Future Noir: The Making of Blade Runner
FFC rating: 10/10
by Paul M. Sammon

by Bill Chambers Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner took two years to complete, while Paul M. Sammon’s exhaustive document of its inception was finished over a period of one-and-a-half decades. The author admits that his book, like its subject, is “compulsively detailed.” Future Noir‘s appendices alone–which include a thorough interview with Scott, fussy comparisons of Blade Runner‘s multiple video incarnations, confirmed continuity slip-ups, soundtrack information, a directory of related websites, and a full credits listing–occupy 66 pages! In fact, the only information Sammon fails to provide is his own credentials. A journeyman in the best way, he’s a film journalist and documentarian who, as an inveterate producer of electronic press kits, was eyewitness to some legendary (and legendarily troubled) genre productions, such as Dune and RoboCop.