Blade Runner already had a reputation for its various edits, between the theatrical cut, Ridley Scott's director's cut, and the various special editions that exist. But now filmmaker Leon Chase has taken it another step further with Blade Runner: The Lost Cut, a uniquely postmodern take on the canon. As the Verge describes it:
The Lost Cut is a recut version of Blade Runner created by splicing in other films that star Blade Runner cast members, plus more films starring those films’ co-stars, resulting in a masterfully edited cinematic rabbit hole where Rick Deckard is hunting down a cast of replicants including Gene Hackman (via The Conversation, one of Harrison Ford’s first films), Steve Martin (via The Jerk,which stars M. Emmet Walsh, who plays Deckard’s boss Bryant), and John Belushi (via The Blues Brothers,which features Ford’s Star Wars co-star Carrie Fisher).
The film follows Blade Runner’s broad story beats, but its narrative drifts wherever the added footage leads, like some kind of Burroughsian cut-up version of Ridley Scott’s film.
It's worth noting that this mash-up masterpiece is the direct result of coronavirus quarantine. People are finding themselves with too much time on their hands … and sometimes, in a weird way, maybe that's a good thing.
Watch the weird cinematic rabbit hole that is Blade Runner: The Lost Cut [Adi Robertson / The Verge]
