What Might Have Been: Original Script Previews: 'Indy 4,' 'The Happening'

Guess what? (Said in storybook gentle voice:) Frequently when someone writes a screenplay, more than one version is written. Often times a screenwriter will undergo what are called draft revisions, which means editing and tweaking, and improving the story via modification, reconsideration and deeper reviews. Generally, revisions (not handed down by studio notes) mean improvement.

That is if you're "Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skulls," and you're tweaked for the worse by George Lucas (or are least hired to implement his heavy-handed imperical changes). Obviously Frank Darabont's ("The Shawshank Redemption) original script, "Indiana Jones And The City of The Gods," recently leaked (or at least we're all pretty sure it was Darabont's script). The prospect of reading it however was frightening simply because we'd rather not devote that kind of time to to a lame-duck franchise.

Thankfully, MTV took the time to read the original script and compared notes to the final script penned by work-for-hire writer David Koepp and more importantly, permitted and endorsed by Darth Lucas. About the original 'City of the Gods' script they say there are "moments of real beauty in this thing. "As noted previously, one of the most glaring differences in Darabont's script is the absence of Mutt, Shia Labeouf's sitcom-like kid character (the type that comes in during the waning years to breathe new life into a dead horse). Other differences include:
- No inclusion of the Mac character (Ray Winstone)
- a tougher "Raiders Of The Ark"-like Marion Ravenwood (Karen Allen); She's married, but not to Jones
- a climax that actually give Indiana something to do - rather than stand their nonplussed by aliens. One that "forces him to make a decision that rivals the end of "Crusade," crystallizing the character and his history into one momentous singularity. Bravo!" writes MTV obviously impressed.

Their overall verdict? While their surprisingly were still moments of fromage in Darabont's version (the Tarzan-like jungle abomination seems to be his creation), they say, "not perfect," but "a million times better than "Crystal Skull." Yikes, cue Darabont's smug, "I told you so," as he sits back and forwards this MTV story to Lucas and all his friends.

Conversely, Vulture, who has reviewed an early draft of M. Night Shyamalan's "The Happening," claim unsurprisingly, that we should all be so lucky: as the original draft is even worse than the one released Friday in theaters. They also bemoan its lack of existence as we could have had a righteously riotous comedy on our hands if the original script had come to pass.

The main differences? "The Happening" (which we will never pay to see) apparently gives off the message that true love can conquer all, even diseases emitted into the air by angry and deadly deciduous trees. It's the message however, subtext.

In the original script, "The Green Effect," its right on the surface, in fact, on top of it.
- Mark Wahlberg's heroic science teacher realizes that the film's evil plants can't kill you with their suicide-causing neurotoxins if they think you're a good person (actual line of dialogue: "This is the final trigger, Alma! They're weeding out our energy! They've become a mood ring. When they see a When they see a color they don't like, it sets them off"). [ed. amazing]
- Trees apparently "whisper mischievously" to one another
- The trees in 'Effect' apparently spare Wahlberg and his unfaithful wife because they know, their relationship is worth saving.

Deep stuff. Sounds frighteningly hilarious. Maybe someone outta dig up this script and do it up camp style just for kicks. Shyamalan's stories are basically comedies anyhow, right? We're kinda dying to read this ironic disaster now.
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'Indiana Jones 4' Makes $311 Million Worldwide Despite Being Ridiculous, Predictable And Worst Film In The Series

We wanted to somehow acknowledge Indiana Jones' massive box-office success this holiday weekend, but Spoutblog's "Blah blah blah Indiana Jones, blah blah blah $311 million worldwide," is our favorite dismissive take on the very-subpar 4th installment of the Lucas/Spielberg/Harrison Ford McFranchise that basically says it all.
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'Indiana Jones 4' Shows Signs Of Age & Fatigue - Isn't Crystal Or Gold, But Just More Like Meh

It's probably not a huge surprise to hear that "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" wasn't very good. It's hard enough to strike lighting twice, let alone four times, and let's fact it the third strike ("The Last Crusade") was pretty far off the mark as well, so what did you expect? (younger revisionists will probably claim Indy 3 is pitch perfect; they would be wrong)

Yes, it would have been nice to have that final trophy on the mantle for Spielberg, Lucas and Harrison Ford, but it's clear they weren't really aiming for it and they've been pretty candid in interviews that they weren't trying to reinvent the wheel and just have a bit more fun again and in that regard they succeed ("We came back to do ('Indy') because we wanted to have fun," Lucas said. "It would make [us] a lot of money if [we] weren't [already] rich. But we're not doing it for the money.") Whether audiences will have as much fun as they did making it remain to be seen though.

