Ryan Gosling says Blade Runner 2049 will have audiences on the edges of their seats, as more footage released
Sony offers more glimpses of follow-up to Ridley Scott’s 1982 classic, including scene where Gosling meets the now-retired Rick Deckard, played by Harrison Ford, and footage of Jared Leto as a villain and Robin Wright as a cop
Ryan Gosling has revealed more of his sci-fi adventure in Blade Runner 2049, kicking off the world premiere of extended footage for the highly anticipated film at CinemaCon, the national convention of American cinema owners.
The film is a follow-up to 1982’s classic Blade Runner, which was directed by Ridley Scott and featured Harrison Ford in dystopian Los Angeles as Rick Deckard, a law enforcement agent tracking down genetically engineered replicants. Blade Runner 2049 (in cinemas in October) picks up the action with Gosling as the LAPD’s mysterious Officer K.
“Prepare to start going steady with the edge of your seats,” a hoodie-clad Gosling told the CinemaCon audience.
The new footage shows Gosling meeting up with the retired Deckard (Ford) and included plenty of Jared Leto as a creepy villain and a fellow officer played by Robin Wright.
Sony Motion Picture Group chairman Tom Rothman, who stood on stage next to Gosling, took a shot at small-screen movie offerings after showing off the visually stunning footage: “Netflix, my a**,” he said.
Blade Runner 2049 is a big step away from Gosling’s Oscar-nominated performance in 2016’s La La Land , in which he starred as a aspiring jazz pianist, though the Blade Runner 2049 clip (and the movie’s trailer) shows Gosling briefly playing the piano in Deckard’s house.
Gosling said he didn’t expect the piano scene to make it into the trailer.
“La La Land hadn’t even been cut when we shot [Blade Runner],” said Gosling. “But somehow they went right for the piano scene for the trailer. I was just waiting for the [La La Land] comparisons after that. And they are out there.”
Even Gosling hasn’t yet seen Blade Runner 2049 in its entirety. But he says the dystopian world is even more complicated in the new film. “I cannot get into why it’s more complicated. But it is, [while maintaining] the original film’s themes and story,” Gosling said. “I don’t even know if I’m allowed to say that I enjoyed making the film at this point. It’s all very secret.”
The actor was a toddler when the original Blade Runner came out. “But I saw everything that other movies stole from the film,” he said. “It was quite a prophetic film in so many ways.”
He also explained the big hug he gave Moonlight star Mahershala Ali backstage at last month’s Oscars. The show of love came after the stunning news that Moonlight had actually won the best picture Oscar, when La La Land had already been announced as the winner.
“Mahershala is one of my favourite actors and Moonlight was a stunning piece of work. Groundbreaking,” said Gosling, who starred with Ali in 2013’s A Place Beyond the Pines . “I was so thrilled for them. I was thrilled for him. It couldn’t have happened to nicer people.
“And Mahershala had just had a baby. So there were a lot of reasons to give him a hug then.”
