"My Mother? I'll tell you about my mother!"
"My Mother? I'll tell you about my mother!"
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I didn't have a lot of friends in high school. In fact, I was pretty much a loner. Most of the time, my Friday night was spent watching either The Empire Strikes Back or Blade Runner. Both are very dark science fiction films, and they fascinated me. I watched both films religiously. The Empire Strikes Back was probably the first best moviegoing experience of my life. (I'm pretty sure my very first movie was Superman, and I fell asleep halfway through the movie. Whenever I saw it subsequently on TV, I'd fall asleep watching it. I'm not sure if I've ever watched Superman without falling asleep.) I never did see Blade Runner when it first came out, especially since it was a rated R movie and I was only 6 or 7 years old at the time. I discovered the movie watching it on Phoenix's Channel 15, which at the time was an independent local channel before it became ABC in the late '90s. I wasn't able to see the Directors Cut in the theaters when it was released during my high school years. I couldn't drive then, and nobody would take me to go see it. So, I was ecstatic in December 2007, when I went to see the Blade Runner Final Cut on the big screen with my friend Brian at the Tempe Valley Arts Theater close to Arizona State University. That was the only theater that was showing the re-release of Blade Runner in the Phoenix area. I first learned about the Final Cut when I attended the San Diego Comic Con earlier that year, and I was psyched to go see it in the theater. When the Ladd company logo appeared, I had chills run through my body. When the screen came to life with the opening prologue of the movie, my heart was racing. When the scene of Los Angeles from 2019 appeared before me on the big screen, I was nearly hyperventilating. It was such a beautiful experience. While watching the film, I picked out the most minute details of what had been altered. It became obvious that my friend Brian had not seen the movie as often as I have. I was very impressed with the film's Final Cut. After watching the Directors Cut, I no longer cared for the wordy original release of the film. I liked the silent, distant version of the Director's Cut. And the Final Cut finally repaired a lot of the inaccuracies, glitches, and continuity errors in the movie. Ridley Scott's revision of the film was subtle and did not go overboard on the special effects. George Lucas could have learned a lot from this if this movie had been completed before his goofy revamping of the original Star Wars movies in 1997. Apparently subtle is not a part of Lucas's repertoire and he added way more to the movies than what was necessary (Greedo shoots first, the goofy cartoony song-and-dance at Jabba's palace, etc.). The Blade Runner Final Cut was indeed the completed version of this masterpiece of a movie.
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Being a longtime Blade Runner fan, I had read a bit about the Bradbury Building where much of the film was shot. Way back before I got onto the Internet, my source for connecting with the sci fi community was through FidoNet on local dialup BBSes. I read the Star Wars Echo, the Anime Echo, and the Blade Runner Echo. The earliest of FAQs for Blade Runner explained how the Bradbury Building was an empty, aging building when it was filmed for Blade Runner, and that as of the early 90s, it was still empty and neglected. People were fighting to keep it intact as an historical landmark building. I really wanted to see this building, and I was quite surprised to see that it had been renovated and had become quite a lively office building. It was right next to the famous tunnel that opens up to Hill Street with its shiny interior that was featured in scenes of Deckard driving through it, as well as shot several times in many other movies. And it was right across the street from the Milion Dollar Theater, which also still stands.
I had totally forgotten to take my camera with me, so I had to buy a lousy disposable camera to take these pictures. The interior pictures were worthless due to the lack of a flash on the camera, so here are the better pictures I was able to take. The interior is identical to what you see in the movie, although it has been completely renovated and revitalized. The iron railing remains the same. The old-style caged elevators are still there, and the beautiful glass ceiling lets natural light shine into the atrium. The tile floors are exquisite, and the statues on the first floor are beautiful.
In the movie, the back of the Bradbury Building is up against the precipice of an urban canyon dug into the heart of Los Angeles. When Deckard and Roy are leaping between buildings, you can see the canyon below and the height adds to the drama of the finale of the movie. Naturally, that's just a matte painting and the back of the 5 story building is really not that impressive. When you watch the deleted scenes on the new DVD, you can see how Los Angeles was transformed into a multi-layered metropolis complete with street canyons between the towering buildings.
This was an awesome experience to visit this building where one of my favorite movies had been filmed. Back in 1994 when I first read that old Blade Runner FAQ, the best you could do back then was look into the windows. But I was able to step inside and experience the building surrounding me. I really wish I had a decent camera on me when I was there. Maybe someday I will return again to take better pictures. Regardless, please enjoy the photos I took!
Here's the front of the building and the top. The building looks very different with the Sprint and Subway stores in the front of the building.
The beautiful sculpted facade of The Million Dollar Theater, across the street.
Here's the beautiful glass ceiling of the building. Notice the absence of floating blimps with gimungous video screens depicting bellowing geishas and spotlights shining down into the atrium.
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