Blade Runner is set NOW: Harrison Ford HATED this about the film and its big twist

Ever since Blade Runner was released in 1982 nobody can agree on what it all means. More confusingly, there are numerous versions out there, which all put different spins on the story of what it means to be human. In fact, it was equally confusing making the film, with director Ridley Scott constantly demanding rewrites. Most shockingly, he and leading man Ford had completely opposite views over the film’s central twist – which prompted the actor to erupt with rage on the set. 

Scott has always implied that Rick Deckard was a replicant, like Sean Young’s Rachael,  but didn’t know it.

Ford hated the idea, saying: “I felt that the audience needed to have someone on-screen that they could emotionally relate to as though they were a human being.”

He believed they had an agreement that the film would not pursue this angle but Scott secretly started weaving in clues and hints that Deckard wasn’t human, like the unicorn dream (which was cut but appears in later versions).

And then the origami unicorn left at Deckard’s door at the end of the movie signifies his dreams and memories are implanted and not real, not human. When he shot that scene, Ford realised what was happening and shouted: “Goddammit, I thought we said I wasn’t a replicant!”

Test audiences and studio executives also found much of the movie confusing, prompting the producers to insist on the ill-fated and unpopular Deckard voiceover, which explains key points. 

There had always been some narration in the movie, which Ford already objected to, believing it explained too much, rendering Deckards actions on screen redundant: “I felt that I was a detective who did very little detecting.”

But the explanatory voiceover was the last straw. Ford hated the idea and the execution. In the 2007 DVD documentary Dangerous Days: Making Blade Runner (2007), Ford says the voiceover was written by “clowns.”

“I was obliged by my contract to record that narration, which I found awkward and uninspired.”

BLADE RUNNER TAKES PLACE IN NOVEMBER 2019: WHAT CAME TRUE IN THE REAL WORLD?

Ford apparently only did it because he assumed it would never get used.

Those there at the recording sessions reported that he ‘growled his way through the text.” He mocked it and called it “bloody awful.”

Many believe he purposefully delivered the lines badly with little feeling to sabotage the voiceover. Ford denies this.

Just like the mystery of Deckard’s true staus, we will never know – but we can take a good guess…