RYAN GOSLING, JARED LETO, HARRISON FORD – THAT’S A STELLAR CAST. WHERE WERE YOU WHEN YOU FOUND OUT YOU WERE CAST IN THIS FILM AND HOW DID YOU REACT?

“[Laughs] Well, they had me waiting for a long time because it was all such a big secret. I guess the whole casting process and who was set to play what was all kept under wraps. And then I waited for like two-and-a-half months until they finally said I had the job so I got other offers in between and my agent would call the [Blade Runner] producers and they’d tell me not to take another job. But they wouldn’t say ‘you have the part’ so it was kind of really stressful for me because I was like ‘tell me I have the part!’ And finally I got called by the producers and told in a French accent, ‘oh my friend, do you want to join the Bladerunner team?’ And I screamed so loud!”

RIDLEY SCOTT DIRECTED THE FILM 35 YEARS AGO, DID YOU HAVE ANY IDEA OF HOW ICONIC THIS FILM FRANCHISE WAS PRIOR TO AUDITIONING?

Yeah, definitely. I’m from Holland and Roy Batty played by Rutger Hauer—that actor is Dutch as well—so I think I was like eight-years-old or something when I saw it with the whole family because it was like cult success, right? Like a classic that became more and more well-known, kind of created a following, and a fan culture. My parents decided that we had to see the film. I was very young—I remember everyone was so proud of Rutger. And I was a film fanatic, as young as I was. My eyes were popping out of my head just seeing what was happening in that film, I remember just being so intrigued by that different world I saw.”

HOW DID YOU REACT WHEN YOU MET RIDLEY SCOTT?

“It was a very strange day actually. It was a very stressful day. I was very nervous because it was the same day that I had met Harrison Ford and I did a scene with Harrison in a very small space where none of the crew and not even the director could get in because it was so small. It was just me, Harrison and a camera. I remember thinking ‘Oh my god, this is like Hans Solo sitting in front of me and just ‘be cool, just relax’ but I was kinda stressing out! Harrison was just a wonderful soul, he started joking and he didn’t stop joking until filming was over – after six months. The same first day I met Harrison, I came out of that set and I heard a voice go, ‘What the f**k are you doing here?’, and then I heard Harrison call back, ‘Well, what the f**k are YOU doing here?’ [laughs] and I was right in between Ridley and Harrison. I was like, ‘Oh my god this is too much, I have to go to lunch’!”

HOW DID YOU PREPARE FOR THIS ROLE OF LUV? WE HEARD YOU TRAINED FOR SIX MONTHS PRIOR TO SHOOTING FOR THE ACTION/STUNT SEQUENCES.

“They wanted me to gain 15 pounds of muscle. Have you ever heard of a swim machine? So it’s like dry swimming. You’re on this board, you’re lying on this board, like it feels almost like a surfboard, right? There are pedals in your hand and they’re connected to weights, and you kind of do a freestyle stroke, and you can make it heavier or less-heavy. So I was doing that which was really good for my shoulders and my back. They have you really pump up the muscle, and they had a nutritionist and a chef, they really took very good care of me. My body went through a whole transformation that actually really helped me getting into the role, and really understanding the discipline and sort of the pain and the goal of the character.”

WHAT WAS IT LIKE WORKING WITH JARED LETO? CAN YOU DESCRIBE YOUR FIRST MEETING WITH HIM?

“Well the funny thing was, I didn’t really meet him, I met his character. Because he’s very method. So we met on set, and I introduced myself as Luv, and he introduced himself as Niander Wallace, and from that moment we worked together in our characters. And I finally got to meet him after our last scene together and we had a really nice time together. We talked, and we had fun, and we were joking around, and he was a really nice guy. But it was really interesting because I had never been with another actor on set before that I hadn’t met prior to acting. So that has brought, I think, also a different element to our relationship, because I think in the film, our relationship is very conflicted, it’s very complex. I think it brought a certain kind of different element to our relationship or the tension between us. So that was pretty interesting, I’ve never had that before.”

TELL ME ABOUT WORKING WITH RYAN GOSLING.

“When I was on set with Ryan, and we’d be joking around on set, and then when ‘Action’ was called, it was very serious. So Ryan is just… you know, its’ really true, Canadians are the most wonderful people in the world, they’re very kind, and generous and he is that person. He is a very generous, kind actor, and he is full of passion, he was full of passion for this project, and he’s just a team player. What I really loved about him was that he works together with everybody else to lift up the scene and he’ll be the first one to say, ‘What I’m doing is not working’. There’s no ego, so he’s always searching for the best way to tell a story.”