Harrison Ford is Grateful to Tom Selleck for Turning Down INDIANA JONES
By Movieguide® Contributor
Yahoo! Movies reported on Harrison Ford who joined INDIANA JONES AND THE DIAL OF DESTINY costars Phoebe Waller-Bridge and Mikkelsen at the Taormina Film Festival in Italy. Ford expressed his gratitude to fellow actor Tom Selleck for rejecting the role of Indiana Jones forty years ago.
“How I got the job? Tom Selleck had the job, but he also incurred an obligation to do a television series and he was unable to get out of that contract,” Ford told Deadline. “I became the second choice, and I’m very grateful for Tom. Thank you, Tom, man. If you’re listening, thank you again.”
Ford then described his exchange with creator George Lucas. Lucas sent Ford a script for the first Indiana Jones film straight to Ford’s house.
“He said ‘I want you to read it right away, I want you to read it in an hour.’ I sat down, I read it in an hour, and he said ‘I want you to go over to Steven Spielberg’s house and talk to him,’ ” Ford told PEOPLE. “I went to Steven Spielberg’s house, I had never met Steven Spielberg before. I guess about an hour later I had the job.”
“Pretty hot out for a leather jacket, and a heavy felt hat, and he was an archeologist and he was a professor, and what more would you need to know as an actor?” Ford added. “This is a guy who carries a whip. You know what that means.”
Movieguide® previously reported:
Many of the people in the audience were surprised to see the normally-stoic Ford get choked up when speaking about one of his most iconic characters.
The role obviously means a lot to Ford, but the actor did let fans know this would be the last time they would see him as Indiana Jones.
“This is it!” he laughed. “I will not fall down for you again.”
The actor likes to do as many of his own stunts as he can and has injured himself in the past on the set of INDIANA JONES AND THE TEMPLE OF DOOM and STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS.
