The Exodus: Gods and Kings publicity rounds are bound to include questions about the Ridley Scott’s other projects; at the top of everyone’s lists are the Blade Runner and Prometheus sequels. No matter how awful Exodus looks (every single time I see the commercials, I wonder who the target is), because it’s Scott, we can’t help but be drawn to his science fiction films. We know what he’s capable of, and all we want is a return to form. Sure, the Prometheus plot was ridiculous and nonsensical, but there was promise hidden in the jumble, and a second film holds hope for better writing. As for Blade Runner, our fervent hope is only that the original won’t be tarnished by what follows.

In this MTV interview, Scott notes “…with great respect, I never read press.” The director says he was “slaughtered” by the press when Blade Runner debuted “…three pages of slaughter, I was so offended, I would never read any more press. You have to know what you’ve done. The key thing is you can be the only person, your own critic.” And the Prometheus criticism? Scott reiterated: “I don’t make films for other people, I make films for me,” he said. “And so far, it’s pretty good because I’m still here after 35 years. So there’s a good expression, ‘fuck you very much.’” Can’t really argue with that.

As for the upcoming sequels, here’s what the director had to say when asked if the story would continue from where it left off, with Michael Fassbender’s bodyless David, and Noomi Rapace’s Elizabeth Shaw:

“You have to. You can’t have a person go off into the galaxy and have a person who’s still got his head off. Once that head goes back on, he’s really dangerous, but he’s also very seductive. So maybe he’ll persuade her to help him put the head back.”

Yup. Bodyless Fassbender = still seductive; body attached = dangerous.

Scott jumped right in before the interviewer got through his Blade Runner 2 question; “It’s written. Ready to go.” Surprisingly though, he’s still debating whether to direct. And asked if Harrison Ford be doing voiceover, Ridley shut that idea right down, and talked remaining true to the original film.

“Absolutely not. No, no, no. Harrison and I really get on rather well. And so I sent him the script, and he said ‘Wow. This is the best thing I’ve ever read. So it’s very relevant to what happened in the first one. I’m not just doing a sequel with lots of action and see how far we can with the special effects. Because you can’t really. With Blade Runner, we landed on a somehow very credible future. It’s very difficult to change that because it’s been so influential with everything else.”

On the film’s design influencing decades of filming:

“Yeah, you know they design the hell out of everything, so eventually you’re just watching design. I think the key is — I’m a designer, very much a designer — keep the design in its place. Otherwise it just kills the credibility of what you’re watching. An explosion which is too big, you go, ‘How did he survive that?’ You’re right out of the movie.”

Watch the entire interview:

Cindy Davis, (Twitter)