Ridley Puts 'Blade Runner' Question to Rest

Ridley Scott's seminal sci-fi classic Blade Runner is celebrating three decades with a must-have 30th Anniversary Collector's Edition from Warner Home Video, out Tuesday, and we've got vintage ET footage in which Scott ruminates about the film's growing cult appreciation -- and whether or not Harrison Ford's character was a Replicant!

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"What I thought made sense was that [the] Deckard character could possibly be a Replicant, so that's gone back in," Scott told ET back in 1992 about his then-just-released Director's Cut. "I think what would be curious to ask about the Harrison Ford character is was he a [Nexus]-7, or was he an 8? … It's clearly there if you watch even the first version: there's a clue when he picks up the unicorn at the end, that little piece of origami."

Blade Runner premiered to disappointing box office numbers, having to compete against such big-screen behemoths as E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial, Poltergeist and Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. Based on Philip K. Dick's 1968 novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, the film starred Ford as a retired L.A. detective in 2019 tasked with tracking down a quartet of Nexus-6 Replicants -- perfect androids practically indistinguishable from humans -- who are illegally on Earth seeking to meet their maker and extend their four-year expiration date.

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"I think when it was released 10 years ago, for some strange reason, the film played in a rather peculiar fashion," said Scott of the film's initial, tepid reception. "People weren't certain about it. It was only the die-hard science fiction buffs, and people who could take it a little better than the average audience, [who] tended to enjoy it. I think it's fair to say it opened soft, but with great curiosity and great argument."

His Director's Cut eschewed the ham-fisted narration and also dropped the "happy ending," and Scott credited video sales for the staying power of the film, explaining, "People have gone back to it, I think, maybe like a novel, to re-read the novel, and thereby put all the elements in the film in its place, get used to it, and begin to enjoy it."

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The Blade Runner 30th Anniversary Collector's Edition features a beautiful new commemorative 4-Disc Blu-ray & DVD Combo Pack with an Ultra Violet copy of The Final Cut feature. The other four versions of the film -- the 1992 Director's Cut, Domestic and International Theatrical versions, and the rare Workprint feature version – are included in the set alongside a 72-page production art book containing newly discovered art; never-before-seen production photos with more than 1,000 archival images; a motion lenticular card – and perhaps coolest of all, a collectible Spinner car replica from an official concept sketch by Blade Runner's visual futurist Syd Mead.

Watch the video for Scott's detailed explanation of how "that little piece of origami" reveals the true nature of Deckard's character in the Director's Cut…