The film kicks off quickly in Nevada in 1957 behind the backdrop of the cold war, paranoid anti-communism and accusatory McCarthy-ism. Jones and his new sidekick (Ray Winstone) quickly clash with the evil Roosskies, their cartoony accents (Cate Blanchett) and their avaricious need to steal secrets that will assure their future world domination. Blanchett's evil scientist, brings Jones to Area 51 to help her find some boxed-up government secret which will help enable Russian hegemony (there's even a quick nod to the ark of the covenant which we see for a brief second).

Escaping his captors, Jones finds himself in the middle of a Nuclear War testing zone and survives thanks to the help of a regular household appliance. But when the mistrustful Feds get a hold of him afterwards, they accuse him of treason and corroborating with the Russians which eventually leads to his excommunication from his teaching gig (total nods to '50s blacklisting).

We get a few moments of introspection, the toll of age and the bleak reminder that Indiana's days are getting long in the tooth, but that's all the character build-up we get. From there Indy meets up with Mutt, a 'Wild Ones' type Marlon Brando rebel, who beckons his assistance to save his mom (Karen Allen returning as Marion Ravenwood from 'Raiders') and an old professor friend of his Oxley (played by John Hurt). And the adventure kicks off from there and never slows down, getting into those plot details is pointless because of spoilers and just how ridiculous some of it is (the ending is positively preposterous, silly and just dumb). Suffice to say Indiana Jones, his new young side-kick travel to the amazon jungle in search of their friends which leads them to the pursuit of a crystal skull that may or may not have extra-terrestrial implications (if you have a brain and you've even glimpsed at images of what the crystal skull looks like you know the answer; let's just say a certain old script about secret saucers is referenced).

It's also displacing and odd to see an Indiana Jones movie that starts off with an Elvis song ("Hound Dog") and shows Harrison Ford in Indy garb standing in seemingly anachronistic and colorful '50s kitchens; it's weird to see Dr. Jones in a diner straight out of "Back To the Future" with greasers and preppies fighting it out, but it is what it is and it is faithful to the era (but still feels rather strange).

The big question probably on a lot of people's minds is, "does it ruin the series the way George Lucas' Star Wars prequels raped the magic of the Skywalker tales"? and the answer is no, but it doesn't really elevate the series in quality either.

The big tip off to quality control measures is the inclusion of Shia LaBeouf's street tough character Mutt; pretty much akin to that moment every television sitcom has when trying desperate to retain audience interest into their sagging show and introducing a new, younger, cuter, funnier kid (see "Growing Pains," "Diff'rent Strokes" et al.) to breathe new life into a mostly dead horse.

We're not sure what Spielberg sees in this kid LaBeouf, but he's practically an acting patron, who apparently adores him.

To be fair, Mutt's character doesn't ruin the film - it would have been just as average without him - but it doesn't help either. Just like Indiana's graying character himself, an inherent problem is age. These films are fun in your youth, but pretty hard to take seriously when you're an adult and your suspension of disbelief is constantly being challenged with some of the ridiculous plot points and absurd action (there's a Tarzan-like scene with monkeys in the movie that's just way too much and it inspires unintentional hilarity).

There was concern that replacing John Hurt with the n0w-retired Sean Connery would somehow hurt the script and be a rush-job last minute fix, but that's taking the far-fetched idea much too seriously and like a real movie. Whether it was Indiana's dad (Connery) playing the slightly crazed tour guide to the Lost Crystal Skulls kingdom or Marion Ravenwood's father (Hurt) none of it would make any difference (other than the fan nostalgia of seeing Connery and Ford act aside one another again). The plot remains unaffected.

SPOILERs: Highlight to see, fair warning though In fact, Indiana Senior (Connery) has passed away in this installment of the film, as has his colleague Marcus Brody (played by the late Denholm Elliott) in a small plot move that's supposed to acknowledge age and how things aren't as easy for Indiana anymore. And yes, Mutt is the lovechild of Ravenwood and Indiana and yes there are aliens in the film, told ya so.

