The “extraordinary experience” that became one of Harrison Ford’s favourite roles
Every actor has a role or two that sticks out as the highlight of their career, perhaps because they relate strongly or it allowed them the acting flex they were longing for.
Harrison Ford has quite a few he could pick from. When he emerged in the 1960s, fame didn’t come fast, and he eventually decided to step back from the spotlight due to his lack of success so that he could focus his time on a professional carpentry career. Yet, if something is really meant for you, life has a funny way of bringing the opportunity back to you. Landing a role in George Lucas’ 1973 film American Graffiti, Ford would soon establish a friendship with the filmmaker that would help him build the rest of his career.
In a serendipitous meeting orchestrated by casting director and friend to Ford, Fred Roos, Lucas pencilled in the actor for his new movie Star Wars on the back of his special star quality, sans leading man experience that the director couldn’t ignore, and he got the part.
From there, the cinematic world really was his oyster, and he found himself part of another huge franchise within the next few years: Indiana Jones. Ford was on fire, appearing in hit after hit and receiving widespread acclaim each time, from Apocalypse Now to Blade Runner. He took a break from the sci-fi bend and action of the past few years for Witness, however, which also arrived to significant praise in 1985. Going off the beaten track proved to be just what Ford needed, and he reaped the rewards by earning an Academy Award nomination in the process.
The film also proved to be a favourite for Ford because he was really proud of his study for it and the performance it resulted in, telling Variety, “The role was a fantastic role. I get to work with Peter Weir for the second time. What I loved about the movie was that we had a very, very short period of pre-production. Peter knew nothing of the Amish, so he went away to learn about the Amish. And I went away to research the police, and we came back together two weeks after and discussed what we had learned, and that was included in the rewrite.”
While the pre-production might have been short, Ford felt comfortable with the individual periods of research he and Weir had achieved, and even though they “didn’t really have the script entirely figured out”, it all fell into place.
“We left a couple of big holes in the script when we started. It was an extraordinary experience,” the actor added, “I felt really good about what we were doing.”
His role as Detective Captain John Book was a powerful one, and Ford was pleased that he got to be part of a film that so eloquently explored cultural differences and morality: “It didn’t matter to me whether I won. I was pleased that the performance was recognised.”
