The collaboration between directors and actors is a creative partnership that can pull the best out of each other, such as Quentin Tarantino and Samuel L. Jackson. Elsewhere, on the long list of director-actor duos, there’s Steven Spielberg and Harrison Fordwho have teamed up for four movies, but all four belong to the Indiana Jones series. Spielberg’s visual eye and Ford’s dry wit have created beloved adventures of the swashbuckling archeologist who is fervent in snatching historical artifacts from greedy hands because it, “belongs in a museum!” Spielberg and Ford only did Indiana Jonesbut there were times when the two could have teamed up for more iconic movies.
‘E.T.’ Almost Had Harrison Ford as a No-Nonsense Adult
The childlike wonder to E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial goes beyond Elliott (Henry Thomas) and his siblings helping an abandoned alien get back home. Their mom, played by Dee Wallaceis the only adult whose face is clearly seen early on, as a visual motif and gag, not unlike the trombone-sounding adults towering over Charlie Brown and his friends. The longer E.T. goes on, this changes. Among the older characters who finally get a close-up is Keys (Peter Coyote), a mysterious figure with a signature trademark of a set of keys dangling from his belt. Coyote had tried to audition for the role of Indiana Jones, and while he didn’t get it, he went on to get this one. Which brings in Harrison Ford’s involvement.
Spielberg wanted Melissa Mathison to write the screenplay, but she considered herself retired. He went to seek out Ford, her boyfriend at the time, to persuade her. The attempt worked, and Mathison agreed to write the story the director had on his mind. Ford then accepted Mathison and Spielberg’s idea to do a cameo appearance, which had him playing against type. The footage was shot, where Ford was the school principal (with very expressive hands) who reprimands Elliot after letting the frogs out. “Henry’s chair starts levitating,” Spielberg said in an interview with Entertainment Weekly. “So as E.T. is lifting all of the communicator paraphernalia up the stairs, Henry starts rising off the ground in the chair until his head hits the ceiling. Just as Harrison turns, E.T. loses control of the weight of everything and it all falls down the stairs, and Henry comes crashing down to the ground, and lands perfectly. Four-point landing. The principal turns around, and as far as he’s concerned, nothing ever happened.”
While the principal’s face is never shown, his voice is distinguishable, and it especially would have been for the 1982 audience, as Ford’s previous big roles connected him to Star Wars and Indiana Jones. In how the scene is staged, this might have factored into it getting cut. Venetian blinds cast shadows over little Elliott as he sits across from the intimidating principal. It hardly resembles E.T.instead looking closer to the noir aesthetic of Blade Runner. Ultimately, the scene was taken out due to Spielberg worrying Ford’s cameo would be distracting. While the actor might not have gotten a place with E.T., he almost shared the screen with the prehistoric creatures of a one-of-a-kind amusement park that spared no expense.
Sam Neill Wasn’t the First Choice for Dr. Grant in ‘Jurassic Park’
It seems incomprehensible to think how different the first Jurassic Park might have been had the main trio consisted of Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblumand Harrison Ford. In some alternate universe, it might have happened. In this prime universe, New Zealand actor Sam Neill secured the role, but Ford got a personal offer to take on the character of Dr. Alan Grant. At a 30th anniversary screening of Raiders of the Lost ArkSpielberg revealed Ford was the director’s first choice to play Dr. Grant, the paleontologist that might have been too close to the archaeologist last seen only a few years previously in The Last Crusade. Grant has a signature hat, like Indy, but instead of a whip, Dr. Grant keeps a hooked Raptor claw to frighten the children who annoy him a little too much. “You know who I offered Jurassic Park to? This guy. Alan Grant, Jurassic Parkright here,” Spielberg said, after Ford poked fun that the only movies the two have worked on, involves Indy.
Had Ford said yes, Neill wouldn’t have been tied to the Jurassic Park series like he has. But Sam Neill can’t be replaced, and he ended up a perfect choice, beating other actors like Kurt Russell and Spielberg alum Richard Dreyfuss. Neill’s take on Alan Grant was grounded, finding the courageous aspects of a timid, curious man. He played it as someone who had to step up to save the kids during adrenaline-pumping times, the same kids he really wanted to stay away from in the movie’s first half. Dr. Grant wasn’t an action hero, he had to become heroic in order to stay alive and keep those around him safe.
Spielberg Needed to Find The Right Actor To Lead ‘Schindler’s List’
During 1993, the year saw two major productions directed by Spielberg, the one with the dinosaurs and the other, Schindler’s Listwhich would be one of his most deeply personal projects. Allegedly, Harrison Ford was the director’s first thought on who should be cast as Oskar Schindler, the real-life figure credited for saving around 1,100 Jewish people during the Holocaust. While not much can be confirmed on this, it isn’t hard to see why Spielberg would turn to Ford. There’s an enigma status to Schindler, who was an industrialist, a member of the Nazi party, and someone eager to make a profit. To channel this unscrupulous behavior, an actor was needed who could show this side and gradually, the shift in saving lives through jobs in his factory. Ford isn’t a straight forward action star, he hasn’t always played morally good characters either. Along with the claim Ford was Spielberg’s first choice, Ford was also said to have denied it as he felt a non-Jewish actor should be cast.
It made sense Ford didn’t get the role (or rejected it), nor the other potential actors got it, like Warren Beattyas the production wasn’t meant to be Hollywood-esque or glamorous. In Spielberga documentary on the director, he explained his process during the filming of Schindler’s List. “I knew this couldn’t be just another movie and it couldn’t be anything like I had ever directed before,” he said. “I had to approach the material, and I had to approach the location with a great deal of reverence, and I had to make this a very quiet, quiet production.” He avoided “fancy lenses” and “big Hollywood sweeping cranes,” choosing handheld camera work to insert his audience into the setting, a technique he hadn’t turned to before. Plus, he went on to approach hiring Liam Neeson as he did with his less ornate filmmaking decisions.
In an interview with Inside FilmSpielberg went on to say how he, “didn’t want to put a movie star in the part because I didn’t want the distraction of a whole bunch of other movies to cloud this one. It would have been easy, I had the movie stars coming to me for this part. I just didn’t want to go that way.” Neeson wasn’t a big name then, as he is now, and he got the role after Spielberg liked his audition, and a Broadway performance in Anna Christie. To see Ford in Schindler’s List might have been too startling, it was a wise decision in the end Spielberg went with Neeson.
Having Ford sharing the screen with a realistic portrayal of Nazis could be distracting, as they are nowhere near the pulpy, melodramatic villains he faced off against when searching for the Ark of the Covenant or the Holy Grail. Audiences were too used to Ford punching Nazis left and right, then what the somber tone to Schindler’s List required. Without a doubt, Harrison Ford could have played these roles incredibly well. Once he rejected the offer, it left space for Sam Neill and Liam Neeson to fill in with their own talents. In the long career of both Steven Spielberg and Harrison Ford, their partnership is one of the most iconic, even if it’s limited to one franchise. Fans can be left to wonder what a different movie these would have turned out had Ford joined.
