The iconic film that Harrison Ford hated: “I didn’t like the movie one way or the other”
Harrison Ford is one of those rare and iconic cinematic figures with roles that transcend time itself, with timeless performances in the most celebrated action movies ever. After playing Hans Solo in Star Wars and Indiana Jones in the Spielberg-directed franchise, the actor is seen as the ultimate symbol of golden age masculinity and one of the most infamous eras in Hollywood. However, one of his most celebrated roles was his stoic and unnerving performance of Deckard in Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner, something the actor unfortunately does not have the best memories of.
Blade Runner, released in 1982 but set in the dystopian world of 2019, shows blade runner Rick Deckard, who is forced out of retirement to destroy a group of replicants who have escaped to Earth to find their creator and increase their life span. While it received mixed responses from modern viewers, the film was quite a spectacle when, upon its release, it was praised for its immersive world-building and intense sound design. While the plot is somewhat elusive, it became one of the definitive science fiction movies of the decade, later sparking a sequel from the legendary director Denis Villeneuve.
However, the film has a troubled history, with many creative conflicts happening behind the scenes as the director struggled to assert some of his ideas against the producers’ wishes. A voice-over was later added to the film, which Scott did not want to include, and neither did Ford after being asked to read copious voice-over segments during post-production.
When asked about this, Ford said, “I contested it mightily at the time. It was not an organic part of the film. When we came to the end of the film, Ridley had been relieved of the reins by the completion-bond company, and I was now working for the completion-bond company. God knows whose fingers were in the soup, but nobody involved in the process was an original member of the team. I was compelled by contract to do this voice-over, which I did in five or six different forms, all of them found wanting.”
When recording this voice-over in the studio, Ford recalled, “I had never read this material before, and I had no chance to participate in it, so I simply read it. I was very, very unhappy with their choices and with the quality of the material.”
While a director’s cut was released without the voice-over, this only further aggravated Ford after spending so many hours in the ADR booth. Because of this, he didn’t recall the production process of the film as being particularly enjoyable and did not like either cut of the final film, saying, “I didn’t like the movie one way or the other, with or without. I played a detective who did not have any detecting to do. In terms of how I related to the material, I found it very difficult. There was stuff that was going on that was really nuts.”
Interestingly enough, Ford mirrors many of the opinions that people now hold about the sci-fi classic, with some praising Scott for his visual storytelling but his inability to create believable characters or plots. Despite this, Scott is still working today and continues to add films of a similar quality to the current cinematic landscape.
