Ridley Scott : The Film Director and the Film

fiction film of this quality. As a child, Ridley Scott had never been interested in science fiction films or literature, until he saw Star Wars (Twientieth Century Fox, 1978) by the American director George Lucas. Ridley Scott comments: "It's a peculiar thing because I had never really been drawn to science fiction reading or, in fact, science fiction movies. I finally got thrilled by Star Wars - it was not just a film, it was the whole thinking - it was the kind of film which shifted gear into another dimension of film-making". (Starlog, p. 60) His new, fresh, visual approach to the science fiction genre has created a very distinctive style. He prefers to create his own worlds and images rather than film contemporary themes. Before he directed the film Blade Runner, Ridley claims to have never read the novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?: "I haven't read it. In fact, the film itself does have a slight resemblance to the novel, in terms of the basic idea, obviously. The Dick novel is	very complex, very convoluted. A brilliant piece which in book form would never make a film. It's too complex, a very special piece of literature. I think very seldom does the screenplay compare with the book. There are always drastic changes that have to take place, again in terms of the stories drive and thrust of the film. If you just film a book, normally you would have a slow movie". (Ibid, p. 61) In literature everything does not necessarily have to be explained completely. In commercial film terms, with very expensive budget costs, the director has, ideally, to explain every aspect in the script and visual form to the audience and also to the producer/s. Throughout the process of re-writing the screenplay, the direction of the film inevitably deviated from the original story. Characters and events were either radically changed or disgarded completely. The term 'android' was changed to 'replicant', because Ridley thought at the time

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