Harrison Ford has been a leading man in the industry for more than 40 years. The actor has been a part of many iconic and acclaimed films that have shaped him as an actor. In addition to Han Solo in Star Wars and Indiana Jones, films like Witness, Blade Runner, Presumed Innocent, The Fugitive, and Air Force One made him a huge movie star back in the day.
Despite being one of the most respected figures in the industry, some actors have expressed their underwhelming working experience with the actor, including Brad Pitt. Another one of his co-stars also voiced his complicated professional relationship with Ford.
Harrison Ford’s Prickly Behavior Irritated Josh Hartnett
Harrison Ford has entertained audiences for several years and has earned the respect of his peers and those who came after him. The legendary actor has played some iconic characters on-screen including Han Solo and Indiana Jones. He has also shown his dramatic range in various projects and is highly respected in the industry today.
However, despite all the laurels, not everyone enjoyed working with Ford. The infamous on-set tension between Brad Pitt and Ford over the script of The Devil’s Own has been well documented. Another co-star Josh Harnett also reflected on the complicated relationship he shared with Ford on-set. He first pointed out that the media exaggerated their dynamic on set and presented them as actors who didn’t get along on set.
While he acknowledged that there wasn’t a full-on feud between them, they constantly disagreed on set about the script of their film Hollywood Homicide, which resulted in a lot of rewrites. Hartnett even called Ford a bane of his existence because he was irritated with him always picking on him and making fun of him. He told The Independent,
“Drama sold newspapers, especially back then. But we actually got along really well. There were things that we disagreed about on set as far as the script, and there was a lot of rewriting happening. But it was misinterpreted as ‘They don’t get along!’ It certainly wasn’t a set that was filled with tension. I think I did call him the bane of my existence when we were on the press tour for that movie, but that was just because he was constantly ribbing me. And that’s just his way.”
Hartnett does not want people to think that he had a horrible time shooting with Ford. He was young at the time and Ford was just having fun in his own way by teasing him, and he knows that. He respects the veteran actor and is grateful for getting to work with him.
Harrison Ford Wanted to Play Robert De Niro’s Role in Cape Fear
Harrison Ford has always played righteous and heroic characters throughout his career. This quality of the actor is why audiences have continued to love and support him over the years. However, despite all the love and box office hits playing such characters, he was feeling creatively stunted and wanted to explore something dark and antagonistic.
In an interview with The Irish Times, he revealed that he was approached by Robert De Niro to play the lawyer character in the 1991 psychological thriller Cape Fear. De Niro was already booked as the lead, who is a psychopath convicted of rape and battery. Ford was very interested in playing De Niro’s role and he told him that he would only join the film if he gave him his role, but De Niro refused. He said,
“The only time [playing the bad guy] came up was when Martin Scorsese was doing Cape Fear. He asked Bob De Niro to ask me to play the lawyer, and I told De Niro that the only way I would be interested in doing that film would be if he played the lawyer and I played his role. Of course, he didn’t want to give up his part.”
As Ford has never played a straight-up psychopathic villain, it is hard to imagine him in place of De Niro in the role of Max Cady. De Niro was nominated for Best Actor for the role and while Ford might have done a decent job, fans can’t see anyone other than De Niro playing the role. However, it would have been interesting to see how Ford would have portrayed such a character.
