Why did Harrison Ford turn down Captain Dallas?

Started by Pvt. Hicks, Jan 31, 2009, 02:42:40 AM

Author
Why did Harrison Ford turn down Captain Dallas? (Read 11,378 times)

BishopShouldGo

Quote from: Corporal Hicks on Nov 29, 2016, 08:53:38 AM
Quote from: BishopShouldGo on Nov 27, 2016, 09:10:38 PM
Well, turns out he declined the role because he didn't want to play another space pilot. It's in a book about Ridley Scott.

More fun facts: Tommy Lee Jones was offered the movie, and Steven Spielberg was offered the director's chair, too.

Which book is this, BSG?

I misremembered, it was the book Valaquen listed, Harrison Ford: Imperfect Hero.

Quote from: Valaquen on Nov 29, 2016, 06:36:36 PM
Quote from: wmmvrrvrrmm on Feb 03, 2009, 10:59:25 PM
well, even though we have it in IMDB, I suppose I'd want to find out where the information originated from because it hasn't not always been accurate, but maybe it's a start .

Garry Jenkins' Harrison Ford: Imperfect Hero might be a source. It states that "at Elstree, Scott had offered him the role of Dallas, the ill- fated captain of the space tanker Nostromo in his second major feature, Alien".

𝔗𝔥𝔢 𝔈𝔦𝔤𝔥𝔱𝔥 𝔓𝔞𝔰𝔰𝔢𝔫𝔤𝔢𝔯

Quote from: BishopShouldGo on Nov 29, 2016, 09:04:04 PM
Quote from: Corporal Hicks on Nov 29, 2016, 08:53:38 AM
Quote from: BishopShouldGo on Nov 27, 2016, 09:10:38 PM
Well, turns out he declined the role because he didn't want to play another space pilot. It's in a book about Ridley Scott.

More fun facts: Tommy Lee Jones was offered the movie, and Steven Spielberg was offered the director's chair, too.

Which book is this, BSG?

I misremembered, it was the book Valaquen listed, Harrison Ford: Imperfect Hero.

Quote from: Valaquen on Nov 29, 2016, 06:36:36 PM
Quote from: wmmvrrvrrmm on Feb 03, 2009, 10:59:25 PM
well, even though we have it in IMDB, I suppose I'd want to find out where the information originated from because it hasn't not always been accurate, but maybe it's a start .

Garry Jenkins' Harrison Ford: Imperfect Hero might be a source. It states that "at Elstree, Scott had offered him the role of Dallas, the ill- fated captain of the space tanker Nostromo in his second major feature, Alien".

That can't be right. Ridley Scott first met Harrison Ford off the Raiders set at Elstree studios in October 1980.

Quote from: Ridley ScottI first met him straight off the set one night. He drove into London, and I think he still had the damn hat on he wore as Indiana Jones. I thought, oh shit! Because up to that point, we'd seen Deckard wearing the same kind of hat.

BishopShouldGo

First met him. Not first spoke with him over the phone.

Or he could have met him previously, and here he means "first met him" in the context of their Blade Runner relationship.

Remember, it was Star Wars that galvanized Ridley to make Alien in the first place.

𝔗𝔥𝔢 𝔈𝔦𝔤𝔥𝔱𝔥 𝔓𝔞𝔰𝔰𝔢𝔫𝔤𝔢𝔯

It states that "at Elstree, Scott had offered him the role of Dallas, the ill- fated captain of the space tanker Nostromo in his second major feature, Alien".

Can't find any mention of Scott having previously met Ford in Paul M. Sammons, Future Noir. And he should know, he also wrote a book about Ridley Scott.

I suspect Jenkins might have gotten his facts mixed up.

BishopShouldGo

Mmm. Who knows then.

SiL

It's also possible Scott had nothing to do with personally offering him the role and it was the casting director.

Corporal Hicks

Quote from: The Eighth Passenger on Nov 29, 2016, 05:14:10 PM
Quote from: Local Trouble on Nov 29, 2016, 03:46:48 PM
Quote from: Pvt. Hicks on Feb 05, 2009, 12:44:00 AM
I think my question was answered. He was busy with Star Wars. I think it's a bit pointless for more speculation. :)

Are you our illustrious admin's little brother?  Or his child?

