Blade Runner: Black Lotusis now out on Crunchyroll and Adult Swim and it sets the stage as the sequel to the one-off anime episode Blade Runner Black Out 2022. We had the opportunity to talk to executive producer Joseph Chou, co-directors Kenji Kamiyama and Shinji Aramaki, and the English cast members Jessica Henwick (Elle), Will Yun Lee (Joseph), and Stephen Root (Earl Grant).
Crunchyroll describes the series as:
Los Angeles 2032. A young woman wakes up with no memories and possessing deadly skills. The only clues to her mystery are a locked data device and a tattoo of a black lotus. Putting together the pieces, she must hunt down the people responsible for her brutal and bloody past to find the truth of her lost identity.
Executive Producer Joseph Chou, co-directors Kenji Kamiyama and Shinji Aramaki
While watching the Behind the Scenes video, you mentioned about the anime’s “look” in creating the CGI world. What did you mean by that and how did you decide on the look, especially with your work on Ghost in the Shell and the fact that Ghost in the Shell was inspired by the original Blade Runner?
Joseph Chou: We wanted to make sure the anime was recognizable to the Blade Runner franchise in the CGI format. We struggled between using just fine-tuning or Photoreal, but neither was a good choice. We had to play a happy medium, keep it unique, but also keep it familiar to the world itself.
Kenji Kamiyama: Also,Blade Runner wasn’t a super clean sci-fi back then (with the neon lights, rainy streets, and lots of strange Japanese signs), so the setting was super unique to Japanese audiences. The look of Los Angeles is a major “character” in the original Blade Runner, so it’s one of the things we had to tackle. Ghost in the Shell was indeed inspired from Blade Runner, but I did Ghost in the Shell first before the Blade Runner short films and Black Lotus. The question of identity and of human memory covered in Ghost in the Shell is inspired from Blade Runner, but I had to present it in a different angle for Black Lotus.
Shinji Aramaki: What was also important was if we were going to present a new concept in a long story/series, all of the story concepts had to be accepted by Blade Runner fans or be considered “Blade Runner-esque” and fit in the canon. It was a balance I struggled with. Unlike in Ghost in the Shell that was from the cyberpunk genre, I came in just for the Black Lotus CGI series and at that point, the story had taken itself in a different direction even with the questions of existence/human memory. So for Black Lotus, it’s more of doing justice for the franchise that was the bigger challenge.
With the cyberpunk concepts and Blade Runner’s themes, how do you think the Black Lotus will speak on the global historical themes of cyberpunk, global corporations, capitalism, etc.?
Chou: it’s surreal coming from a movie from the ‘80s where there are relevant themes of a class struggle, racial issues (i.e. replicants vs humans), and corporations taking over the society. There’s a lot of issues we can cover in this property and it’s something we’re planning for this series, while not losing our focus on Black Lotus as entertainment. All of these themes were present in our mind while creating Black Lotus.
Kamiyama: For me, the most poignant was the giant corporation using technology to control society and that brought the question “what is the meaning of human life?” And it’s a natural question, especially with Wallace Corp. trying to control labor, economic production, etc. It’s not so much intentional, the themes just so happened to seep out in the production. That question really made me think about that while making the TV series.
Aramaki: The point is to deliver entertainment and catharsis for the characters. But because the characte in Black Lotus is a female replicant, it can be understood as a gender or discrimination issue that she has to struggle with. It’s the first time the franchise has a female protagonist in trying to create a piece of entertainment, so these themes naturally come out, especially with how we decided to have the protagonist drive the series and place her in this universe. She has to overcome these challenges, and that becomes reflected in our world today too.
Blade Runner is a cerebral sci-fi story. When you’re expanding it into CGI and an action format, does it present any challenges in presenting the story of Black Lotus?
Kamiyama: Since this is a series, it’s a very different format to the movies. You have to tell the story over many episodes. You have to deliver something entertaining to keep people going. But because Blade Runner is not an action-drama, you have to deliver enough suspense and a visceral feel to it, so people want to keep watching. It’s a different type of storytelling because while movies use a “personal journey”route for the protagonis, it’s not something you can’t do in a series where you have multiple characters. In series, you have to bring different factors like the structure of the conflict to bring more intrigue.
Aramaki: Blade Runner is a wonderful franchise/universe. But what is the point of the series done in a CGI? I first thought it was to expand and deliver the essence of the franchise, but now, it’s possible that Black Lotus serves as an entry point. In order to do that, action might be something new to contribute to the franchise.
Voice Cast Q&A:
Jessica Henwick, Stephen Root, Will Yun Lee
For Henwick who voices the main character “Elle”, can you tell us a bit about your character and the significance of being the first female lead in BR.
Jessica Henwick: Elle is a woman who wakes up with no memory of her past. The only connection is the black lotus tattoo on her. The story follows her trying to piece together her past and the people who follow her. I’m such a big fan of the other movies, and this is such a pop-culture moment in the landscape. It’s an honor to bring a female protagonist to the franchise.
For all the voice actors: were you able to see the Japanese dub of the show first to draw on the portrayal of the characters? Or did you pull from other inspirations? How did you envision your characters?”
Jessica Henwick:Black Lotus, I believe, was animated for Western audiences and then dubbed over in Japanese. Because of the scheduling, the Japanese actors would go before us, or vice-versa, and there’s a bit of a scratch track.
Stephen Root:Since this happened during COVID-19, you can’t hear or experience everything. But the script is wonderful, and that’s where I drew most of my character from.
