Icelandic music score in Blade Runner II

Composer Jóhann Jóhannson will compose the film score to Blade Runner’s independent sequel. “It is as if I’m trusted with an intensely important task that I can under no circumstances mess up” Jóhannson said according to a RUV report. “Its truly an honor to be part of such an adventure” Denis Villeneuve will direct the film, his previous work includes films Sicario and Prisoners, Jóhannson also composed the score for those so this is not the first collaboration between the two. Ryan Gosling will play the lead role and Harrison Ford is set to return in the role of Rick Deckard and rumor has it that Jared Leto will make an appearance in the film.

The music is meant to become like part of the film’s DNA according to Jóhannson, whose involvement was a long time incubating. “We started talking about the film a year and a half ago, before Villeneuve started Arrival, a film set to be released later this year” Jóhannson said “The project has been brewing for a long time”. Filming started early this summer and Jóhannson started composing simultaneously. Jóhannson informs that his involvement in Villeneuve’s films usually starts at a very early stage of the production. “Sometimes I start working on the score as soon as he starts shooting, even prior to, and I send him basic ideas, ground themes and general atmosphere. I don’t know how this project will evolve, but when working on Arrival, the ground theme was born very early on, really before the shooting started, So he had the melody in his ears the whole time while he was shooting, that way the music really becomes integrated in the film´s DNA.”

Jóhannson further tells of his excitement when he learned of the making of the film. Blade Runner was an important film in his cinema upbringing and he’s a great Philip K. Dick fan, and adores Vangelis, who made the score for the original Blade Runner, the challenge to follow in these footsteps and make an indecent work is enticing he said. “This is not a remake” Johannson underscores, “Its a sequel, everyone working on the project aims to make a film that will stand alone independent of the original film, but existing in the same domain.”

Blade Runner is a 1982 science fiction tech-noir film directed by Ridley Scott. It featured Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, Sean Young, and Edward James Olmos in the cast. The screenplay, written by Hampton Fancher and David Peoples, is a modified film adaptation of the 1968 novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep by Philip K. Dick.

Jóhann Jóhannsson, born 19 September 1969, is an Icelandic composer identified with minimalist, drone, and electronic music. Johannson is primarily known for his film scores, his score for James Marsh’s film; The Theory of Everything, was nominated for the Oscar and received the Golden Globe last year.

Biography and image is taken from Wikipedia, image credit goes to SpectreVision Mgmt.