That's our illustrious admin from 2009 before he got his promotion.

Nah, before my promotion to Corporal, I was Corpral. Joys of joining the fanbase at a young age.

Pvt. Hicks is someone else entirely. Someone you will all recognize though. He has an alter ego!

Valaquen

Quote from: SiL on Nov 29, 2016, 09:54:59 PM
It's also possible Scott had nothing to do with personally offering him the role and it was the casting director.

This could be the case.

For The Duellists, Scott wanted Jon Finch, and had the script sent to Finch's agent. However, Finch's agent left his employ at that time, and didn't pass on the script. So Ridley thought he'd been snubbed by Finch until they spoke about Alien. Could be a similar case of delegation in this instance.

𝔗𝔥𝔢 𝔈𝔦𝔤𝔥𝔱𝔥 𝔓𝔞𝔰𝔰𝔢𝔫𝔤𝔢𝔯

Quote from: Valaquen on Nov 30, 2016, 02:23:04 PM
Quote from: SiL on Nov 29, 2016, 09:54:59 PM
It's also possible Scott had nothing to do with personally offering him the role and it was the casting director.

This could be the case.

For The Duellists, Scott wanted Jon Finch, and had the script sent to Finch's agent. However, Finch's agent left his employ at that time, and didn't pass on the script. So Ridley thought he'd been snubbed by Finch until they spoke about Alien. Could be a similar case of delegation in this instance.

Still can't find any mention of Scott being interested in casting Ford prior to Blade Runner. It appears to be Barbara Hersey who persuaded Scott and Deeley to cast Ford in BR because she had recently spoken to Spielberg and he was raving about Ford. Scott and Deeley flew out all the way from LA to London just to proposition Ford. I'll check if there's any mention of Scott and Ford before 1980 in Dangerous Days but I'm certain I would have picked-up on that before if there was any mention.

BishopShouldGo

Quote from: The Eighth Passenger on Nov 30, 2016, 04:15:20 PM
Quote from: Valaquen on Nov 30, 2016, 02:23:04 PM
Quote from: SiL on Nov 29, 2016, 09:54:59 PM
It's also possible Scott had nothing to do with personally offering him the role and it was the casting director.

This could be the case.

For The Duellists, Scott wanted Jon Finch, and had the script sent to Finch's agent. However, Finch's agent left his employ at that time, and didn't pass on the script. So Ridley thought he'd been snubbed by Finch until they spoke about Alien. Could be a similar case of delegation in this instance.

Still can't find any mention of Scott being interested in casting Ford prior to Blade Runner. It appears to be Barbara Hersey who persuaded Scott and Deeley to cast Ford in BR because she had recently spoken to Spielberg and he was raving about Ford. Scott and Deeley flew out all the way from LA to London just to proposition Ford. I'll check if there's any mention of Scott and Ford before 1980 in Dangerous Days but I'm certain I would have picked-up on that before if there was any mention.

It's possible something is in there too. I vaguely remember reading specifically the reason he turned it down was because it was another space pilot.

𝔗𝔥𝔢 𝔈𝔦𝔤𝔥𝔱𝔥 𝔓𝔞𝔰𝔰𝔢𝔫𝔤𝔢𝔯

Checked Dangerous Days and there's video interviews with both Scott and Ford about their first meeting but no mention at all of Alien or any prior contact either personally or via casting director or agents. Ford wasn't even originally considered for the lead in Blade Runner and again it says that it was Hersey who first brought Ford to Scott's attention via Spielberg.

It's probably safe to assume that Jenkins was mistaken.

Valaquen

We do know that Yaphet Kotto was offered the part of Lando. According to Kotto anyway. The Ford thing isn't something I can find any information on beyond that one source.

nanison

Who cares? The Dallas we got was perfect, perfect captain material!
Anyway maybe he didn't want to be typecast for space films...

BishopShouldGo

Eh, Skerritt was aight.

SiL

Skerrit was amazing. Ford would've been doing his Ford smirk the whole time and eating at the tension.

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