The one director Harrison Ford wanted to murder: “I know he was ready to kill”
He might be one of Hollywood’s most endearing curmudgeons, but Harrison Ford has never been an actor who’s crossed the boundary between misery and outright violence.
The longer his career wears on, the funnier it’s gotten to see Ford evolve into the stony-faced vision of deadpan stoicism he’s become. Star Wars is the easiest way to get under his skin, with the actor fully aware that he’ll never be able to escape the shadow of Han Solo while simultaneously being able to do absolutely nothing about being asked about a galaxy far, far away wherever he goes.
Much the same can be said of Indiana Jones, which Ford doesn’t seem to mind as much unless somebody asks him which of his two most iconic characters would win in a fight. He must be a glutton for punishment, too, seeing as he’s recently boarded the Marvel Cinematic Universe for its 35th instalment and will be transformed into a CGI monstrosity for his troubles.
The constant gruff and grizzled grumpiness has become an integral part of Ford’s offscreen persona, but rarely have things escalated beyond that. During one of his most taxing productions, he felt as if he’d reached the end of his tether, though, with the star growing so frustrated with the demanding schedule of Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner that he was ready to end the director’s life.
It might sound hyperbolic, but it checks out. After all, Ford wasn’t only miserable while shooting the seminal sci-fi, but he was equally indignant afterwards when he was trotted into the recording booth for a voiceover he clearly wasn’t interested or invested in. It wasn’t an experience he looked back on too fondly, especially when another member of the crew revealed just how frustrated he was.
“It was a gruelling movie, and Ridley demanded so many takes that it finally wore Harrison out,” producer Bud Yorkin told Daily Beast. “I know he was ready to kill Ridley. One night on the set, he would have taken him on if he hadn’t been talked out of it.”
Of course, Scott isn’t anybody’s idea of a shrinking violet, so it’s hardly surprising that tensions existed between the filmmaker and his leading man. After being pushed so close to the brink that he was ready to risk life behind bars just to get the director out of his way, it must have stung Ford to see Blade Runner fail to take off at the box office.
It’s a masterpiece and one of the most influential movies ever made, but it wasn’t exactly treated as such from day one. Scott has spent the last 40 years constantly prattling on about Pauline Kael’s negative review, which has haunted him so extensively that he may not have even realised he was lucky to escape unscathed from Ford’s impending wrath.
