Alcon Entertainment wants Harrison Ford to return for Ridley Scott‘s sequel to “Blade Runner,” and it wants him so bad that it announced its offer to the actor in a press release Thursday morning. That is a highly unusual move in Hollywood where studios try to cover up potential castings until the deals are closed.
Ford starred in Scott’s original film, a glimpse into a dystopian-future Los Angeles based on Philip K. Dick‘s book. The movie bombed at the box office when it first came out, but is now regarded as one of the greatest science fiction movies ever made.
In the original, Ford plays Rick Deckard, a retired police officer whose job used to be tracking down and killing replicants, bioengineered beings with a limited lifespan. He realizes some mischief within the Tyrell Corporation, which makes the replicants.
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Alcon wants Ford to reprise his role in the sequel, which is set several decades later than the original. TheWrap has reached out to UTA, which reps Ford, for comment.
“We believe that Hampton Fancher and Michael Green have crafted with Ridley Scott an extraordinary sequel to one of the greatest films of all time,” Alcon co-CEOs Andrew Kosove and Broderick Johnson said in a statement. “We would be honored, and we are hopeful, that Harrison will be part of our project.”
Alcon Entertainment acquired the movie and all franchise rights in 2011 from producer Bud Yorkin, who will produce the sequel with Kosove and Johnson.