Hollywood Homicide's Lack Of A Script Was A Selling Point For Harrison Ford
Harrison Ford likes trying new things. While the actor does seem to keep coming back to certain roles like Han Solo and Indiana Jones, Ford insists that variety is the spice of life. For instance, in George Lucas' 1973 coming-of-age story "American Graffiti," Ford added some sweet, sweet Rodgers & Hammerstein tunes, just because he felt like it worked for the character. When it comes down to it, Ford just wants to be artistically fulfilled. And, honestly, no one can really blame him for that.
For a guy neck deep in extended franchises that are, for better or for worse, meticulously plotted out, there was a time when he longed for something a little more freeform. Something a little more creatively flexible. Something comical. Enter "Hollywood Homicide," a 2003 action comedy that didn't even have a complete script when he was offered the leading role. In fact, the half-finished screenplay was actually a selling point. Here's the story.
Harrison Ford craved a change of pace
During a 2003 interview with Paul Fischer (as shared by Female Magazine), Harrison Ford explained how he considered the lack of a complete script for "Hollywood Homicide" to be a positive rather than a negative. In fact, it set a promising tonal shift for Ford, who was keen to explore different professional acting spaces. Ford said that:
"I always try to do different kinds of films and after 'K-19' it seemed like a good idea to do a comedy or something a little lighter ... [this role allowed me to] play a character that has a lot of pressures on him and it seemed a mix of the relationship with Josh would be good chemistry. As there wasn't a finished script when I agreed to be part of this, I recognized something that would [give] us a lot of comic opportunity and would have a unique aspect to it. It would be a way of bringing some new life to the comedy genre type film and as I say I thought it was a good time for me to do a comedy, so it looked like a good fit."
Hopefully, Ford found the experience artistically fulfilling ... because audiences sure didn't. "Hollywood Homicide" boasts a meager 30% critical rating on Rotten Tomatoes, which is still somehow higher than the secondary audience score. You can't even combine the two scores and get a passing grade. That said, we don't have to tell you that Ford's career survived, do we? Aside from continuing both the "Star Wars" and "Indiana Jones" franchises, Ford's done plenty of self-contained stories since. He's even set to join the Marvel Cinematic Universe which, now that we think of it, probably won't give him a full script, either.