Rikki
10 supporters
OTAKING explains "Blade Runner"

OTAKING explains "Blade Runner"

Dec 05, 2021

It all started with Lucasfilm.

“Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?” was published in 1968. And people were talking that this novel was going to be made into a movie.

In 1969, one year after the book was published, there was a man who tried to get the film rights.

It was a man named Martin Scorsese, who had just graduated from the film department of New York University and had made only one commercial film. He tried to get the film rights, but was unsuccessful.

After that, in 1974, another guy tried to get the rights to make a movie, but it didn't work out. That's how much everyone wanted to make a movie out of this novel. Hampton Fancher was the one who changed that situation. This is a photo of Hampton Fancher today.

What was he like during the times I am going to talk? Actually, Hampton Fancher was an actor when he was younger. This is him. He was a rather successful actor there.

It was 1975, about seven years after the original story was published. Hampton Fancher, who was 37 years old at the time, was a rather successful actor, had starred in about 10 movies, and happened to have $10K in his pocket at the time. So he bought an option on "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?"

What are options? It's not "the right to make a movie," it's "the right to get the right to make a movie". If you are doing stock trading or something like that, you know what I mean. He bought it. He was later credited as the executive producer and screenwriter of Blade Runner. He is also credited as the original producer and screenwriter for the new film, Blade Runner: 2049. So it seems that he got the rights to a certain extent.

Now why did Hampton Fancher get the rights to such a science fiction movie? Actually, it was because he had seen a science fiction movie a few weeks before. Hampton Fancher said in an interview, "Because I saw a science fiction movie that was made in 1975 or so. I don't remember the title of it."

Paul Sammon, the author of the book, says, "I don't know what the title of the movie is." Fancher says, "It's about a bunch of androids being chased by cops in the future world."

But there's only one movie made in 1975 or so where android-like guys are being chased by cops in the future world! THX1138, made by George Lucas, a student at the University of Southern California. You know, the more I look into this, the more interesting information I find.

After seeing that movie, Fancher thought, "The time has come for science fiction movies!" And this novel, "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" is about a cop chasing androids in the future, so he thought, "I can make a movie like that." So he decided to buy the option with the $10K he had at the time...

Enjoy this post?

Buy Rikki a pizza

More from Rikki