Well, is he or isn't he?
The conjecture surrounding Harrison Ford's Rick Deckard in 1982s "Blade Runner" has been raging for more than three decades, with Ford and director Ridley Scott famously on opposite sides of the argument.
Scott has always maintained that Deckard, whose job is to hunt down and terminate replicants, is in fact a replicant himself, and inserted the debatable unicorn scene into his 1992 director's cut as a gesture towards clarifying this notion. The internet is replete with passionately argued cases for both sides, with Ford committed to the idea that Deckard is human.
"I was moved to ask Ridley whether or not he thought that the character I was playing was a replicant," Ford recalled at a 2013 AFI event. "Well, I never got a straight answer. Which is OK, I guess.
"But I thought it was important that the audience be able to have a human representative on screen, somebody that they could have an emotional understanding of. Ridley didn't think that was all that important."
If you watch the video below, you'll get Scott's unequivocal take on replicant quandary in no uncertain terms. Thanks to ComicBook.com for the tip:
I personally always thought that Deckard wasn't a replicant, but I have no real stake in the argument. The movie works for me either way. The writer of the original screenplay, Hampton Fancher, had this to say on the controversy at a Blade Runner screening in 2008: "Ridley's off, he's totally wrong!" The audience burst out laughing, after which Fancher continued: "His idea is too complex. I think there is a metaphor in the film that works - for me anyway - and it's about how we aspire to be something and we fall short of it; we always do. And we're not sure if we're being authentic. I don't feel authentic - maybe Ridley does." .
What are your thoughts, dear HNGN readers? Leave a comment below and let us know.