And what about all those rumors and spoilers that leaked onto the Internet about aliens, a science-fiction angle, etc, etc.? Well, let's just all of it wasn't that far off the mark. But as Lucas has told the ever-secretive and story-protective Spielberg, the audience isn't there for the story, they're their for the spectacle and if that's all you want well, Indy 4 provides a lot of it.

However, Spielberg likes to pride himself on how the film is a throwback adventure film with long takes and stunts on screen, rather the disorienting Bourne-series-like kinetic, motion-sickness inducing editing, but after the midway mark, 'Crystal Skulls' becomes a little relentless and there are none of those quiet moments of reflection that slow the other films down and give them some humanity and heart and soul. In fact, Soulless is the word. Of course you want a thrill ride, which Indy 4 provides and it is a somewhat fun adventure, if an illogical and impossible one (much more than any films), but the essence of what Indiana Jones special is long gone.

In the spirit of the serial adventure series' that the original story is based upon, it's fitting that Indy 4 is just another adventure, but again, that's all it is: another adventure and it does nothing to add to any of the characters. And perhaps it shouldn't. You're not really here to see character arcs and growth in the Indianan Jones films, but it just all feels too familiar and a tired formula dusted off for another go round.

'Indiana Jones 4' is neither fantastic nor terrible, it's just not that good and mostly unnecessary, but that's how it is in Hollywood, guys want to have fun again and you can't necessarily blame them. You could place the blame on the age, the wrinkles, the implausible plots, the aliens, the sub-par quality of the crystals and the gold, or just plain ol' George Lucas, but the fault lies with just simply going to the same well too many times. [C]
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Indiana Jones The Premiere; Ford Has A "Degree Of Confidence" You May, Possibly, Sort-Of Enjoy This Film... Maybe... Indy 5? No Good Ideas Yet

This is not meant to be a boast or a tease - after all it's "Indiana Jones" and you clearly know by now we don't really care. But we see Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skully-Thingy tomorrow at noon and the film is receiving its "world premiere" tomorrow at Cannes.

France is basically 6 hours ahead, (it's 12:09 a.m. as we speak/write), but presumably the screening will be some sort of gala evening in the evening (presumably?) We will the pleeb blog see it before the rest of the "world"? Surely, bigger-name critics have already seen the film at proper review screenings, no? Something to consider on a Saturday afternoon while having a beer....

Meanwhile, Harrison Ford is convinced you're going to think this is the year's best film. You've gotta love this couched quote. It almost sounds like an apology. "We have a degree of confidence that it will be an experience that people will enjoy," said Ford.

Ha! What is that?!? A "degree of confidence"? Oh, my.

As for the alleged Indy 5? Remember Steven Spielberg and Ford have to OK, George Lucas' terrible ideas. Ideas that he appears to be well aware aren't really adored by anyone. "Harrison, Steven and I haven't talked about it. We can't do it unless I can come up with a good idea, which I haven't."
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Famous Film 'Raiders of the Lost Ark: The Adaptation' Finally Shown In Hollywood - See Some Of It Below; Plus Lucas Talks Indy 5

Over the year's you've surely heard of the legendary, but little-seen "Raiders of The Lost Ark: The Adaptation." The L.A. Times explains the backstory about 3 pre-teens who remade the film shot for shot on the super-cheap in their backyards back in the early '80s. The film would go on to become cult phenomenon, but rarely screened (shock horror director Eli Roth described as "the Ark of the Covenant of underground tapes." )

The legend of the film is well-known in Indy circles. In 1982, three friends -- Chris Strompolos, Eric Zala and Jayson Lamb -- got together to begin a shot-for-shot re-creation of "Raiders," a film that had been released just a year before. Their ambitions were huge -- they committed to re-creating every single effects shot, including the giant rolling boulder at the film's beginning.

Vanity Fair wrote an incredibly comprehensive feature on it back in 2004 called "Raiders of the Lost Backyard" and they called the inspired little film, "a tale of love, obsession, and pissed-off moms." Well, since "Indiana Jones and The Kingdom of The Crystal Skulls" is right around the corner (and we're actually going to see it early this weekend), we figured we'd show it since hardly anyone's ever seen it. Plus, hey, almost 10 minutes of the apparently 100 minute film (!) was uploaded to YouTube today. The film was shown for the first time ever in Hollywood this week. ] After all the fuss in 2004 when the film was "re-discovered" (around the time of the Vanity Fair article), Scott Rudin and Paramount Pictures purchased the trio's life rights and are producing a film based on their adventures creating the kids' remake with Daniel Clowes writing the script.

