In the interview, Wired notes that Scott has previously called “Blade Runner” “his most complete and personal film,” and asks him to explain. He does so, saying:
“I just finished ‘American Gangster.’ It’s about two real guys who are still alive, so you want to make it absolutely accurate. It’s not a documentary, but it feels awfully real. For ‘Black Hawk Down,’ I went to the location and shot it. ‘Legend’ was more imaginative, but it borrowed from Jean Cocteau’s ‘Beauty and the Beast’ and the best of Disney. ‘Blade Runner’ involved full-bore imagination. Deckard’s universe had to be expanded into credibility. That’s probably the hardest thing I’ve done, because there was nothing to borrow from.”
The script for “Blade Runner” was written by screenwriter Hampton Fancher and producer David Peoples, though Scott had a heavy hand in bringing it all together, and he explained throughout the interview that bringing the future of the film to life was easily its most challenging aspect. Once they had the story “on paper,” the rest of it was relatively easy. There was another reason that “Blade Runner” was both difficult and personal for Scott, however, and it had to do with personal grief.