Blade Runner Night - Interview 4 with Paul M Sammon

An Evolving Blade Runner Event

I had first been made aware of this event via social media earlier in the year. It was originally going to be an entire weekend Blade Runner Fan Convention, with appearances from such luminaries as Joanna Cassidy (who I was hoping to discuss Finding Ford with). I can only assume that Warner Brothers had other ideas about the title, and it was rebranded as a Teeside Cyberpunk Convention taking place in Teeside, Newcastle. This further evolved into Blade Runner Teeside, a screening with Paul M Sammon, Blade Runner Night - Liverpool, and a screening in New York with Hampton Fancher and Paul.

Director Steve joins Finding Ford!

Back in 2016 I had taken on a small role in a film called Pandora for my friend and Director Carl Whitely. I had met Stephen Pilling on set as he was a producer and DP on the film. Then fast-forward to 2018 and we were working together at a fan event. So in the hotel bar afterwards I told him about the Finding Ford Project. Steve was really excited by the project and wanted to get involved, to which I agreed, and we waited for right opportunity. *See blog on Sean Young*

Paul M Sammon

I had some contact with the organiser of the event Paul Sullivan, and with Paul M Sammon ahead of the event. So we had some time tentatively set aside for an interview. But in the end we were given no space inside for the interview, so we opted to shoot outside before the screening…It was raining, the street was drenched in neon, so really it was perfect for November 2019 (when BR is set)!

Paul was very gracious and gave us some great information; about meeting Harrison Ford on the set of Blade Runner back in 1981, and some other great stories besides. But as you know, you will have to wait for the film’s completion to hear those!

Associate Producer Ivor Powell

The guest of honour at the screening was Associate Producer of Blade Runner,
Ivor Powell. So after the film had finished Mr Sammon interviewed Ivor about his time working on the original film, and took questions from the audience. Then once the talk was over I was able to meet and have a chat with Ivor, and he was kind enough to give me his contact details. Therefore stay tuned Ford Fans, because we might be chatting to Ivor again!

Liverpool Nostalgia

As a student at Liverpool Hope University I had lived in the city for 4 years, and absolutely loved it! So once the event was over, a took the opportunity to have a walk around some of my old haunts. You can see the pictures below.
All in all, it was the perfect way to celebrate Blade Runner, the future is now!