How to compete with the original Blade Runner score in sequel? Pay homage to it and its composer Vangelis
Ridley Scott’s original film was scored by Greek composer Vangelis. The music for Blade Runner 2049 was composed by Hans Zimmer and Benjamin Wallfisch of Dunkirk fame, who kept the Vangelis vibe alive with vintage synthesisers
The first trailer for Blade Runner 2049 was filled with familiar imagery from Ridley Scott’s original 1982 film – giant neon advertisements, a smoggy noirish future and Harrison Ford. But it wouldn’t have been nearly as potent a nostalgia injection if it hadn’t been all bathed in the old film’s warm, buzzy, synthesiser hymn by Vangelis.
The Greek composer, 74, wasn’t asked to score the sequel – that job fell to Hans Zimmer and Benjamin Wallfisch, who co-composed a score with traces of Vangelis for Dunkirk. But he said he would have turned it down regardless.
“Ridley is not the director,” he said last year. “In case I could have done it, it should have been with Ridley. I hope that this film is going to be very, very good, but I knew it instinctively that this is done for me.”
Still, Vangelis’ musical shadow looms over the new film. The glacial synth chords that opened the 1982 film are as iconic as the fiery, dystopian effects they accompanied, the jazz noir love theme as integral to the experience as Scott’s visual composition – perhaps even more, according to the director.
Film review: Blade Runner 2049 – neo-noir sci-fi masterpiece from Denis Villeneuve
“Fundamentally, in a sentence, I’ll say he was the soul of the movie,” Scott says.