So the story goes that Harrison Ford had given up on acting and taken up carpentry when he got a call to do some work in a Hollywood exec's house. That exec was an up-and-coming director named George Lucas who was pitching a space opera called Star Wars. Well of course, the rest is history. But what if Ford gets butterflied away from ever meeting George Lucas? Who would play Han Solo and would it still be any good? And whose career(s) benefit from all the movies Ford ended up starring in, assuming they're even made?
WI: Harrison Ford Becomes a Carpenter
- Thread starter APreston
- Start date
You've got the story a bit mixed up. He was working as a carpenter. Lucas hired him for American Graffiti while he was working on Lucas' cabinets. He got the Solo job while reading lines for other actors in Star Wars auditions. 
Kurt Russell for Solo, Tom Selleck as Indiana Jones, and Hoffman as Decker. Hmmm... I wonder who would play the breifer in Apocalypse Now and if he'd still be named Lucas...
Kurt Russell for Solo, Tom Selleck as Indiana Jones, and Hoffman as Decker. Hmmm... I wonder who would play the breifer in Apocalypse Now and if he'd still be named Lucas...
Not Selleck or Hoffman. Just 'cos they're the most famous could-have-beens in the roles, doesn't mean they would've actually gotten the role. Tom Selleck was committed to Magnum PI and couldn't get away to shoot Raiders of the Lost Ark, while Hoffman was let go from Blade Runner because he was interfering creatively and wanted to basically rewrite the story to incorporate his own ideas and themes, which went against what the filmmakers wanted. In both cases, this happened before Harrison Ford was ever considered.
I'm not familiar with the situation of Kurt Russell as Han, so I can't say if his casting would be plausible or not.
I'm not familiar with the situation of Kurt Russell as Han, so I can't say if his casting would be plausible or not.
I read this as 'Harrison Ford becomes a computer'.
That'd be an interesting variation for Blade Runner.
That'd be an interesting variation for Blade Runner.
It was. He couldn't hold it in long enough to shoot the scripted fight so he play-acted the scene and in the end it was decided to be kept in the final cut.
Yes. He was too sick to do the planned swordfight, so it was rewritten so he didn't have to do much more than stand there (which was about all he could manage at the time).
Also, I believe it's the case that many of Han's best lines in the Star Wars films were improvisations by Ford because he thought the actual script was rubbish ("You can write this s*** George, but you can't say it"). Another actor might stick more closely to the script, meaning the Star Wars films won't be anything like as good and Solo will certainly be far less iconic a character.
Yes, Ford supposedly improvised in order to cut the whole scene of a demanding sword vs whipfight (or something on that order) short.
Another ingenious Ford impro is the "I know" reply to "I love you" in Empire Strikes Back. As the saying goes, due to fatigue after plenty of repeats on that scene.
IIRC, Christopher Walken was considered as Han Solo. Weird, but could have been awesome.
On Indy...I have absolutely no idea who could replace Ford (without refering to Selleck- according to IMDB, while Magnum was the reason Selleck declined, it turned out afterwards that he could have shot Raiders in time before filming of Magnum started). Everyone coming to mind is just too young back in 1981.
Again quoting from IMDB:
Actors considered for the role of Indiana Jones included Nick Nolte, Steve Martin (who chose to do Pennies from Heaven instead), Bill Murray (who dropped out due to scheduling conflicts with Saturday Night Live), Chevy Chase, Tim Matheson, Nick Mancuso, Peter Coyote, and Jack Nicholson. Harrison Ford was cast less than three weeks before principal photography began.
To me, a load of strange choices. Steve Martin might have been interesting, think of "Dead Man Don't Wear Plaid".
I do not find speculation on the role of Deckard that intriguiging, because to me, Ford didn't "define" that character as much as Han Solo or Indy. IMHO, anyone who could play a cop could play Deckard.
Whereas Indy and Han are so intertwined with Ford that it's impossible to seriously consider anyone else for them, at least for me.
He actually played lead role in The Computer wore tennis shoes .
That is pretty close.
Not that this was a very good movie.
It was before he became a carpenter.
Which is not a bad job.
It was good enough for Jesus after all.
Still there was a remake of that movie..
I don't think it was any better
are you confused?
good
Sorry, I should have specified those were more thinking out loud on the best options of those considered for the roles. For Decker (Blade runner is one of my two faves, along with Apocalypse Now, so I'm thinking most about it), most of the other actors considered wouldn't have done the role justice. Tommy Lee Jones or Gene Hackman might have been OK. Reynolds, Stallone or Schwarzenegger would have been bad. Eastwood and Connery would have been good, but Decker would lack a certain everymanliness. Newman, Nicknlson, and Pacino just aren't right.
Actually, as far as I can tell it was just two cases, one of which was the "I love you" "I know" exchange. The other was in the original film when they're rescuing Leia and he's bluffing an Imperial officer on the comlink -- the part where he's like "But we're all fine, now, we're fine. Thank you. How are you?" and then later when he blasts the speaker he mutters "Boring conversation anyway". The shooting script is mostly the same as what he says ("weapons malfunction", "reactor leak") but he apparently only skimmed it so he'd appear unprepared and improvised some funnier bits.
Really, if you think about it, most of Han's lines are no more or less corny than everyone else's in those movies.