“I would do it in a minute”: the unlikely sequel Harrison Ford wasn’t against making
As a general rule of thumb, cinematic superstars tend to appear in more sequels than the average actor, with franchises promising lucrative guaranteed paydays and nailed-on box office success. Having been an A-lister for almost 50 years, Harrison Ford has inevitably lent his name to a fair few.
He reprised his Star Wars role as Han Solo in The Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi, The Force Awakens, and The Rise of Skywalker. In addition, Raiders of the Lost Ark gave rise to Temple of Doom, The Last Crusade, Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, and Dial of Destiny, with Rick Deckard making his return in Denis Villeneuve’s Blade Runner 2049.
Ford is the only actor to play Jack Ryan in more than one movie after following up Patriot Games with Clear and Present Danger, and that’s not even the half of it. He took second billing in The Guns of Navarone sequel Force 10 from Navarone, made a cameo in Anchorman 2, popped up in The Expendables 3, lent his voice to the animated Secret Life of Pets 2, and will make his Marvel debut in Captain America: Brave New World.
If there’s one credit from Ford’s back catalogue that maybe deserved a sequel but didn’t get one, then it’s probably Air Force One. However, the actor revealed his own pick to the LA Times, and it wasn’t the most obvious considering what unfolded on-screen.
“I would do Mosquito Coast II in a minute because I loved the character,” he explained. “Not a lot of people wanted to see me play that part, but I didn’t make the choice for them. I made it for myself, thinking that enough of them would enjoy him for the same reason I did. His innate intelligence, his skill with words.”
In Peter Weir’s 1986 dramatic thriller, Ford’s idealistic Allie Fox grows so fed up with the bastardisation of the ‘American Dream’ that he uproots his family to an island in the Caribbean. Carrying designs of creating his dream utopia, he becomes so consumed by his desire to handcraft his own version of societal perfection that it drives him further and further into isolation.
Not to issue spoilers for a film that’s nearly 40 years old, but after his wife and son discover he’s been lying about the United States being destroyed in a nuclear war, their escape attempt culminates with Ford being shot in the neck and paralysed with a tranquiliser as the voiceover intones that he died. Needless to say, no matter how much he would have loved to make it, Mosquito Coast II was never going to happen.
It did get an episodic reboot, with Justin Theroux stepping into Ford’s sizeable shoes before being cancelled after two seasons, though, but that’s as close as it got.
