Rumor: Harrison Ford In Talks To Play Deckard Again In ‘Blade Runner’ Sequel. E’gads.

I was pretty cool with another movie taking place in the Blade Runner universe so long as we didn’t have to see a haggard ass Harrison Ford in it. I may not be pretty cool with it for much longer.

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One of the bigger news stories of last year was the report that, on the back of his sort-of-return to the “Alien” franchise for “Prometheus,” which is set in the same universe,  Ridley Scott  was planning to go back to his other sci-fi classic,  attaching himself  to a new “Blade Runner” film, after  Alcon Entertainment  acquired the rights to the series. But it was unclear for some time what form the film would take; a direct sequel? A prequel? Or, like “Prometheus,” a mostly original project riffing on the same world and concepts?

Well, hot on the heels of Scott  saying last November  that the film was “liable to be a sequel,” we may have got a firmer answer, as  Twitch  is reporting that  Harrison Ford, who played replicant-hunter Deckard in the 1982 original, is in the early stages of talks to return for the follow-up. The actor, who’ll  next star  in  Brian Helgeland’s Jackie Robinson biopic “42,” is coming off a long series of commercial flops, bar “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull,” so it makes sense that he’d be up for reprising one of his key roles (even if the film was something of a flop on release, and Ford  described  the released cut of the project as “a fucking nightmare.”)

This does, however, contradict what Alcon Entertainment chief  Andrew Kosove  said last August; that “In no way do I speak for Ridley Scott but if you’re asking me will this movie have anything to do with Harrison Ford, the answer is no. This is a total reinvention and in my mind that means doing everything fresh, including casting.” Was he keeping his cards close to his chest? Or has the conception of the project changed as the development process has gone on?

It’s also worth bearing in mind that while Twitch has a rock-solid reputation with scoops, it’s been wrong about this project before,  reporting that  Scott Z Burns  (“Contagion”) was being eyed to write the film project, something that turned out to be incorrect. Still, we’re sure sources are good on this, and we’ll likely hear confirmation on this soon.

Simply put: thoughts?