Dangerous Days: Making Blade Runner Page #7

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And, you know, it looked cool,

and then kind of built from that.

And I had seen

Werner Herzog's Nosferatu...

...and I remembered

the sort of puttied-out eyebrows...

...and then the black circle... You know,

black hollow eyes of Klaus Kinski.

And so I was inspired by that kind of.

And so I puttied out my eyebrows and

did that sort of black thing on my eyes.

The screen-test process

was an entire day and night.

I think it was a pretty early call to

get in Hair and Makeup and everything.

And we were pretty much kept isolated

from one another, It was...

It was very, very well

and thoroughly produced.

They had a big dinner set

on the sound stage...

...like they do on, you know,

movie lunch breaks.

And I actually went in for that.

And that's the first time

that I got to see the other girls.

And Monique van de Ven

looked like a doll.

And, you know,

she was all, like, sort of...

...beautiful new doll woman.

And I was like a freak.

I was like a total freak show.

I was, like, giant because

I had these big platform shoes on...

...and ripped-up stockings and this

fright wig and, you know, black eyes.

And I just started crying.

You know, I was a little teenage girl.

And I just looked around, I thought:

"Oh, my God.

I've made myself into a monster."

And everybody else

looked so beautiful.

Hi.

Ridley just didn't think,

because I was so tiny...

...that I could conceivably

beat up Harrison Ford.

And he's right.

You know, I mean, I buy that.

So that was,

you know, the big letdown...

...because I do think it was down to me

and, you know, just a few other people.

I think there was

a bit of time that passed...

...before then they decided they wanted

to add this part that was in the book...

...of this fifth Replicant. Mary.

And Mary was a fabulous part.

There was a beautiful scene.

She was dying...

...you know,

and she was extremely vulnerable.

She had already

completely broken down.

At the time,

the writers' strike had happened.

And it wasn't good.

Everybody was picketing...

...and, you know, rumors,

and, you know, it was a very bad time.

And I was calling Michael

and actually talking to him on the phone.

Him saying. "Well, darling, you know,

we haven't gotten to your part yet."

And, you know.

"The strike has gone on, and we..."

You know,

and the whole thing. And...

And. "We haven't gotten there, and

we're gonna have to cut your part out."

And... it was just...

It was devastating.

God, she must have been

so disappointed. But we had to...

We stared at the schedule...

And I'd finished my casting sessions.

Everyone was in place.

...And we looked at the budget,

and I said:

"I've gotta cut things out.

We can't even build this.

We can't even schedule this."

So she was" Would be

one of the Replicants who would die.

There would be

a Replicant's fu... Wake.

There was a bit of... Like the wake

of the vampires. It would've been cool.

I was asked at the end of the days...

...you know, who I thought

was the best for each role.

Because I'd then rehearsed

with each one of them...

...so I knew a little bit about

how they were approaching things...

...as well as doing the actual test.

And I said. "Well, it's hands down

Daryl Hannah for Pris."

And it was hands down

Nina Axelrod for Rachael.

And Ridley said.

"Well, I think Sean Young."

Harrison was probably

looking for somebody...

I think he was nervous about

a first-timer.

I think he probably did it being:

"Oh, no. What about this?

What about her? What about her?"

I said. "Well, I tried that.

Don't you think they're a bit old?

Or a bit worldly?

We want somebody who's less worldly."

So we went through a bit of that.

He wasn't thrilled.

Once it's on, it's on.

Harrison's a consummate professional.

Once it's it, that's it. You go.

At the end of all these tests.

Ridley said:

"That was terrific.

It was fun working with you."

I said. "Great. You too."

So he said. "Well, I think

we got a role in this for you."

I said. "Oh, you do?

What would that be?"

He said. "He's a guy who kind of

interviews these Replicants...

...at the beginning,

and we hadn't even thought about it.

I'll call your agent and explain it to him."

I said. "Sure, fine."

So I got home,

was happy to do the test...

...and sure enough, got a call...

...was offered this role of Holden,

which I thought was terrific.

When I got the script from my agent...

...you know.

I told him to call Ridley and say:

"I've got the snake.

So, you know,

you can't go to anybody else...

...because I know

how to work with a snake."

The darling was a Burmese python,

and he was a very cool snake.

He was about 8 years old.

He did those scenes just perfectly.

I thought she was a very impressive

combination of physical power...

...feminism, to great sexuality.

She's really powerful physically.

As a whole physical female type,

she's great.

If you're gonna cast an Amazon,

there she is.

Very athletic. And really,

of all of them, the most athletic...

...and the most able to perform

whatever feats had to be performed.

Definitely the femme fatale.

I mean, I...

I sort of really fit right into that.

So, you know,

of course I was going to be cast...

...as someone

that was slightly dangerous.

She was Superwoman.

She was built to be as strong as a man.

And, I mean, like,

almost, you know, machine-like.

And yet there was a femininity there.

And Ridley and I talked about this a lot.

About... She was just a survivor.

Eddie I'd known for a long time.

And I brought him in

to meet with Ridley.

And it was Eddie's idea

to play a multinational...

...multiethnic, multilingual character

who had a vocabulary of his own.

That was tricky, because Eddie

was saying. "What's this Cityspeak?"

So Eddie. God bless him, drove me crazy

coming up with ideas of Esperanto...

...and rhythms of speech...

...that actually vaguely dovetailed and

made sense into what he had to say...

...in terms of the drama.

He was absolutely obsessed with that...

...getting that right.

Cityspeak was never nailed down

on the page, at least not by the writers.

That all came from Eddie Olmos.

Eddie, during his preparation

for the role of Gaff...

...went to the Berlitz School

of Languages here in Los Angeles...

...took some lessons...

...and found out some key phrases

from Hungarian. German and French...

...that he then rolled into

what he considered to be Cityspeak.

And that's what

he's talking to Deckard...

...at the beginning of the film

at the noodle bar.

And it's primarily Hungarian.

And I've heard that when Blade Runner

plays in theaters in Hungary...

...there's an enormous laugh.

He say you Blade Runner.

As long as he went along

with my understanding...

...of what was

going to be happening...

...which was the culturalization

of Los Angeles...

...in a way that people

wouldn't be expecting.

And he went with it

right from the start, from the get-go.

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