Harrison Ford has starred in several iconic and masterpiece movies over the years. From starring in movies like the Indiana Jones franchise to being the POTUS in Air Force One, the actor has certainly had quite a career in Hollywood.
Starring in the role of the U.S. President in the 1997 movie, Air Force One, the world loved the ensemble cast of Harrison Ford, Gary Oldman, Glenn Close, and others. Well, the writer of that movie recently talked about how they wanted a sequel to the 1997 film!
The Writers Couldn’t John McClane Out of This One!
Air Force One was an iconic movie from the late 1990s that redefined thriller movies. With the U.S. President finding himself in a do-or-die situation when his flight from Moscow gets hijacked by terrorists, the film was quite a unique venture and fans loved Harrison Ford in the role.
Receiving rave reviews for the film, a sequel was surprisingly never made as the cast and crew of the film explored other projects. In a recent interview with Syfy 27 years after the original film, screenwriter Andrew W. Marlowe talked about how there was a potential for a sequel. The sequel was never made because they cannot risk the president every time with terrorists on a plane since the story would just become redundant!
“We had talked about it, but there are always challenges with that [kind of] franchise. You get into the Die Hard problem of every time John McClane goes on vacation or goes anywhere, the terrorists take over. So we were very cautious.”
He further continued,
“We had conversations with Beacon and all the folks involved, but we never landed on a story that we thought could do justice to what we had accomplished in the main film. We had set the bar incredibly high.”
As the interview further continued, screenwriter Andrew W. Marlowe continued that a film like this in 1997 would have been very easy to make. However, the recent woke culture might add some complications to the narrative of the president and what they can or cannot do!
Harrison Ford’s Air Force One Cannot Be Repeated!
Suffice it to say that screenwriter Andrew W. Marlowe revealed that they couldn’t find a story different enough to make a stand-alone movie with Harrison Ford again. Talking about the multiple reasons that a sequel was never made, Marlowe admitted that “people keep talking about it”.
“There are many variations on it and with the tuning fork, we didn’t get it to the point where we are all like, “Ah, that’s perfect! We’re not repeating the first movie. We’re building on it.” People have talked about [a potential reboot], people are still talking about it.”
He further continued,
“I think we’re in a period of time when, if you’ve had something that’s extraordinarily successful, people want to see if they can mine that IP. But again, I think our bar is, “Are we saying something new? Are we saying something relevant to the culture now?” We don’t want to do something that’s just exploitative storytelling, we want to do something that feels like it has a purpose in the world.”
The screenwriter ended his statement by saying that the current world is more politically charged in recent times than it was in 1997. Marlowe seemed to insinuate that there are certain challenges that a film might face in present times that weren’t there before.
Harrison Ford’s iconic 1997 film Air Force One received a rating of 6.5/10 on IMDB and a high of 78% on Rotten Tomatoes. The film was even nominated for two Oscars and left a lasting legacy in Hollywood. Starring Harrison Ford and Gary Oldman, the 1997 film is available to stream on Peacock Premium in the U.S.
