'Blade Runner 2049' Will Be Rated R, 'Blade Runner 3' A Possibility

According to Denis Villeneuve, director of Blade Runner 2049, the film will receive an R rating.

While his most recent film, sci-fi flick Arrival, was rated PG-13, his films Sicario, Enemy and Prisoners were all R-rated.

“My producers are finding it fun to remind me that it will be one of the most expensive R-rated independent feature films ever made,” Villeneuve said in an interview with ScreenDaily.

Villeneuve also confirmed that Blade Runner 2049 wrapped shooting in late November. Editing has commenced in Los Angeles.

“I’m doomed, I love sci-fi. I have two more ideas now that I would love to do. [And] Blade Runner could go on… we’ll see how this one goes,” said Villeneuve, teasing the possibility of Blade Runner 3 if all goes well with 2049.

Villeneuve is working with director of photography Roger Deakins to create the grim, smoky cyberpunk future that was so compelling in the original movie.

“I can count on my fingers the amount of times we put a green screen on set. Most of the movie was done on camera, me and [cinematographer] Roger Deakins worked very hard to do it that way,” Villeneuve said.

“My actors were not walking on green screens all day long. CGI is a strong tool for backgrounds and extensions but what is around the actors needs to be as real as possible. When I watch a movie that’s mostly CGI, I’m disengaged.”

The film’s plot synopsis states, “Thirty years after the events of the first film, a new blade runner, LAPD Officer K (Ryan Gosling), unearths a long-buried secret that has the potential to plunge what’s left of society into chaos. K’s discovery leads him on a quest to find Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford), a former LAPD blade runner who has been missing for 30 years.”

Blade Runner 2049 is scheduled to release on Oct. 16, 2017. Does the plot sound compelling to you? Will you be watching? Feel free to let us know in the comments section below.