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Original Dangerous Days screenplay dated 1/7/80

 
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doc3d
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PostPosted: Tue Feb 10, 2009 5:33 pm    Post subject: Original Dangerous Days screenplay dated 1/7/80 Reply with quote

In the neverending garage cleaning project I just found something interesting... an early BR screenplay, entirely by Hampton Fancher, that still has the Dangerous Days title.

This isn't the very first version of the screenplay, but with a January 7, 1980 date, it's close. I bought it from antiquarian book dealer Lloyd Currey over twenty years ago. Currey is one of the most reputable dealers in the Sci-Fi book business. It's an original studio script. Could anyone give me an idea of value? I used to sell antiquarian books, but gave up that racket.

Here's a bit about Deckard playing with a goat in a pet store as written in the 1/7/1980 version of BR:

SALESMAN: Are you familiar with the Black Nubian, sir?

Deckard climbs over the fence into her pen. That doesn't please the Salesman, but selling the goat would. Baba backs away from Deckard, head low, promising a charge.

SALESMAN: A real contender in this year's market. For the serious animal lover she's an unbeatable investment.

Baba charges. Deckard catches her by the horns and wrestles her head playfully. The Salesman hesitates.

DECKARD: I'm listening.

SALESMAN: One of the many advantages with the Nubian is that they come in heat three times a year, plus it's a part of the package here at Superior Animal to furnish low cost insemination service...

Baba is chasing Deckard around the pen. He's down on his hands and knees rough-housing with her. The goat is excited and making noises. The Salesman is uneasy. It's not that kind of establishment. Some of the other animal inmates are answering and it's getting pretty loud at Superior Animal.



Doc
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Bassnoir
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PostPosted: Tue Feb 10, 2009 5:57 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

....smiling....Antiquarian "racket" is the operative word....been there done that got the t-shirt....gave it away...
...thanks for sharing Doc....would be fun to read other "deleted" scenes....endlessly interesting....
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andy
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PostPosted: Tue Feb 10, 2009 10:29 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Very intriguing. I have personally picked up fakes from even the most reputable dealers, but this script is rare enough I have yet to see any copies of it. Usually the fakes get printed in pretty good numbers or are at least copied more than most.

From what I have tracked from BR studio scripts they have sold from just over $100 to just over $2,000. The price variations seem to be how they were sold (auction or online retailer), connection to the owner (who owned it and if it was signed), and rarity and importance.

I have a scrip that I picked up pretty cheap that is identical to one that sold at screenused.com for $2,000. I have seen it sell a few times for around a C-note each time it was up on ebay too. It is in my opinion a reprint of the script that was spliced together By Ridley Scott, Micheal Deeley, and Katherine Haber from both of People's and Fancher's script. It is dated February 23, 1981.

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doc3d
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PostPosted: Tue Feb 10, 2009 10:54 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Here's a bit more from the 1/7/80 screenplay that's kind of amusing...

(Btw, fyi, this copy has sort of an yellow/brown ochre cover sheet with Michael Deeley's return address, is three hole punched, and the last numbered page is 100. I used to have the Lloyd Currey catalog that listed it, but that's long gone into the dustbin.)

Doc

---------------------

TYRELL: You think it's easy to make an android tame enough to be a slave and fierce enough to win in the gladiator games?

His voice is alarmed and bitter.

TYRELL: We could have stopped with the old electrics! But no, we had to keep up with the Russians! I knew it was going to lead to trouble, but we had to produce what the colonists wanted. If we hadn't, other firms would have. We're just following the time-honored principle of supply and demand. Every emigrant's ultimate incentive is the android servant! That's how they're used up there, Mr. Bounty Hunter, as donkeys! No wonder they're trying to escape. Wouldn't you? We're donkey makers!

Old Mr. Tyrell starts to bray, right into Deckard's face.

TYRELL: Hee-Haw! Hee-Haw! Hee-Haw!

Deckard grabs the old man by the lapels and yanks him silent. Tyrell smiles like a mule.

DECKARD: (quietly) You're an android.

Deckard looks up as the door opens. A second DR. TYRELL enters.

DR. TYRELL: With all due respect, Mr. Deckard, I don't know how you're going to deal with the Nexus-6 if you can't handle him.

