12-time Oscar-nominated cinematographer Roger Deakins will reteam with director Denis Villeneuve on Alcon Entertainment’s sequel to “Blade Runner,” Alcon co-founders and co-CEOs Andrew Kosove and Broderick Johnson announced Wednesday.
Deakins, who will be presented with the Pierre Angénieux Excellens in Cinematography Award at the Cannes Film Festival on May 22, reteams with Villeneuve on what will be their third feature collaboration. They previously worked together on Alcon’s kidnapping thriller “Prisoners” and the drug-trafficking drama “Sicario,” which is in competition at Cannes.
Deakins received his latest Oscar nomination this year for his work on Angelina Jolie‘s “Unbroken.” He was previously nominated for Joel and Ethan Coen‘s “Fargo,” “The Man Who Wasn’t There,” “O Brother, Where Art Thou?,” “No Country for Old Men” and “True Grit”; Frank Darabont’s “The Shawshank Redemption”; Martin Scorsese‘s “Kundun”; Andrew Dominik’s “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford”; Stephen Daldry’s “The Reader,” an honor he shared with Chris Menges; and more recently, “Prisoners” and Sam Mendes’ “Skyfall.”
The “Blade Runner” sequel is scheduled to start principal photography next summer. The story takes place several decades after the conclusion of the original 1982 movie. Harrison Ford will reprise his role as Rick Deckard.
Hampton Fancher (co-writer of the original) and Michael Green have written the screenplay based on an idea by Fancher and Ridley Scott, who directed the original adaptation of Philip K. Dick’s novel “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?”
“Roger is an extraordinary talent and we are very excited that Denis and Roger have chosen to continue their collaboration in bringing the sequel to ‘Blade Runner’ to the big screen,” Kosove and Johnson said in a joint statement.
Alcon Entertainment acquired the film, television and ancillary franchise rights to “Blade Runner” in 2011 from producer Bud Yorkin to produce prequels and sequels to the iconic science-fiction thriller. Yorkin will serve as a producer on the sequel along with Kosove and Johnson. Cynthia Sikes Yorkin will also produce.
Thunderbird Films CEOs Frank Giustra and Tim Gamble will serve as executive producers along with Ridley Scott.
Deakins is represented by ICM Partners.