The co-star Harrison Ford bullied into doing their own stunts: “This is dangerous, we could die”
Even though he’s not on the same level as Tom Cruise, which is fair enough because nobody is, Harrison Ford has continued to prove that age is just a number by doing as many of his own stunts as possible.
On paper, casting an actor in their 80s to take top billing in an action-packed blockbuster would usually have the doubles working overtime, but Ford was determined to do as much as possible in Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, with his advancing years reflecting the character’s own creaking joints.
He suffered some injuries for his troubles, one of which shut down production for weeks, and it wasn’t really worth it in the end when the fifth and final instalment in the legendary franchise flopped at the box office, sending one of cinema’s most iconic heroes out with a whimper as opposed to the bang the leading man clearly wanted.
Ford has always been that way, though; whether it’s as Star Wars‘ Han Solo, his two outings as Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan, The Fugitive, Blade Runner, The Devil’s Own, and even forgettable flicks like Firewall and The Call of the Wild, the star has always favoured the realism that comes with letting the audience know that the person playing the character is putting in the work to make it look authentic.
Not everyone feels the same way, which was rather unfortunate for Isaiah Washington, who was left with no choice but to succumb to peer pressure. Nobody, including the man himself, is going to call 2003’s Hollywood Homicide one of his best efforts, and Ford knew that the action comedy was doomed from the second it started shooting without a finished script.
However, that wasn’t going to make him phone it in, and he decided to needle his co-star about taking one for the team. Washington was hardly enthusiastic about throwing himself into the line of fire, but when Harrison Ford tells you to do your own stunts, how is any actor of lesser standing supposed to say no?
“He forced me to do a lot of my own stunts because he did them,” he revealed. “We were in the scenes together. I didn’t have a choice. I told Harrison: ‘I really don’t think we should be doing this. This is dangerous. We could die’. He said to me, ‘I’ll see you on the other side.'”
While his tongue was planted in cheek, it didn’t make it any easier for Washington to handle. He was completely fine and more than comfortable with the idea of stepping back and letting the professionals handle Hollywood Homicide‘s more dangerous sequences and set pieces, until one of Hollywood’s biggest stars effectively bullied him into doing them himself.
It wasn’t really worth it, since the film was shit and nobody remembers anything about it other than the feud between Ford and Josh Hartnett, but at least there were no serious injuries or mishaps on set, something you can’t say about every picture in which the veteran has led the line.
