Before the world knew of David Bowie’s diagnosis of cancer and the release of his great late album Blackstar, Blade Runner 2049 director Denis Villeneuve imagined Bowie in the role of replicant creator Niander Wallace.

In an interview with Metro, Villeneuve stated, “This proposal obviously came well before the world knew of Bowie’s cancer diagnosis, but the notion of Wallace being the rock star of bio-engineering carried through into Leto’s portrayal. Our first thought [for the character] had been David Bowie, who had influenced Blade Runner in many ways. When we learned the sad news, we looked around for someone like that.”

Jared Leto was cast as Wallace later on and, like the method actor he is, got pretty into the role. He even went as far as to “blind” himself while shooting the film with custom contact lenses.

Blade Runner 2049 will hit theaters October 6th. Check back to Aggressive Comix for our review of the film!