This weekend I received an e-mail from /Film reader Tanner C. informing me that one of the screenwriters of Eagle Eye was working on a screenplay for Blade Runner 2. I spent the weekend trying to get confirmation, and thanks to my friend Frosty at Collider who was able to get in touch with a second person who was also at the event, I was able to confirm that the following was actually said. But before you throw a hissy fit. let me fill you in on all the details and assure you that nothing is being developed by the studio itself, or with the studio’s involvement. Here is the original email:
“I recently attended a Q&A session with one of the writers of ‘Eagle Eye’ after a free screening organized by the magazine Creative Screenwriting. During the Q&A, the writer said that he and whomever it was that helped him co-write the ‘Eagle Eye’ screenplay were in the process of writing a sequel to Blade Runner, and had already contacted the producers of the original, etc., etc. This is probably a load of empty words/wishful thinking on his part, but I for one am appalled by just the notion of a Blade Runner sequel, and thought you’d be as well, so I thought perhaps you’d like to look into this yourself and perhaps use your soapbox to get some fanboys a little pissed, as well. If not, then at least you have a scoop.”
Okay first of all, lets make sure we know who exactly we’re talking about. The screenwriters in question are not Alex Kurtzman or Roberto Orci, but instead Eagle Eye co-writer Travis Wright (who was at the event) and his Eagle Eye co-writer John Glenn. (Update: John Glenn has confirmed that he is no longer involved in the project)
Wright produced a 2005 animated movie which spoofed disaster films, called Disaster! The Movie. While at UCLA, Wright won the Jack Nicholson prize in screenwriting for his WWII drama Hunting the Wolf. At one point Wright and Glenn were attached to write a remake of The Warriors for Tony Scott/Paramount and Louis Leterrier’s remake of Clash of the Titans.
Wright revealed at the Creative Screenwriting event that they have been working on various treatments for a Blade Runner sequel over the last couple years. And there is also the claim that recently the duo have been working with Blade Runner co-executive producer Bud Yorkin on the project. It should be noted that Yorkin likely doesn’t control the rights to a Blade Runner sequel, and all of this is being developed outside of the studio.
But this isn’t just some small side project, Travis also claims that they are already working with a pre-visualization team on some of the hunter action sequences for their eventual pitch with the studio. I don’t believe that Ridley Scott is involved, but the screenwriting team has worked directly with his brother Tony Scott on projects, so their might be a possible connection.
All of this really scares the hell out of me. Blade Runner is one of the most beloved sci-fi films of all time, and it is a movie that doesn’t need a sequel. If Scott had an idea, and really believed it was worth making, then maybe MAYBE. But we certainly don’t need a sequel written by the second teir team of Eagle Eye. Lets hope to God this doesn’t happen.
UPDATE: I just received an e-mail from John Glenn, who claims that he is no longer working with Travis Wright on the Blade Runner sequel. I’m guessing this means that Travis is just working on the project by himself now. The email is reprinted below with permission from Glenn:
John Glenn, here. I just read your article about myself and Travis Wright working on a remake of Blade Runner … Travis and I actually broke off as writing partners years ago - after the first draft of Eagle Eye. Due to previous commitments, I couldn’t make the screening / Q&A last week — so to be honest, I have no idea what Travis was talking about or why he brought up a project we were tooling with years ago, when we still wrote together. There was a point where Travis and I were working with Bud Yorkin on a sequel to Blade Runner, but that was years back. It never got too far off the ground because the movie is so perfect, so the more we thought about it, the more uneasy we became with the idea. Anyway, just an note to clear the air. My apologies to you and your readers for the confusion Travis created.
译文:
独家消息：《鹰眼》编剧欲著《银翼杀手2》
上周末，我收到一封Tanner C的来信，他是一名电影校对员。信上说《鹰眼》的编剧者正在编写《银翼杀手2》。为了确认此事，我花了一个周末的时间。最后还要多谢一个在Collidr工作，同样也负责这个项目，因此可以联系到第二人的朋友Frosty，我才能很确定的说以下所述确切属实。在你小小的不满爆发以前，让我将来龙去脉告诉你，以保证电影制片厂并无参与。以下就是邮件原文：“完成了由《创新编剧》杂志的自由拍摄栏目以后，最近我又与采访了一名《鹰眼》的编剧。在采访过程中，他表示所有协助他完成《鹰眼》剧本的人以及他自己现在都致力于《银翼杀手》的续集，并声称已经联系到了原来的制片人。也许这只是他想的很完美但缺乏行动的空话而已，但是我也是被《银翼杀手》要拍摄续集的想法所震惊的人之一。也许你和我一样，所以我觉得也许你该自己先去了解一下，也许soapbox网站上的视频会让铁杆影迷们感到失望。如果你没能看到完整的，也许至少看一下片花或是简介。
接下来我们首先要确定我们在讨论谁。这里所谈及的编剧者不是艾力克斯库兹曼，也不是罗伯特 奥利奇，而是《鹰眼》的编剧之一查维斯赖特（仍然在写《银》）和另一名《鹰眼》的编剧约翰格兰恩（最新消息：他已经不再负责这个项目了）。
赖特在2005年制作了一部动画片《Disaster! The Movie》。在加利福尼亚大学洛杉矶分校就读期间，赖特还一度凭借一部有关二战的剧作《Hunting the Wolf》一举赢得了杰克尼克逊奖。曾经赖特和格兰恩一起改编了Tony Scott的《The Warriors》和Louis Leterrier的《Clash of the Titans》。
赖特表示在参加创新编剧杂志的活动时，他们已经在过去的几年中对《银翼杀手》的续集做过各种各样的尝试。他还表示他们两人已经在和《银翼杀手》的行政制片人进行计划了。但是Yorkin对《银翼杀手》的续集并没有修改权，整部剧作的撰写都与电影制作公司无关。
这绝对不是一个小项目，Travis声称他们已经开始和一个电影形象预审小组讨论最后展示给电影公司的一系列的猎人武打动作了。我并不相信Ridley Scott会参与到编剧中来，但是编剧组现今正和他的兄弟Tony Scott一起撰写此剧，所以也许他们之间存在联系吧。
所有这一切都让我极其担心。因为《银翼杀手》一直是受众人喜爱的一部科幻电影，也是一部无需任何续集的电影。如果Scott有想法，并且觉得是值得做的，这可能只是可能而已。但是我们的确不需要一部由《鹰眼》的编剧组编写的续集。只能让我们一起祈祷这一切都不会发生吧。
最新消息：我刚刚收到约翰格兰恩的来信，他在信中表示他已经不和查维斯赖特一起编写《银翼杀手》的续集了。这也就意味着查维斯现在正在一个人编剧中。格兰恩在下面的这封电邮中做出了肯定：
我是约翰格兰恩。我刚刚读你了文章，你说我和查维斯赖特正在改写《银翼杀手》……但其实早在《鹰眼》的第一部草稿之后我们就分道扬镳，不再是编剧上的搭档了。由于先前的约定，因此我没有参加上周的电视参访--所以老实说，我并不知道查维斯说了些什么，也不知道为什么他要提起很多年前，当我们还在一起工作时，我们一起负责的那个项目。曾经我和查维斯的确和Bud Yorkin 一起工作，想拍摄《银翼杀手》的续集，但是这已经是陈年往事了。这个想法也从来没有付诸于实践之中。因为这部电影实在是太过完美，我们越想越对我们自己的想法感到没有信心。所以，我写了一封信来澄清事实，并向您和您的读者们因为查维斯的话而带来的迷惑致上我的道歉。