And don't miss this gem that George Lucas just told Fox News about the possibility of an Indy 5. "I haven’t even told Steven [Spielberg] or Harrison [Ford] this," he said. "But I have an idea to make Shia [LeBeouf] the lead character next time and have [Ford] come back like Sean Connery did in the last movie. I can see it working out."

We're sure you can see them working out. Just like those 'Star Wars' prequels, huh?

Oh and Harrison just responded to Lucas' comments. "I have no cheeky answer for [that]. I just work here. I'm glad to work here," Ford told MTV News at the Cannes Film Festival on Friday (May 16). "Till they tell me otherwise, I will continue to be Indiana Jones."
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Harrison Ford Strongly Implies George Lucas Has Shit For Taste; 'Indy 4' Won't Be "Wacky" Enough For Lucas (Audiences Sigh In Relief)

Everyone who has a pair of eyes and saw the 'Star Wars' prequels knows George Lucas has shit for taste. Hell, even Steven Spielberg and Harrison Ford are completely aware of it and have alluded to it many times. It's been noted ad nauseum that resurrecting the 'Indiana Jones' franchise took a decade because all three principals, Spielberg, Ford and Lucas had veto power and the two reasonable members of the trio couldn't agree with Lucas' original idea, one that the AP is calling an "way-out-there initial idea."

In the same interview Ford alludes to the alien theme that is likely running (about to ruin?) "Indiana Jones & The Crystal Skulls" and again basically mentions that Lucas is an idiot.

"It was the three of us, Steven, George and I, coming to agreement on the central notion of it all," Ford said. "I think the original idea is still a large piece of it in the movie, but it's been developed and worked on in ways that made it a lot more palatable to Steven and I."

Translation: Lucas is a stubborn fuck and insisted that there be some Roswell-like aliens from outer space central theme in 'Indy 4' and we finally relented, but it's done in a tasteful way that hopefully shouldn't turn off everyone who's childhood's were ruined by the shitty 'Star Wars' prequels.

You'll remember earlier in an Entertainment Weekly article:
At one point George Lucas thought that since the film was going to be set in the 1950s (to jive with Ford's now advancing age) the genre should match that era: aliens invading Earth in spaceships (or some shit like that) with the military in hot pursuit (a popular genre trope of the '50s obviously). Hilariously, Harrison Ford wasn't with it. "No way am I being in a Steve Spielberg movie like that," he told Entertainment Weekly," with seemingly near disgust at Lucas' original concept.

The AP writes:

Though the filmmakers have been tightlipped on the plot, the era - 1957 instead of the 1930s - and the trailer's image of a crate marked ''Roswell, New Mexico, 1947,'' imply aliens are involved. Roswell is where UFO buffs claim an alien spaceship crashed in 1947. Just as the first three Indy flicks were inspired by the supernatural B-movies of the 1930s, Lucas conceded he took his cue for the new film from the equivalent of the 1950s, when B-movies centered on extraterrestrial menace.

And they further bring home the point that Ford and Spielberg hate Lucas' ideas. Hell the "filmmaker"/CGI-enthusiast knows it himself and it sounds like there's not enough ridiculousness for his taste, in other words, he had to compromise (gasp!).

"The MacGuffin of it slowed down a little bit from what my original enthusiastic version was. Again, that's the way it works with Steven and Harrison and I,'' Lucas told the AP. ''We're not going to do anything anyone's uncomfortable with. We want to do something everybody likes, we in the group, the three of us. They wanted to go off on some other tangent. I said, 'I'm not going to do that. I'm going to stick with this no matter what, so we either do this or we don't. That's it.' Finally, we got something that we could all compromise on and all be happy with. It wasn't quite as wacky as I wanted it to be, but it still is subtle and nice and works really well and has the same idea behind it.''

Hilarious. There you have it. Aliens involvement in 'Indy 4' basically confirmed.
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Did Princess Leia Make The Kessel Run In Less Than Twelve Parsecs With Han Solo?

"I must've hit it pretty close to the mark to get her all riled up like that, huh kid?"

Did Carrie Fisher as Princess Leia give Han Solo née Harrison Ford some Obi Wan on the set of "Star Wars"? The U.K. Sun seems to suggest so and they're reporting that Carrie Fisher herself has admitted it.

"She may not look like much, but she's got it where it counts, kid."