(--written entirely by Hampton Fancher)

----------------------------------

Doc
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joberg
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PostPosted: Wed Feb 11, 2009 8:28 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

What would BR looked like if the Fancher's script had been accepted?
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Bassnoir
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PostPosted: Wed Feb 11, 2009 1:59 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

...sweeeeeeet....thanks again Doc...
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doc3d
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PostPosted: Wed Feb 11, 2009 6:58 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Re what would the film be like if shot from just Fancher's various screenplays? Well, it would have added a new level of darkness to the concept of noir, as I envision it. It would have been more intellectual. Here's an example from the 1/7/80 screenplay that connects directly to a line/scene in the final version of the film. The undiluted Fancher stylistic difference is pretty clearly shown:

--------------------------

LEON: Painful to live in fear, isn't it?

Deckard is doubled over, hugging his thigh.

LEON: But that's what it's like for a slave. The future is sealed off. He grovels. He waits.

Deckard has practiced the move a thousand times. He draws his ankle laser, fast as a man can, but Leon grabs it, crushing it like a cigar.

LEON: Don't you think it's inconvenient, possibly even cruel, to be given the basic animal drives but not the ability to satisfy them?

Deckard hurls forward, hitting low and hard. He knocks Leon off balance. Deckard scrambles to get away, but doesn't get far. Leon grabs him by the foot and drags him back, jerks him off the ground and slams him into the wall. Deckard is reduced to a man struggling for air. Leon spits the words out, rapid fire, two inches from Deckard's face.

LEON: Sex... reproduction... security... the simple things. To be homesick with no place to go... to have potential but no way to prove it! Lots of little oversights in Nexus-6.

He lets go. Deckard slides down the wall to his knees.

LEON: Not a very pretty picture. Better, you might say, than nothing at all, but I'm here to tell you that nothing is better than having an itch you can never scratch, Deckard. The four of us against all of you.

Deckard's huddled on the ground, protecting his head with his arms. Leon folds his big hands together and raises them over his head. He pauses a moment to savor the satisfaction of smashing Deckard's skull.

A spasm suddenly runs through Leon's face but it's not from satisfaction. It's from the laser beam that went through his neck. He hits the ground hard, his big teeth biting the air like a rabid dog. But he's already dead.

Rachael stands at the entrance to the passageway, putting away her laser. Deckard staggers to his feet. He looks at her, wild-eyed and shaken. She's looking back, calm and bemused.

RACHAEL: I just saved your life. Aren't you going to thank me?

He looks down at Leon. The android has stopped thrashing.

DECKARD: Thanks.

But he doesn't sound very grateful. Steadying himself against the wall, he reaches into his pocket, takes out the ultimate Minnox, points it at Leon and snaps a picture.

DECKARD: For the record, Leon

--------------------------------------------------

And here's content that followed the above and wasn't in the film.

---------------------------------------------------

RACHAEL: Are you afraid of me?

DECKARD: Not exactly. But it's just a little disconcerting for the hunter to be the hunted. It can make you...

RACHAEL: Nervous?

She smiles innocently and gestures towards the bath. But Deckard doesn't move.

RACHAEL: I'm not here to hurt you.

DECKARD: What are you here for?

RACHAEL: I told you. I have to observe the affective manifestations of these...

She breaks off. Deckard waits for the answer.

RACHAEL: This is my own personal experiment.

The tone of her voice hasn't changed, the look is direct as ever, but something in her eyes betrays a need.

RACHAEL: When I watched you being hurt down there a curious thing happened.

DECKARD: What?

RACHAEL: I felt something.

DECKARD: So did I.

RACHAEL: I mean, I wanted him to stop.

Her eyes are soft and vulnerable. His remain hard and she looks away. He stares at her for a moment. Looks at the steam rising off the water and starts unbuttoning his shirt.

DECKARD: Got a rubber duck?

RACHAEL: Huh?

She looks up. For the first time they connect. They smile and the distance between them diminishes.

---------------------------------------------

----------------------------


Last edited by doc3d on Wed Feb 11, 2009 7:23 pm; edited 2 times in total
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Gaff87
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PostPosted: Wed Feb 11, 2009 7:09 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

That is some strong stuff.
Thanks for sharing all these with us.
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andy
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PostPosted: Wed Feb 11, 2009 11:03 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Cool Stuff. I have read the bathtub scene somewhere before. I know they storyboarded it too. Somewhere there is a list of known script variations, but I can't seem to find it.

