It's a masterpiece of science fiction: the movie's villain convinced Ridley Scott to change the ending – Cinema News

Despite his career, the late Rutger Hauer will likely always be remembered for the 50-second, 42-word monologue he delivered on screen in 1982, while playing the famous doppelgänger, Roy Batty, in Ridley Scott's iconic Blade Runner.

Delivered in its final moments under the astonished gaze of Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford), the monologue (below) has gone down in history as one of cinema's most poignant speeches, with the actor himself – even the night before filming – by cutting out parts of the original script and adding… An influential final sentence in the original.

Here is the discussion at hand:

“I have seen things you mortals could not believe… Great warships in flames, rising from Orion's shoulder… I have seen brilliant rays, C-rays shining in the shadow of the Tannhäuser Gate… All these moments will be lost to oblivion, like tears in the rain. It's time to die.“

In an old interview (via “All The Right Movies on Tears in Rain Monologue” or “C-Beams Speech”).

“The dove was my idea. The text was a page long and very complex. So many words. I thought we had five opera-style deaths, with a lot of pathos, and I thought, “Now we have to be quick.” The batteries are dead, Pam, it's over. Let's not overdo it.“

He paraphrases the text himself

And so on Rutger Hauer I decided to rework the script the day before shooting, scrapping much of the original speech to keep just the essentials and adding a final line – the “tears in the rain” line that really made the scene perfect.

“The other day, I compressed it a little bit and this sentence was the big finale. I suggested this to Ridley and he agreed to do it that way. […] We filmed [la scène] With and without the bathroom. All the scenes with the dove were shot in two days because he wasn't sure, and neither was I. The idea was that when the soul goes, something must go. This is ironic, of course, because when a machine dies, nothing flies away.“

The actor then went on to talk about the tricks used on screen, especially in this scene, and how the audience is fooled by his love of cinema.

“What I like most about movies is that you know you're being exploited. Just like in this scene. However, you have no problem accepting that. I find this beautiful. […] This keeps the audience a little more engaged. I find that interesting.“

Catch his interview in the original below:

The freedom provided to all actors in the film

In another interview with Radio Times in 2017, Rutger Hauer He also mentioned the poetics of text and the freedom that… Ridley Scott Gave to the actors on set.

“I kept two lines because I found them poetic. I thought they belonged to this character, because somewhere in his digital head he has hair and knows what it is. He feels it! While his batteries were running, he found both lines.“

He added: “Ridley gave me complete freedom, because he wanted it to be a character-driven story. He had never made a film based on the character.The actor explained. ““This is what I want to do: bring me whatever you can come up with, and I'll do it if you want it,” he said.“

Rumor has it that on the day of filming, the crew clapped and cried as soon as the scene ended. Anyway, the fans are in tears.

Rediscover Rutger Hauer's famous speech in Blade Runner (1982) below: