Time To Live

- Ian Nathan/Empire

At Denis Villeneuve’s command, rain begins to fall. Waves crash against a vast sea wall that shields Los Angeles from an enraged ocean. It’s deep into the night, and only the sporadic searchlights that dance across the water provide any illumination. An effect one could happily describe as Blade Runner-y.

“Action!”

Out in the half-light, Ryan Gosling, wrapped in a hefty overcoat, finishes his push-ups and Sylvia Hoeks, head-to-toe in skin-tight artificial leather, concludes her lunges.

At an unseen signal, they set off. No quarter is given: Gosling’s Officer K and Hoeks’ Luv come to expertly choreographed blows. Finally, with an ungentlemanly swivel of his hips, K launches Luv into the surf.

Fictionally speaking, it is 2049 in a noir-soaked LA, 30 years after Blade Runner’s cop hero Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford) fled  the city with Rachael, his replicant (read: android) lover, his own humanity dependent on who you ask. But in real-world terms it’s October 2016, on the outskirts of Hungary, where the Blade Runner 2049 shoot has taken over a giant water tank. The long-awaited sequel is two-thirds of the way towards completion and nothing seems amiss, though Ford himself is ensconsed in his trailer, replaced by a stunt double snared in cuffs in a nearby Spinner craft.

As the scene is recomposed for another take, Villeneuve heads in our direction. “I feel for my actors, but it is important to be in contact with the elements, no?” he tells us with a laugh. “I am on day 65 of shooting, I think, and I have seen three greenscreens so far. We are trying to do this in the spirit of the original. In order to step forwards, you have to step backwards.”