Harrison Ford is one of Hollywood’s most iconic actors, but the financiers on Blade Runner clearly weren’t paying attention because they had the unmitigated gall to question Ridley Scott’s choice to cast him in the leading role. Can you imagine questioning Harrison Ford? Or Ridley Scott, for that matter?
“Harrison Ford was not a star,” Scott told GQ. “He had just finished flying the Millennium Falcon in ‘Star Wars.’ I remember my financiers saying, ‘Who the f*** is Harrison Ford?’ And I said, ‘You’re going to find out.’ So Harry became my leading man.” Ford had just finished shooting Raiders of the Lost Ark at the time, and Steven Speilberg gave Scott the thumbs up when the director asked if he should hire the actor for Blade Runner.
I feel like those Blade Runner financiers hadn’t been going to the movies. Sure, Ford was at the beginning of his career, but he’d already been in some major movies. In addition to Star Wars, he’d also appeared in American Graffiti, The Conversation, Force 10 from Navarone, Apocalypse Now, and The Empire Strikes Back!
Scott’s latest movie was Gladiator II, but the prolific director is already moving on to his next project: The Dog Stars. The movie, which is based on the novel by Peter Heller, takes place in the near future after a pandemic has decimated American Society. Jacob Elordi will star as Hig, a pilot who lives on an abandoned airbase with his dog and a dour gunman. They must defend themselves from a band of scavengers known as The Reapers, but when a random transmission comes through the radio, Hig risks everything to follow its static-broken trail.
The director was originally slated to kick off the year with a biopic about the Bee Gees, the iconic musical group formed by brothers Barry, Robin, and Maurice Gibb. However, Scott didn’t see eye to eye with Paramount Pictures, and the project was bumped. “The deal — the studio changed the goalposts,” Scott said. “I said, ‘You can’t do that.’ They insisted. I said, ‘Well, I’m going to warn you, I will walk, because I will go on to the next movie.’ They didn’t believe me, and I did. I was being asked to go too far. And I said, ‘No. Next!’ They didn’t like my deal. So I said, I’ll move on. I’m expensive, but I’m f***ing good.“
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