Rick Deckard

While doing a little extra reading about Blade Runner I came across some interesting information about the casting for the film. Apparently Harrison Ford was not one of the first choices to play the lead role of Rick Deckard. Initially it was thought that Robert Mitchum would play Deckard in the film and parts for the character were written with that in mind. The next in line for the role was Dustin Hoffman but the film’s producers and Ridley Scott could not come to terms with Hoffman after months of discussion. Other actors considered for the role included Bert Reynolds, Clint Eastwood, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sean Connery, Gene Hackman, Al Pacino and others. I also found it very interesting that Harrison Ford also did not like the voiceover that was in the theatrical version of the movie. When asked about the things he remembered the most about shooting the film Ford stated “I was still obliged to work for these clowns that came in writing one bad voiceover after another”. It was mentioned in class that one of the main reasons that Scott released the director’s cut of the film.

There was also discussion in class as to whether Decker was a replicant or a human. Scott has stated that his intentions were to have Deckard portrayed as a replicant while Harrison Ford wanted him to be a human. This ambiguity of Deckard’s true existence coincides perfectly with the actual replicants in the film. There are very minute differences between them and real humans and it seems that the replicants seem to becoming more and more like humans as they begin to exhibit emotion. This uncertainty allows the audience to evaluate Deckard for themselves and come to their own conclusions.