by Justin Cook
Legendary cinematographer Roger Deakins will be reuniting with director Denis Villeneuve on the upcoming sequel to 1982’s Blade Runner.
Previously, Deakins worked with Villeneuve on both 2013’s Prisoners, for which he ended up earning an Academy Award nomination, and the 2015 film Sicario, which premiered earlier this week at Cannes. In fact, the news of Deakins’ involvement broke at Cannes, with the following press release attached:
“Twelve-time Academy Award-nominated cinematographer Roger Deakins will join director Denis Villeneuve (Prisoners, Incendies) on Alcon Entertainment’s sequel to BLADE RUNNER, it was announced by Alcon co-founders and co-CEO’s Andrew Kosove and Broderick Johnson.”
Deakins is undoubtedly one of the greatest cinematographers working today, possibly even of all time, having shot such films as The Shawshank Redemption, Fargo, The Big Lebowski, No Country for Old Men, True Grit and Skyfall.
Even when Deakins works on films that turn out to be less-than-stellar, such as In Time or Unbroken, he still manages to beautifully compose each shot we see in the film.
The first Blade Runner film was shot by Jordan Cronenweth, who won a BAFTA for the visually stunning film. Cronenweth died in 1996, so Deakins will be filling his shoes on Blade Runner 2.
As of now, the only confirmed cast members are Harrison Ford, who is returning to his role as Rick Deckard from the original film, and series newcomer Ryan Gosling.
Source: Cannes Film Festival (via Slashfilm)
