Ridley Scott : The Film Director and the Film
been re-written four or five different times),
while he was putting the final post-production
touches to Alien. The script at that time was
called "Dangerous Days". Initially, Hampton
Fancher was resistant to some of the changes
proposed by Ridley and, as a co-owner of the
project, Hampton was in a position of authority.
But pressure to alter portions of the script
became so great, that Hampton realised the only
way to remedy the situation was to bring in
another writer; David Webb Peoples.

After completing work on Blade Runner,
Ridley Scott went on to make: Legend, (1986)
- with a very young Tom Cruise; Someone To Watch
Over Me, (1987) - starring Tom Berenger; Black
Rain (1989) - with Michael Douglas; the road
movie Thelma and Louise, (1991); 1492 : Conquest
of Paradise, (1992) - starring Gerard Depardieu;
White Squall, (1996) - with Jeff Daniels; and
G.I. Jane, (1997) - starring Demi Moore. His
next film is rumoured to be a Roman epic,
entitled Gladiator.

The film that came after Blade Runner,

Legend, is probably Ridley Scott’s most poetic
film to date. Like Blade Runner, and Alien
before that, Legend shows us that Ridley Scott
has a remarkable eye for detail and an unerring
sense of the visual. Blade Runner epitomes his
style. His first four films - plus others - all
feature his trademarks prominently; billowing
wreaths of smoke, counterpointed by stunning
lighting effects, all framed so beautifully that
any moment could be frozen and mounted on your
wall. There is brain-stretching contrast in the
worlds represented to us in the films of Ridley
Scott. Napoleonic France in The Duellists,
futuristic space in Alien, an earthly future in
Blade Runner, an earthly fantasy in Legend, an
even earthlier, more contemporary setting in
Black Rain, and a remote and secluded setting in
White Squall. The films of Ridley Scott are
interested in the point at which manners and
mechanics yield to monomania in a society or
community.

The principal photography for Blade Runner
took seventeen weeks to complete, which is quite
a short period of time for a major science

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