Daily Dialogue — June 27, 2013
INT. TYRELL’S OFFICE — A LITTLE LATER
Rachael’s eye fills the screen, the iris brilliant, shot with light, the pupil contracting. We hear Deckard’s voice and we have the impression the test has been going on for a while.
DECKARD (O.S.): You are given a calfskin wallet for your birthday…
Tyrell stands silhouetted behind Deckard, who sits in front of Rachael.
The needles in both gauges swing violently past green to red, then subside.
RACHAEL: I wouldn’t accept it, also I’d report the person who gave it to me to the police.
DECKARD: You have a little boy. He shows you his butterfly collection, plus the killing jar.
Again the gauges register, but not so far.
RACHAEL: I’d take him to the doctor.
DECKARD: You’re watching TV and suddenly you notice a wasp crawling on your wrist.
RACHAEL: I’d kill it.
Both needles go red. Deckard makes a note, takes a sip of coffee and continues.
DECKARD: In a magazine you come across a full-page photo of a nude girl.
RACHAEL: Is this testing whether I’m a replicant or a lesbian?
DECKARD: You show the picture to your husband. He likes it and hangs it on the wall. The girl is lying on a bearskin rug.
RACHAEL: I wouldn’t let him.
DECKARD: Why not?
RACHAEL: I should be enough for him.
Deckard frowns, then smiles. His smile looks a little like a grimace or the other way around.
DECKARD: Last question. You’re watching an old movie. It shows a banquet in progress, the guests are enjoying raw oysters.
RACHAEL: Ugh.
Both needles swing swiftly.
DECKARD: The entree consists of boiled dog stuffed with rice.
Needles move less.
DECKARD: (continuing) The raw oysters are less acceptable to you than a dish of boiled dog.
Deckard switches off his beam.
TYRELL: Well, Mr. Deckard?
Deckard is looking at Tyrell and wincing indecisively.
He doesn’t get it. Are they playing with him?
TYRELL: (continuing) Perhaps some privacy will loosen your tongue, Mr. Deckard.
He turns to Rachael
TYRELL: Would you step out for a few moments, Rachael?
Rachael exits looking a little shaken. What’s going on?
— Blade Runner (1982), screenplay Hampton Fancher and David Webb Peoples, novel by Philip K. Dick
The Daily Dialogue theme for the week is interrogation, suggested by Def Earz. Today’s suggestion by Mark Walker.
Trivia: While the film is loosely based on Philip K. Dick’s “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep”, the title comes from a book by Alan Nourse called “The Bladerunner”. William S. Burroughs wrote a screenplay based on the Nourse book and a novella entitled “Blade Runner: A Movie.” Ridley Scott bought the rights to the title but not the screenplay or the book. The Burroughs composition defines a blade runner as “a person who sells illegal surgical instruments”.
Dialogue On Dialogue: Commentary from Mark: “What is great about the scene is how it wrong foots both Deckard and the audience. We think we know about replicants and how they can be easily identified and “retired”. But Rachel is different, and the ides that she is a replicant is worrying for Deckard….and throws a curveball at the audience. What we thought we knew about replicants is pulled from under us. If Rachel can be tricked into thinking she is human, what does that mean for the rest of us? (Sssssh Deckard is a replicant). So it is a great turning point in the film when we start to question what we know about this world and the characters in it.”