The 51-year-old actress told British comedian Justin Lee Collins in his new Channel 4 show "Bring Back . . . Star Wars." "I went on the film saying ‘I’m going to have an affair’, like it was a kiwi, an exotic fruit — because I’d never had one!"

She adds: "I had a crush on Harrison for sure. Harrison is great fun when he’s had a few drinks."

Shaking her head and saying: "I’m going to get in so much trouble," she adds: "Once I left the room and came back and he was in the closet not wearing a lot of clothes."

"But, but... I was going into Toshi Station to pick up some power converters!"

Fisher also said poor Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker) took Ford's success by the 'Empire' and "Return of the Jedi" pretty hard as his career floundered. "Harrison had this enormous career by the second or third film, that was tough for Mark," she said. "He was like, ‘This wasn’t supposed to happen — it’s the adventures of Luke Skywalker’."
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Geriatric Indiana Jones Battles Aliens And Nazis For Last Sexagenarian 'Crystal Skulls' Hurrah?

We have to admit when the swelling John Williams "Indiana Jones" score began we got kind of excited and then the trailer progressed and we became more and more disinterested to the point of just shrugging and thinking there's no real point to it all other than make some more money.

The inclusion of Shia Labeouf is pretty much akin to that moment every television sitcom has trying to pump new life into their sagging show and introducing a new, younger, cuter, funnier kid (see "Growing Pains," "Diff'rent Strokes" et al). What we think won't make the slightest dent on how gangbusters this is going to do at the box-office, but to those planning on spending their hard-earned money and time on this film, we wish you the best of luck.
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Random Features: Actors Left On The Cutting Room Floor, Worst Critics Of The Year & The Great Lost Movies

- IFC.com has a great little feature about actors that were cast in films, but then left on the cutting room floor. They note 15 actors who were paid to show up to set everyday and act, but when screening time came, they were nowhere to be found. They note that Orlando Jones was originally in "Magnolia," but his story was cut due to the long-ass running time, James Van Der Beek was excised from Todd Solondz's "Storytelling," Harold Ramis got the axe from "High Fidelity" and more recently, "Southland Tales" which originally had a small role for Janeane Garofalo, but it too got wiped out in editing. [IFC.com]
Harrison Ford's cameo in "E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial" was also taken out of Spielberg's final cut, but the scene can be viewed here.
Watch: Harrison Ford in ET the lost scene/alternate ending

- Jonny Greenwood's score is reminding everyone and their mother about films that solely use the music of one person only (sorry guys, "There Will Be Blood," also uses other pre-existing classical music from the likes of Arvo Pärt, and Johannes Brahm). Every one's doing it, but the Onion's A/V nerdclub has a decent feature on movies anchored* by a single artist. They note Seu Jorge's music that tethers together "The Life Aquatic," Aimee Mann's "Magnolia" songs and all the Cat Stevens' songs used in "Harold & Maude" (one of our personal fave choices). [*ed. slightly different][A/V Club] We also have a great affinity for both Robert Altman and Leonard Cohen and their juxtapositions in the great anti-western, "McCabe & Ms. Miller."
Watch: Leonard Cohen's "The Sisters Of Mercy" used in "McCabe & Ms. Miller"

- FilmThreat notes their Top 50 "Lost Films," which includes one version of Woody Allen's "September," with a different cast that was never released (he basically scrapped it and refilmed) and the original ending of Martin Scorsese's "Taxi Driver," where the blood was so gory, the MPAA made Marty mute the colors of the crimson-filled climax. The original footage was thrown away, never to be seen again. [FilmThreat]
Watch: "Taxi Driver's bloody climax

-EFilmCritic.com does one of the most delicious features of the year, by calling out the top Film Critic Whores of the year, their shitty, shitty taste and the ridiculously glowing and fawning quotes they give out to movie studios (for really worthless movies usually). Their top award goes to now toppled Maxim film douchebag, Pete Hammond who yielded such hack, genius zingers as, "'The Game Plan' - A comic touchdown for The Rock!," and "'Rendition' - Guaranteed to get your heart racing!" [EFilmCritic.com]
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'Indiana Jones 4' Preview Reconfirms George Lucas' Commitment To Being An Obdurate Jackass

Why are we blogging about this film? Why do we even care? Mostly because of our perennial distaste for George Lucas who has time and time again proven himself to being one of the biggest, loathsome boneheaded jackasses in the history of cinema (see destroying Star Wars Pts. 1-3 among the many dubious revisionist moves he's made over the years).

