Film editor Joe Walker has chosen some pretty great filmmakers to work with. He earned his first Academy Award nomination working with Steve McQueen on “12 Years a Slave.” And just recently he was at the Toronto International Film Festival with McQueen, debuting the upcoming “Widows.” However, in a new interview, the focus was put on another one of his collaborators, Denis Villeneuve. Walker scored an Oscar nom for his work with Villeneuve on “Arrival,” but has worked with the filmmaker on “Sicario” and the recent “Blade Runner 2049.” And he’s speaking up now about the editing process on the latter, which was heavily speculated before ‘2049’s’ release.
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In an interview with Collider, Walker is asked about the oft-rumored 4-hour cut of “Blade Runner 2049” and if there were ever plans to release the film as two parts. The editor admits that his first “assembly cut” of the film (before any major changes were made) was quite long. And because of that, he and Villeneuve split the film in two, but not because it was some grand plan.
“It was a long first assembly, and we actually broke it into two because our bladders are not that robust these days,” admits Walker.
He continues, “When we did broke it in two, almost accidentally we broke it at the point where he’s had sex with Mariette. And the beginning of ‘Part 2’ was her waking up in bed and it just struck us that it drew attention to the fact that’s usually a film in two halves. [‘Part 1’] stars with an eye opening and the second half starts with an eye opening. There’s a very different K in the first half where he’s coming to terms with his past and him being a real boy in the second half.”
However, the reports of the film originally being thought of as a two-parter were a bit unfounded. Walker says, “I’m not sure it was ever considered to be a two-film release.”
The reason for the long assembly cut, and the rumors of the two-part release, came down to the fact that Walker is just a huge fan of cinematographer Roger Deakins. “On ‘Blade Runner,’ I’ve got a world class shot of this amazing caustic light effect following Sylvia Hoeks, who’s amazing to look at, climbing up the steps. The first person you see in the office is a man in the shadows, a blind man, with artificial sunlight crawling into a huge water set. So, I mean, to make that three to five seconds long is killing a major world class shot,” says the editor.
Makes sense. There’s definitely a contingent of film fans that would love nothing more than 4 hours worth of beautiful images from Deakins. Alas, ‘2049’ already was a hard-sell for the casual moviegoer, even without the extended edition. But maybe a future Criterion release? Hmmmm…
READ MORE: Roger Deakins Finally Wins Cinematography Oscar On 14th Nomination
That being said, all eyes are on Villeneuve’s next project, the long-awaited adaptation of the Frank Herbert classic novel “Dune.” But don’t go to Walker for details. He’s purposefully staying away. Partially because of an artistic choice, but primarily because there’s one big issue — he doesn’t know he’ll be hired.
“I’ve kept away from ‘Dune’ discussions…I want to be fresh. It’s good for me to come in from the outside a little bit and read the script when they’re ready with it and if it’s coming my way, and that’s not a certainty. I don’t want to overload it to0 much with the older film and reading the book. I Just want to see what his vision is,” he concludes.
There’s no release date for “Dune,” as of now, but we do have some casting news that’s already been rumored (praying for that Timothée Chalamet goodness). So perhaps Walker should be getting a call sooner rather than later.