Dave Bautista battles thugs in 'Blade Runner: 2049' short
Bautista stars as the Replicant called Sapper in "2048: Nowhere to Run," the second in a series of three short films that connect the original "Blade Runner" to the sequel.
#BladeRunner2049's @DaveBautista is a replicant on the run in this never-before-seen in-world prequel. Watch it now. pic.twitter.com/xGn3WfjATF
— iTunes Trailers (@iTunesTrailers) September 14, 2017
Replicants are more than just complex androids looking to blend in among humans. In director Ridley Scott's original 1982 film "Blade Runner," they also searched for meaning to their limited lives through love, friendship and sadly, violence.
In the upcoming sequel "Blade Runner 2049," a young blade runner called Officer K (played by Ryan Gosling) discovers a long-buried secret that leads him on a quest to track down the former blade runner, who's been missing for 30 years. Harrison Ford plays Deckard in both the original and the sequel.
But what happened in the years between 2019 and 2049? "Blade Runner 2049" director Denis Villeneuve wants to reveal more stories linking events between the two movies with three original short films on YouTube.
In "2048: Nowhere to Run" -- the second short prequel film in the series, released on Thursday on Twitter -- we get more of the backstory on a character named Sapper played by Dave Bautista.
The short film, directed by Scott's son Luke, takes place in Los Angeles in 2048 (a year before the new film's story), and Sapper looks like he's having a very emotional day.
After crying in a room by himself, he washes his face and ventures out into the night, only to be harassed by a group of men he ignores.
The familiar sights and sounds of the original "Blade Runner" -- noodle bars, humming neon lights and street vendors -- surround him. Sapper delivers a book to a young friend and tries to sell his wares to a store owner selling unusual creatures.
But you don't cast Bautista in a role just for his acting skills. Soon enough he's in a fight to protect his young friend and her mom from street thugs. The deadly result gets Sapper into bigger trouble than he bargained for.
The first film "2036: Nexus Dawn," also directed by Luke, gave fans a closer look at Niander Wallace (Jared Leto) trying to convince a committee that his new line of Replicants called Nexus 9, are not a threat to humanity.
"Blade Runner 2049" is set to debut in theaters in Australia on Oct. 5, and in the US and UK on Oct. 6.
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