Harrison Ford and George Lucas have been partners-in-crime for decades. The duo first worked together on the coming-of-age drama American Graffiti before going on to work on a small little sci-fi film that some may have heard of called Star Wars. Ford played Han Solo in the iconic film franchise and has often expressed his annoyance at the franchise.
However, another franchise that Lucas created and Ford starred in did not anger the Red Hulk actor as much as Star Wars. Ford collaborated with Lucas and Steven Spielberg in the Indiana Jones films, starring as the titular character. He expressed gratitude to Lucas for giving him the phone call that changed his life.
George Lucas’ one phone call to Harrison Ford gave him the franchise of a lifetime
Harrison Ford is one of the most prolific and legendary actors in Hollywood right now. The actor has still managed to be a bigger star than ever despite being in the industry for decades. He recently starred in the MCU film Captain America: Brave New World as Thaddeus Ross a.k.a Red Hulk.
Ford is best known for two franchises, both the creations of filmmaker George Lucas. While Ford gained notoriety for playing Han Solo in Star Wars, he truly became synonymous with a pop cultural icon when he starred in Raiders of the Lost Ark and Indiana Jones. He went on to star in four more films, with Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny releasing in 2023.
Ford detailed the moment he received a call from George Lucas, asking him to meet director Steven Spielberg for a project. He said to WSJ,
George Lucas called me up and he said, ‘I’ve got a script I’m gonna send up to your house. I want you to read it and go over to Steven Spielberg’s house and talk to him for a minute.’ And I walked away with the grand prize.
Ford has played the role for over forty years now and while he has made a running gag of hating Star Wars, he seems to have nothing but gratitude for Indiana Jones.
Harrison Ford almost missed out on Indiana Jones to Tom Selleck
George Lucas reportedly wanted to pay tribute to the adventure serials he grew up watching when conceiving of Indiana Jones. Initially titled The Adventures of Indiana Smith, Lucas put the project on hold when he began working on Star Wars and later Steven Spielberg came on board to helm Raiders of the Lost Ark, retitling the character Indiana Jones.
While Spielberg was reportedly interested in casting Harrison Ford, George Lucas did not want to rely on the actor for everything and initially selected Tom Selleck. The Magnum PI star was reportedly all set to star in the film when the show’s producers realized his demand and commissioned it into a series, leaving him no time for Indiana Jones a few weeks before filming began.
Lucas spoke about the incident in an interview with Empire and how they managed to get Ford on board,
So then we were running short of time and Steven said, ‘There’s always Harrison.’ I doubted he’d go for a three-picture deal – he didn’t want to on Star Wars. And we had three pictures. Steven said to try anyway. I went to Harrison and he read the script and said, ‘Yeah, I’ll do a three-picture deal. I’d love to.’
Costume designer Deborah Nadoolman-Landis mentioned that she had already crafted a prototype outfit for Selleck as the shoot was delayed only a few weeks before filming.
The Indiana Jones films are available to stream on Disney+.
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