Vanity Fair has a pretty great preview piece on "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" and there's tons of little, characteristically asshole anecdotes about Lucas supplied by others and himself.

First off it was Lucas' way or the highway, Steven Spielberg and Harrison Ford (another crusty jackass), the director and fucking star, be damned:

Lucas supervised The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, a TV series which ran first on ABC, then on the USA Network, and won 10 Emmys. While filming a 1993 episode in which Ford made a cameo appearance, Lucas happened on something that gave him the idea for a fourth movie installment. He mentioned it to [Ford], who wasn’t too impressed. Lucas later told Spielberg about his new concept, only to find that the director wasn’t so hot on the idea, either, although generally warm to the notion of a fourth film.

But Lucas was adamant. It was this idea or nothing.

Anyone who knows Lucas well enough won't find this a huge surprise, but it is sort of amusing. More.

When Ford and Spielberg both rejected the idea, Lucas dug in. He hired screenwriter after screenwriter to make his MacGuffin the linchpin of a new Indy story. “So this went on for 15 years,” he says. “And finally we got to a point where everybody said, ‘Look, we’re not doing that movie.’ And I said, ‘Well, look, I can’t think of another MacGuffin. This is it. This works. I know this works.’ And then we stopped. I just said, ‘O.K.,’ and that’s about the time I started Star Wars again. But then Harrison was kind of interested. And I said, ‘I won’t do it unless we can have that MacGuffin. Without the MacGuffin, I will not go near this thing.’”

A MacGuffin by the way, popularized by Alfred Hitchcock, refers to an object or goal that kicks the story into action and drives it to the third act (and the way Hitch did it, it was usually a side-dish to the story's real narrative - see "Psycho" and the bag of stolen money that starts the story, but has nothing to do with the film's outcome).

Ford can now (repeat "now") laugh at Lucas' asshole obdurateness.

“He’s a stubborn sucker,” the actor says, “and he had an idea that he kept pushing into script form, and then they’d run it by me, and I’d usually rebel, and, finally, you know, one script came along that really struck me as being smart, not working too hard to give reference to the other films, but that carried on the stories we had told so far in a logical way. The character was allowed to age, and we found ourselves in a different period of time, and what I read was a great script, so I said, ‘Let’s go, let’s make this one.’”

Well, at least if it sucks donkey balls (which it probably will), everyone in the universe knows who to blame. We'd like to think that the reason Sean Connery couldn't be coaxed out of retirement for this thing was his contempt for Lucas.

Spoilers and More Revisionism
Apparently Indy 4 won't have the supernatural twist everyone was expecting and instead it will move towards the realm of science-fiction.

Oh and the best part of Lucas revisionism idiocy? Apparently "Raiders of the Lost Ark" has now been renamed. It's new title? "Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark." Cause you know, at this point if there were no Indiana in the title, no one would know what this movie was about. Retarded.

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Goodbye Ambiguity: Ridley Scott Says Deckard Was A Replicant In 'Blade Runner'

So much for ambiguous endings. "Blade Runner" fans have debated for years whether Harrison Ford's Deckard cop character was or wasn't a replicant (android) and the 1991 "director's cut" of the film reinforced this possibility, but wisely kept still left this theory open-ended and open to subjective interpretation.

Well, no longer. In a New York Times interview that ran this weekend director Ridley Scott made it crystal clear. “Yes, he’s a replicant. He was always a replicant.”

Boo, that's disappointing. Apparently this isn't the first time Ridley Scott has said this, but it's new to us. From the Times:

“The clue to Deckard’s true nature comes in a scene that was cut from the original release and only recently unearthed by Charles de Lauzirika, Mr. Scott’s assistant and the restoration’s producer. In the last scene of Mr. Scott’s version, Deckard leads Rachael out of his apartment. He notices an origami figure of a unicorn on the floor. A fellow cop has often left such figures outside replicants’ rooms. In an earlier scene, Deckard was thinking about a unicorn. Looking at the cutout now, he realizes that the authorities know what’s in his mind, that the unicorn is a planted memory, that he’s a replicant and that he and Rachael are both now on the run. They get into the elevator. The door slams. The end.”

The five-disc Blade Runner extravaganza comes out on DVD December 18 and an exclusive New York/LA theatrical launch begins October 5. Oh and ps, Sean Young is still loose-cannon crazy. Read more...