Good news, everyone! When it was announced that Denis Villeneuve would be directing Blade Runner 2, my first thought was, “Hey that’s pretty cool!" And my second thought was, “Wait, does this mean Roger Deakins is going to shoot a Blade Runner movie?!” Indeed. Alcon Entertainment announced today that the 12-time Oscar nominated cinematographer will be reuniting with Villeneuve on the project, marking their third collaboration after Prisoners and the upcoming Sicario.

Deakins is quite possibly the best director of photography who’s ever lived, so the prospect of him capturing the world of Blade Runner is beyond enticing. A frequent collaborator of the Coen Brothers, Deakins has shined in a variety of genres from Western (True Grit) to comedy (The Big Lebowski) to James Bond (Skyfall). While he did shoot 2011’s In Time and 1984’s Nineteen Eighty-Four, we haven’t seen much from Deakins in the realm of sci-fi, which makes his attachment to Blade Runner 2 that much more exciting.

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Image via Alcon Entertainment.

Scripted by Hampton Fancher and Michael Green based on an original idea by Fancher and Ridley Scott, the untitled Blade Runner sequel takes place several decades after the conclusion of the 1982 original and will see Harrison Ford reprising his role as Rick Deckard. Ryan Gosling was recently reported as being in talks to co-star, but today's press release makes no mention of the actor's involvement.

While I’ll be the first to admit we don’t really need another Blade Runner movie, the involvement of Villeneuve and Deakins has me much more optimistic about this project than I thought I’d ever be. If you haven’t seen Villeneuve’s Enemy, get on that immediately.


Production is scheduled to begin in the summer of 2016. Deakins most recently shot the Coen Brothers’ upcoming comedy Hail, Caesar! and is attached to reunite with his Unbroken director Angelina Jolie on the pic Africa, but that picture is having financing issues and may not shoot this summer as originally planned. Regardless, Roger Deakins is shooting a Blade Runner movie!

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Image via Warner Bros.