooting it had been tacitly agreed that the version of the film that we had agreed upon was the version without voiceover narration. It was a f***ing nightmare. I thought that the film had worked without the narration. But now I was stuck re-creating that narration. And I was obliged to do the voiceovers for people that did not represent the director’s interests.
Ford was against this version of Blade Runner, but he had to make it and the film was released in theaters with a voice-over which explained the events. Later, two other versions of the sci-fi production were made – the director's cut and the final cut – in which the hated voiceover was dropped.