Thank you,
Andy
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joberg
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PostPosted: Thu Feb 12, 2009 8:07 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks Doc; always a pleasure to imagine what BR could've been with a script from Hampton...
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andy
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PostPosted: Thu Feb 12, 2009 2:38 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Did a little bit of research to find reference to this version of the script. So far all I have found is that they had at least 10 versions of the script before the July 1980 version titled 'Dangerous Days' (title came up with by Deeley). There is little reference to them except that they were titled 'Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep' and 'Mechanismo'. It is very possible that this is one of..if not the first incarnation with the title 'Dangerous Days'.

Hampton Fancher did say however that at this point it was the beginning of him compromising his ideas to Ridley and Micheal Deeley, and also the script that PKD read and hated so much (referring to July 1980 'Dangerous Days'). He felt that PKD would have liked his earlier scripts much better.

Sounds like a very rare find indeed.

Andy
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doc3d
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PostPosted: Thu Feb 12, 2009 3:52 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Note, this version I've been quoting from is January 7, 1980.

I think I have a copy of a July 1980 screenplay somewhere also, but I can't remember what title it was issued under...

BTW, the character Mary is still in the 1/7/80 screenplay. This is the real reason why the replicant count is off-- Mary, from DADOES, is still in this script, destined to be gunned down through the door while hiding in a closet near the end of the film. So there really were five replicants.

Doc
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andy
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PostPosted: Thu Feb 12, 2009 10:06 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Yup, That is why your script is so far not a common or talked about script. No mention of the script itself anywhere. Possibly the only people who have read it so far are Fancher, Deeley, Ridley Scott and a few others. the first script of direct mention is the July script.

I somewhere have shots and dates of all the scripts I have seen for sale, but I can't find it. The few that I have record of specifically are after yours was written. Certainly sounds like a preproduction script.

Some of the stuff in it like the bathtub scene did survive later scripts, But the rest is stuff I have never heard of. Very intriguing.

Andy
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andy
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PostPosted: Fri Feb 13, 2009 1:58 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Some more info is that the script from July 24th 1980 was the first titled 'Blade Runner'. In between the first scripts titled 'Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep' and the scripts titled 'Mechanismo', there was also one titled 'Android'. Ridley Scott also tried to get the film titled 'Gotham City'.

Andy
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joberg
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PostPosted: Fri Feb 13, 2009 9:41 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

A dream of mine is the production of a BR serie on T.V...the twist would be that each episode would be directed by a different known director everytime. Imagine an episode of BR made by Michael Mann, or Tarantino, or...well you get the idea. Seeing their interpretation of the story could be interesting. Maybe using some of Fancher's ideas?
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doc3d
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PostPosted: Sun Feb 15, 2009 2:34 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

George Lucas once promised fans that he was going to turn over Star Wars to people who wanted to play with the film. As far as I know it never happened. But what a terrific idea. Small Blade Runner episodes, done like those amazing Clive Owen BMW commercials (all of which I downloaded when they were available-- each directed by a major action director). (Each director presented his own view of how cool the BMW was via a high energy short action film.) Would love to see Blade Runner: Beyond Noir; comprised of further episodic explorations within that world, with all the stops pulled out. It's now easily possible via digital technology.

Doc
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joberg
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PostPosted: Sun Feb 15, 2009 5:06 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Yep, either recreate the W.Bros. set and re-create the same atmosphere or half-set/half C.G. with the same main characters (Decks, Gaff, Bryant etc), do an hour show with a beginning and a conclusion once a week.
Approximate cost: $150 M. per episode.
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doc3d
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PostPosted: Sun Feb 15, 2009 9:58 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Using all new actors, and new CG builds, plus making each episode fifteen minutes max would cost well under 150M per. Let the film schools like USC have the creative rights. I think you could get a lot of people to work for minimum pay to be part of the legend. And as a student driven project, a lot of the union bureaucracy could be jettisoned. Plus you'd have bleeding edge creativity.

Doc
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andy
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PostPosted: Sun Feb 15, 2009 10:35 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

This was done for $500

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1UPMEmCqZo&eurl=http://www.boingboing.net/

It may have to have a lot of CGI but it could be done for under 1m each

Andy
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