Blade Runner

Blade Runner is a 1982 science fiction film directed by Ridley Scott, depicting a dystopic Los Angeles in November 2019.

Cast

Blade Runner had a significant number of then-unknown actors in its cast:

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• Harrison Ford as Rick Deckard. Coming off some success with ', but still a year before Raiders of the Lost Ark was released, Ford was looking for a role with dramatic depth. After Steven Spielberg praised Ford and showed some Raiders rushes to Deeley and Scott they got Ford onboard. Due to the initially poor reception of Blade Runner and friction with Scott, Ford has usually avoided discussing the film.
• Rutger Hauer as Roy Batty. Hauer gave a brief powerful performance as the violent yet complex leader of replicants with nothing to lose.
• Sean Young as Rachael. The picture of female "perfection" at 22 years old, Young still counts Blade Runner among her favorite films; despite friction with Ford and Scott as a result of her inexperience and young age. As one of her first serious roles it helped secure her acting career.
• Edward James Olmos as Gaff. Olmos used his diverse ethnic background to help create the Cityspeak his character uses in the film. This helps, along with his cane, to create mystery around a character whose exact role isn't clarified while he observes and comments (through his origami) on Deckard.
• Daryl Hannah as Pris. Hannah managed to bring out the dangerous innocence of a replicant in love with Roy Batty.

Supporting roles:

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• Morgan Paull as Holden. Holden didn't have much of a chance when going up against a Nexus-6 for the first time, but he did manage to draw his gun while being shot and warn Deckard about the replicants in a deleted hospital scene.
• Brion James as Leon. Although at first glance a dumb replicant used for muscle, Leon did have an undertone of intuitive intelligence that helped him nearly kill Holden, torture Chew and beat Deckard.
• M. Emmet Walsh as Captain Bryant. Walsh lived up to his reputation as a great character actor with the role of a hard drinking police veteran.
• Joe Turkel as Dr. Eldon Tyrell. With a confident penetrating voice and a panache for self-aggrandizement, this corporate mogul directed scientific progress to create a successful enterprise built on a gradual recreation of slavery with few sympathetic characteristics.
• James Hong as Hannibal Chew. An elder geneticist who loves his work, especially with synthesizing eyes.
• William Sanderson as J.F. Sebastian, a quiet and lonely genius who provides a compassionate yet compliant portrait of humanity. This led to more varied work for Sanderson.
• Unknown as Abdul Hassan. It remains a mystery as to who played the snake dealer Deckard interrogates.
• Hy Pyke as Taffey Lewis. Despite only having one scene, Pyke conveys Lewis' sleasiness with ease and apparently with one take; something unheard of with Scott's drive for perfection resulting at times in double digit takes.
• Joanna Cassidy as Zhora. In a limited time Cassidy conveys a strong woman who has seen the worst humanity has to offer, and her death has a profound impact on Deckard.