Trivia

Blade Runner was made on a very tense set. Due to American union rules, director Sir Ridley Scott could not bring his own British crew, and felt hampered by strict codes that would not allow him to operate a camera. He was also constantly frustrated by crew members, financers, and producers who kept questioning him about his artistic choices. Conversely, the majority of the American crew didn't enjoy working on this movie, or working with Scott, whom they considered to be cold and distant, and whose perfectionism caused shooting days that often lasted around thirteen hours. According to insiders on the set, crew members were leaving or being fired all the time, and the call-sheets were the only sure way to see who was still working on the production. Towards the end of principal photography, an incident occurred which has become known as "the t-shirt war". In an article in the British press, Scott had casually commented that he preferred working with English crews because when he asked for something they would say, "Yes gov'nor" and go get it, but things weren't that simple with American crews. Make-up supervisor Marvin G. Westmore saw the article and was disgusted. In retaliation, he had t-shirts printed with "Yes gov'nor my ass!" on the front, and either "Will Rogers never met Ridley Scott" or "You soar with eagles when you fly with turkeys" on the back. A mildly amused Scott and several of his closer collaborators had t-shirts made with "Xenophobia sucks" on them, and Scott would wear a cap that said "Guv". Scott later said it was meant as a joke, and to defuse the situation; he simply hoped that people would be confused by the word "xenophobia" and had to ask what it meant. Apparently, the strategy worked, and it broke the ice for a while.