Will Yun Lee: I remember shooting the episode pre-COVID, and then shooting the whole episode again during COVID. It was an amazing production to bridge the gap between Japanese and American sensibilities, and the Blade Runner franchise itself, because the production team had one understanding of Blade Runner. Joseph can speak Korean, Japanese and English, so it was seamless in direction. Wes Gleason somehow understood what the Japanese wanted and could articulate it for the cast, and we relied a lot on him.
For Henwick & Lee, Blade Runner had such a legacy. Having been part of cyberpunk-themed shows/movies, what do you think about the world of Blade Runner that really draws so many people in?
Lee: Altered Carbon feels like it was formed from the basis of Blade Runner. When I went on set for the first time, I felt like it was coming onto a set for Blade Runner with the mix of cultures, the steam coming off the ground, and the neon lights. This [the set of Altered Carbon] felt like Harrison Ford should be popping out at some point in the scene.
Henwick: I came to The Matrix Resurrections much later, followed by Black Lotus. But the everlasting appeal [of Blade Runner] is the tone. It sounds cool, and the writing is so meaningful and real. It really transcends time, and it’s just cool!
Since Black Lotus was recorded during COVID-19, what were the creative challenges to record during COVID-19?
Root: It was finding a place to record, because not a lot of places were open to record. It wasn’t optimum for me to record since I’m old. I also love being in the studio with the producers. But it was odd and weird to spend most of your time in a mask, be natural and record, and then wear your mask again. I’m really glad that there were enough studios that were open though. I’m a sci-fi geek and I’m grateful for Wes’s help.
Henwick: Iit was hard to do it, but hands off to Aramaki & Kamyama who got up at 3-4AM to hear me record in Germany where I was doing The Matrix Resurrections. We were collaborating in 3 different time zones between Germany, Japan, and Los Angeles where Wes Gleason was.
Lee: I was fortunate to record most of my stuff pre-COVID.
Each of your characters represent different parts of society. How did you approach the dynamic of your character?
Root: Chief Grant plays a character that embodies prejudice in an attempt to wipe out a race. It’s a pretty universal theme in these kinds of movies.
Henwick: Elle starts off as such a baby in this world and doesn’t know the history. Not knowing all of the history didn’t affect the performance, so I just tried to capture the naivety and follow her arc until the end when she knows who she is and what she wants.
Will: Elle sparks everything in my character (a junkyard scrap guy who knows about replicants and salvaging pre-Black Out memories). He’s trying to forget everything in the world, but the guilt and trauma comes back when Elle comes into the picture and builds his arc as a character. She was my muse.
What were you able to bring into your experience, like from Blood of Zeus, into this performance?
Henwick:Blood of Zeus was a good experience to reassure myself that I could work in animation and voice acting. I came into Black Lotus with less self-awareness, because it’s perfect for the character who has no self-awareness. In the end, I wasn’t afraid of embarrassing myself.
We’ve seen you, Root, take on the roles of many villians. What do you find so appealing to come back to these characters?
Root: It’s not appealing, but I’ve been playing a lot of “heavies” lately because of the script and who you work with, and who you get to learn from. I don’t want to play these people, but they happen to be in good scripts, and I feel honored to be in this one. For me, it’s script-driven.
It was fun listening to Lee be on Altered Carbon and being a fan of Blade Runner, so I’m curious how much the look for Black Lotus affects you.
Henwick: Several times in recording, you should be following the sounds and act in the chasing picture, and I would stop making noises because I was so transfixed by the cinematography and world. I was blown away when I saw it.
Lee: Once I saw what I looked like and the world we were living in, it felt like I was transported back to Altered Carbon, which is transported back to Blade Runner. Just being there, and being in a booth for this cinematic experience, it felt like I was on a movie set.
Root: Being able to see this incredible animation, you just become entranced with it and it becomes like any kind of acting job.
Did you learn anything through this process? Any new techniques, new ways of acting, or working with the translators that you’ll take for future gigs?
Henwick: It’s such an unusual animation that I don’t know if I can carry it to other jobs. With “younger anime”, you have to make noises for everything, like cute little noises. But with Black Lotus, Gleeson kept saying “less noise” to bring more weight to the scene. I don’t know how much that transfers to other animation.
Lee: It’s so cool to see where the anime felt “separate” to indicate things for certain scenes, but the animation is a full movie experience now.
Root: It’s very naturalistic, compared to the ‘80s and ‘90s stuff. It’s a pleasure to be real in an animation world and be on camera. It feels more like naturalistic acting.
Fun challenge: both the Blade Runner movies are iconic. But which one do you prefer and why?
Henwick: The original. I’m a huge indie fan and it’s the original that changed the game.
Root: It’s like the Alien franchise with the original where it’s sci-fi, icky, and realistic. I like to see all the brands that are no longer with us too!
Lee: The original put a stamp into the cyberpunk theme. What a brave and weird thing to come up with, but now it exists in every cyberpunk content.
Henwick: And I bet it was cool! When the original was pitched then, it wasn’t as grounded until today, which keeps [the franchise] going.
How do you think the show will speak to the current generation of global corporations, capitalism, etc?
Root: It continues the search for truth, and I’d like to see a more peaceful world. I’m hoping that people will learn the prejudice lessons [through animation], but it hasn’t happened yet. But if you continue to have quality productions to say it’s wrong, you still have to keep going. Good quality projects like Black Lotus are essential to show that we’re all just folks, and that’s something to take away.
Henwick:Black Lotus speaks to topical points of equality and big corporations buying everything out. I’m really interested in the timelessness of the question “what makes us humans?” that we will have to ask later with all the AI and technology today.
Lee: And just to have Jess as the lead of Black Lotus, it’s just freaking awesome and that we’re moving the needle in the right direction. (Stephen also follows up in support of this comment). I love being a part of a small historical movement forward.
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