Harrison Ford Was Physically Assaulted by ‘The Dark Knight’ Star While They Were Filming Iconic Action Movie: “It’s a pleasure to perform those things for me”

Harrison Ford has recently portrayed his iconic titular role in the last installment of the Indiana Jones franchise which brought him to prominence. But before the Indy role, he gained international stardom with the Han Solo role in the Star Wars franchise. In addition to working on major film projects, he kept on appearing in other projects including his leading role as U.S. President James Marshall in the 1997 film, Air Force One.

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In this film, Ford fought against a group of terrorists including their ringleader, Egor Korshunov portrayed by The Dark Knight Trilogy, Gary Oldman. He talked about getting physically assaulted by the latter while filming one specific scene for the film.

Harrison Ford Addressed Getting Assaulted by Gary Oldman

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Harrison Ford opened up about his intense scene with his co-star, Gary Oldman in the 1997 film, Air Force One. In the film, the duo was filming a fighting sequence that looked quite too realistic and the reason is quite easy, everything was real including the fistfight the duo engaged in.

The Films of Harrison Ford, a book written by authors Lee Pfeiffer, Michael Lewis, and Michael D. Lewis discussed the film including the filming process of this particular sequence.

Ford, who was familiar with the action genre knew that fans wouldn’t buy the fake punches which is why he asked his co-star to add “veracity to the experience” to make the sequence realistic.

The book shed light on Ford’s perspective of creating the scene by sharing,

“I didn’t even think about the physicality of it. It’s all choreographed, all plotted out. The fun of it for me is it’s like an athletic endeavor.”

Throwing light on more of his thought process, he shared,

“You choreograph it, you set your mind on what it is; you don’t want to hurt somebody, you want to be very sure of your moves. It’s a pleasure to perform those things for me, like playing tennis or ballet dancing.”

It was reported in the book that Oldman was hesitant on attacking the former but eventually agreed to make the scene more impactful. While the Star Wars actor is quite serious about his acting ethics, he didn’t give much thought to setting rules.

Gary Oldman Recalled Harrison Ford Broke Set Rules

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In an interview with LADs On Film, the Harry Potter star recalled a hilarious incident when his co-star broke on-set rules. He shared that the film’s aircraft was covered with signs stating no smoking/eating/drinking however Blade Runner star didn’t give much thought to it.

He shared,

“One day when I looked around, he [Harrison] was standing in the doorway beneath the signs. He was drinking a coffee, eating a burrito and smoking a cigar. He was doing all three.”

The film revolves around Ford’s character who attempts to save everyone after terrorists hijacked the plane. The film was both critically and commercially successful grossing $315.2 million worldwide.

Air Force One is available on AMC and Prime Video.

Source: The Films of Harrison Ford, LAD