The best script Harrison Ford ever read: “Best dialogue I’ve ever read”
As an eminent actor of the so-called New Hollywood era, Harrison Ford has been lucky enough to work with some of the most esteemed filmmakers of all time, including Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Francis Ford Coppola, Ridley Scott, Peter Weir, Roman Polanski and Mike Nichols.
Over the years, Ford’s movies have grossed over $5.4billion in North America and more than $9.3billion worldwide, making him the seventh-highest-grossing actor ever. Just over half of Ford’s career earnings from a total of 52 movies came from the eight Star Wars and Indiana Jones releases in which he was cast.
In 2023, Ford took his final bow as Indiana Jones in Dial of Destiny. The movie was undoubtedly his most publicised project of the year, but the 81-year-old also appeared in the highly acclaimed AppleTV+ comedy-drama series Shrinking.
Brett Goldstein, the English actor and writer who created the series alongside Bill Lawrence and Jason Segel, wanted Ford to star in the show from the off. However, as he revealed in an interview with Theo James for Variety’s ‘Actors on Actors’ feature, this dream felt “so unrealistic.”
As it turns out, all the creators had to do was wave the script under Ford’s nose. “His agent read it and liked it and then sent it to him, and then he wanted to do it,” Goldstein recalled. Ford’s agent duly suggested that he or Lawrence meet with Ford to discuss the show.
“I get a missed call from Harrison Ford,” Goldstein remembered. “I’m like… [shocked]. I’ve still kept the voicemail, and I called him and he said, ‘Do you want to meet for dinner on Saturday?’ But I had a stand-up gig, and I was like, ‘I can’t, I’ve got a gig.’ And he seemed like, ‘Oh’ [dejected].”
Instead, Goldstein offered to meet Ford on Friday. “He said, ‘Come to my place at 6:30,’ and I go to his apartment and he answers the door and he looks like Indiana Jones. He goes, ‘Best script I’ve ever read. And I go, ‘Shrinking? [laughs]’ I think he must be confused – he thinks I’m someone else?”
“Best dialogue I’ve ever read,” Goldstein recalled Ford asserting in response. “And I go, ‘Oh, do you want to be in it?’ And he goes, ‘Yeah.’ And I go, ‘Is that business done?’ And he goes, ‘Looks like it… Let’s eat!'”
The pair spent the rest of the evening together, discussing the exciting project to come. Giddy with excitement, Goldstein couldn’t quite believe he had attracted such a legendary actor to his series. “It was so easy – it was a joke,” he concluded.
Shrinking is Goldstein’s follow-up to his prior success with Ted Lasso. The series stars Ford alongside Jason Segel, Jessica Williams, Jason Tenie and Christa Miller and debuted on AppleTV+ in January 2023.
Watch the trailer for the first season of Shrinking below. The show was successful upon its release and has since been renewed for a second season.
