Blade Runner: The Lost Cut is described as “a radical re-envisioning of Ridley Scott’s 1982 sci-fi classic,” it’s created by filmmaker Leon Chase, and it’s about 20 minutes long. A commenter on Metafilter, where I found the film, describes it as “a fine use of pandemic energy.” I strongly encourage going in without knowing anything else, because watching its conceit slowly unfold is so much fun.
If you want some more detail…
Okay. The Lost Cut is a recut version of Blade Runner created by splicing in other films that star Blade Runner cast members, plus more films starring those films’ co-stars, resulting in a masterfully edited cinematic rabbit hole where Rick Deckard is hunting down a cast of replicants including Gene Hackman (via The Conversation, one of Harrison Ford’s first films), Steve Martin (via The Jerk, which stars M. Emmet Walsh, who plays Deckard’s boss Bryant), and John Belushi (via The Blues Brothers, which features Ford’s Star Wars co-star Carrie Fisher).
The film follows Blade Runner’s broad story beats, but its narrative drifts wherever the added footage leads, like some kind of Burroughsian cut-up version of Ridley Scott’s film. (Coincidentally, Blade Runner is named after a William S. Burroughs screenplay.) On his website, Chase notes that he’d been thinking about the concept for a while, but “with the recent coronavirus pandemic, I suddenly found myself with a lot more time on my hands. This was the result.”
