Christopher Nolan’s Surprising Pick For The Best Blade Runner Cut

Blade Runner is widely considered one of sci-fi’s best movies. This is surprising since there are at least seven versions of Blade Runner in existence, and most of them come in the same Blu-ray bundles so that fans can see all the differences. One of these fans is director Christopher Nolan, and he has a surprising pick for the best.

In all, there was the work print, San Diego’s sneak peek, the Blade Runner theatrical and international cut, all released in 1982, all different from each other. In 1986, it came to home video, and the U.S. broadcast was a fifth version. In 1992, Ridley Scott delivered his Director’s Cut and then returned in 2007 for The Final Cut.

Christopher Nolan Thinks Blade Runner’s Theatrical Cut Is The Best Version

Christopher Nolan has said that he feels the best Blade Runner cut is the original theatrical cut that came to the big screen in 1982. When discussing the best versions of the Ridley Scott movie, the three usually brought up are the theatrical cut, the Director’s Cut, and the Final Cut.

However, Ridley Scott disagrees. While the Director’s Cut appears to be Scott’s version, the director had no involvement beyond leaving notes used to reconstruct the film. Instead, the Final Cut is the only one the director had a hand in making his vision, and Scott has said he is not a fan of the theatrical cut. Nolan disagrees.

“[The theatrical cut] is the best version of the film. It’s imperfect – and it seems presumptuous and I’m a huge fan of Ridley Scott, so I don’t want to go up against his view in a sense.”

Nolan went on to say that all the creative fighting and pulling is what makes the theatrical versions almost always better than anything that comes later when the director re-releases his film. According to Nolan, unless the studio takes the movie away from the director, the theatrical version is the better experience.

Nolan also mentioned that he misses some moments from the theatrical cut when watching the Director’s Cut and Final Cut, elements that he believes lessen the movie’s quality.

Why Christopher Nolan Is Wrong About Blade Runner’s Best Cut

Christopher Nolan’s argument has been discounted many times before, including in Ridley Scott’s career. In the movie Kingdom of Heaven, Scott was forced to make changes that led to a lackluster film that fans and critics disliked. When Scott released the version he envisioned, it became a minor masterpiece for the director.

This is also true for Blade Runner. While there is a lot to love about the original version, it is the Blade Runner Final Cut that Ridley Scott prefers, and with good reason. Scott considers it the most authentic version of the movie. He added the complete unicorn dream sequence and the scenes of violence from the international cut.

However, there is a good reason to watch the theatrical version, especially for people who have never seen Blade Runner before. The Rick Deckard voice-over makes the story easier to follow. However, this voice-over was derided by Scott, Harrison Ford, and fans. It is an easier movie to watch, but Blade Runner is not meant to be easy.

Other Christopher Nolan Hot Takes Have Aged Surprisingly Well

Christopher Nolan has never been one to shy away from giving his honest and often hot-take opinions about movies. What might be surprising to many Nolan fans is that the director is a fan of the Fast and Furious franchise.

He said his favorite is still the first film in the series, but he also said he has a soft spot for the most derided, Tokyo Drift. He also loves the fact that the later movies got “bigger and bigger and bigger.” He also has a hot take that goes against the grain with movie fans about making things bigger:

“It’s the Alien 3 lesson that Fincher learned. You can do it but it’s not going to make anybody happy, even though personally I love that film, a lot more than he does in fact.”

These are takes that few agreed with, but have slowly begun to drift into the pop culture spectrum. When looking at Tokyo Drift, the Fast and Furious franchise made the movie matter by rearranging the timeline, and it changed the entire focus of that film. With that out of the way, fans see it for the fun experience it is.

As for Alien 3, it remains a disappointment after Alien and Aliens, but it is nowhere near as bad as many fans claimed over the years. Reappraising the movie, it wrapped up Ridley’s story masterfully, had a wonderfully demented Xenomorph, and looks incredible, showing how great David Fincher would be over the years.

Blade Runner has a massive reputation among sci-fi fans. While most will still point to Ridley Scott’s Final Cut as the definitive version, Christopher Nolan had a good reason to prefer the original, even if that version is nowhere near as good as what Scott delivered three decades later.