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For the crucial role of the blond Roy Batty, with his inseparable black coat, the second main part in the film, the dutch Rutger Hauer was chosen. There's a funny story about the way Rutger was hired. When they had to select an actor to play Roy Batty, Deeley, the film producer, said, talking to Ridley Scott: "Ridley, there's a guy you must abosulotely take. He seems an android himself, he is perfect. His name is Rutger Hauer." Ridley replied: "Rutger who?!?!" So Deeley prepared some short projections to show Ridley Hauer's former performances, such as Turkish Delight, Soldier of Orange. Ridley liked them and Rutger was chosen even without ever meeting him. Ridley will never forget the first time he met Hauer. That day Rutger cropped and dyed his hair almost white. He also had a huge pair of glasses à la Elton John, garish satin trousers and a white sweater. Ridley grew pale. He must have thought Rutger was a drag queen! But he is not. Rutger only wanted to impress Ridley, and he succeded in it.
The following are some Rutger's comments and memories concerning this cult movie: “Batty's dying at the end of the film, and it's preceded by his one important good act, which is to save the life of Deckard. That scene still affects me to this day. The point of it was to symbolize that, in this near-future, the robots were not only capable of human feelings, but - at least - in Batty's case, were more human than humans”. “My experience with Ridley was constant delight. His brain is like quicksilver, and if there's an obstacle, it's like fluid - it goes around it and I could follow him, you know, more or less, which is fun. If you meet a determined man, normally it tells you that he will break the rock if it gets in his way, but Ridley doesn't do that. He goes zimph and he's around it. That's different. Very few people can deal with this in that way.” “Speaking about Blade Runner after all these years is funny, because it deals with memory. And our memories are emotional; we remember things based on feelings rather than fact most of the time. But I do recall being concerned about what replicants were to look like. The cliché at the time was pasty-faced Star-Trek type things, which I had real problems with. But then Ridley convinced me the replicants would be presented as more normal human beings. Roy Batty was a complex and important role for me. I enjoyed the challenge of portraying this four-year old thing, enjoyed the marvelous sets and atmosphere and Ridley's particular brilliance. He'd occasionally say something like, 'Could you be a little less nasty, or little more?'. But we really didn't need to talk very much, since we had such a good understanding between us. When Roy discovers Pris' dead body with her tongue protrunding from her mouth, tenderly Roy kisses the corpse and when his mouth withdraws from hers, Pris' tongue is back in her mouth. This was my idea. By pushing Pris' tongue into her mouth, Batty buries her. It's a way to make her presentable. He waxes Pris. Makes her look decent again. The only thing that bothered me about the end fight was that Ridley had first seen it as a Bruce Lee-type showdown in a gym. I told him, 'Look at me, I'm not Bruce Lee. And it doesn't really matter what the fuck I do as far as working or studying karate, because I will never get there'. So while talking this over, I suggested, 'Why don't we make it more of a chase, based on the Game of Life? Try and make it a silly dance based on Batty's celebration of his last drops of energy? Like a wicked game?' Ridley really liked that, and we sort of got that idea down on storyboards first before it was written up. So Batty's behaviour during the whole ending, in a sense, came from me. Which I'm quite proud of. It's more playful and strange than simply witnessing the last swan song of a machine. I'm still proud of Batty's last speech. That's a beautiful moment, isn't it? But originally it was a bit longer, like a half-page of dialogue. So I said to Ridley the night before we shot it, 'This is way too long. If the batteries go, the guy goes. He has not time to say good-bye, except maybe to briefly talk about things he's seen' Life is short - boom! I truly felt that the ending of this picture should be done very quickly, I mean, we'd already seen this opera of dying replicants; I didn't think the audience would stand another protracted death scene. So I said to Ridley, 'Let's do it very fast, and do it as simply and profoundly as possible. But also, let Batty be a wiseguy for a second'. Ridley said, 'Yes, I like it'. So when we filmed that speech, I cut a little bit out of the opening and then improvised these closing lines, 'All those moments will be lost in time. Like tears in rain. Time to die'. But you know, everyone always writes about me and that speech, and ignores the screenwriter. I thought David Peoples, the man who wrote that version of Batty's soliloquy, really did a beautiful job. I mean, I loved those images he came up with -'c-beams glittering near the Tannhauser gate, attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion'. I thought they were really interesting, even if you didn't understand them. The whole idea there, is that once he stops talking, the dove flies. You never really see the moment of Batty's death, the dove says it for him.” “I'm still remembered for Blade Runner, but then there is only one Blade Runner and I was pleased to be part of it. The film has an enduring appeal - the battle between man and machines is an eternal thing. Very few scripts match up to that but I try not to sell out. The ultimate conflict in my life is summed up by Blade Runner - it's between true identity and fake. The copy can never be as good as the original”. |
