Blade Runner – The Workprint is rarest edition of the film because, without its existence, the more radical revised versions of Blade Runner perhaps would not exist. As its name suggests, the Workprint was a rough cut of the film. It was discovered by Michael Arick, a film preservationist, in 1989.
This is the workprint version of Blade Runner with a runtime of 113 minutes (workprint being a rough version of a motion picture, used by the film editor during the editing process.) It was shown for audience test previews in Denver and Dallas in March 1982, and the negative responses to the previews led to the modifications resulting in the U.S. theatrical version, which is considered one of the most notorious examples of studio interference in what is now considered one of the greatest films ever made.
This 70mm print of Blade Runner is thought to have been shown at test screenings in the US prior to release in 1982. This version does not have a voice-over throughout and lacks “the happy ending.” (Although Deckard does have a brief voice-over narration after Batty’s death in the final scene.) The Workprint has sound errors, and in the final fight between Deckard, Pris, and Batty in the Bradbury hotel, some placeholder musical cues were used, including Jerry Goldsmith music from Planet of the Apes and Alien.
