One of Ridley Scott's all-time favorite movies was directed by himself

No one has ever accused Sir Ridley Scott of being shy when it comes to showing his feelings, but when Letterboxd asked the director for his four favorite movies at the premiere of Alien: Romulus, he managed to surprise us a bit by naming one of his own. To be fair, he also listed George Lucas's 2001: A Space Odyssey in addition to his own Blade Runner, George Lucas's Star Wars: A New Hope, so he had some pretty fantastic offerings, in addition to showing give your 1982 cyberpunk masterpiece some love. There's certainly a bit of a sci-fi angle to his four favorites, and each is a look at humanity through a slightly tilted lens, but let's talk a little more about “Blade Runner” and why it deserves just as much, if not more, love than more Scott's popular sci-fi film “Alien.”

Let me be completely transparent here: “Blade Runner” is one of my favorite movies of all time. It was the first letterboxing movie I ever saw and it impressed me so much that I now have an origami unicorn tattoo on my leg. The story of Harrison Ford's Rick Deckard, who was tasked with hunting down rogue replicants, blew my young movie-watching mind due to the combination of the story itself, the replicants' performances (especially Rutger Hauer), and the absolutely stunning visuals. So it's no surprise to me that Scott would consider such a brilliant film one of his favorites, but let's take a look at why it means so much to him.

“Blade Runner” wasn’t particularly well received when it debuted in 1982, and notoriously flopped at the box office. Still, he's had his fair share of detractors over the years. Scott gave them a characteristically boorish “go fuck yourself,” it's clear he loves this movie very much and the criticism must hurt. When listing his favorite movies, he said that “Blade Runner” helped “set the pace for many, many, many, many things,” and he wasn't wrong. He returned to the film several times, releasing multiple endings over the years in an attempt to achieve the most perfect version of his beloved film on screen. (We're watching the “director's cut” in this house).

While it may seem a bit selfish to name your own film as one of your four favorites, both Scott's connection to “Blade Runner” and the film's legacy make his decision entirely justified. While “Blade Runner” didn't make much money at the box office, it inspired many other cyberpunk projects, including the heartbreaking sequel “Blade Runner 2049” directed by Denis Villeneuve. Elements of “Blade Runner” are present in everything from “The Terminator” to “The Matrix,” and its influence on science fiction cinema is incredible. Not only that, but Blade Runner was a deeply personal project for Scott, who used the film as a way to process his grief following the death of his older brother Frank.

Although Scott said “Blade Runner” was “the hardest thing he's ever done,” he also said the film is the most personal of his life, as he dealt with the death of his older brother Frank during filming, and his grief is palpable in every frame. “Blade Runner” is a story about mortality at its core, as the replicants strive to extend their four-year lives and bypass the ticking death clock that their creators have placed on them. The most famous part of the film is a speech by Hauer as his replicated character Roy Batty, in which he compares their lives to “tears”. in the rain” before simply accepting his fate and telling Deckard “it's time to die” before he expires. Each character seems to deal with their mortality in some way, and Deckard begins to wonder if he himself is a replicant. Is this even the case? anyway, does it matter if we all die in the end?

It's understandable that “Blade Runner” didn't appeal to mass audiences because it's truly an existential failure, but it is one of the greatest and most influential films ever made, and deserves to be recognized as such. Congratulations to “Blade Runner” and to Sir Ridley Scott for not only making it, but also for having the courage to include it among his favorite works.