‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’: When Harrison Ford & J.J. Abrams Walked On Set For The First Time
Star Wars: The Force Awakens not only makes fans excited beyond belief, those directly involved in the movie’s production feel it too. Such was the case when director J.J. Abrams and original cast member Harrison Ford (Han Solo) walked on the set for the first time.
Abrams is a self-confessed Star Wars fan who grew up watching Ford and company do their thing, and as such, is conscious that followers have high expectations of him and his team. In an interview with Vanity Fair, Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy recalls how Abrams behaved like a child in a toy store when he first came on set.
“He turned back into an 11-year-old boy,” she said.
The Star Wars: The Force Awakens director described the first time he saw Han Solo’s spaceship, the Millennium Falcon set.
“I mean, walking onto the Millennium Falcon set? To be on it, it’s insane. There were people who literally cried when they walked onto that set. It’s a strange thing, the effect it has.”
Despite past reports that Harrison Ford is not necessarily a fan of the character that propelled his career into stardom, Abrams said he was pleasantly surprised when he saw the veteran actor excited to be part of the Star Wars: The Force Awakens cast.
“(Harrison Ford) was excited to get back in those shoes again, which was really interesting because I thought he hadn’t been a fan. I kept hearing those rumors when I was a kid.
“There was a fire in his eyes that you see in the movie.”
Fans are apparently ready to welcome Han Solo back with open arms, if the roaring applause heard when Ford appeared on-screen in the trailer, introduced at the Star Wars Celebration last month, is any indication. At this point, the Star Wars: The Force Awakens trailer has been viewed more than 88 million times.
Abrams has openly talked about how much influence Star Wars has had on him in earlier interviews and how it continues to resonate to this day.
“My first Star Wars memory was seeing the words Star Wars in Starlog Magazine and thinking it was a weird title. I remember seeing an early concept poster by Ralph McQuarrie for the movie. It stuck in my head even though I didn’t know what it was — but it looked important. My second memory is actually seeing it in the theater on opening day in Westwood at Avco Theater and never being the same again.
“It was absolutely the first film that struck a cord and that resonates to this day. I think it’s because everyone relates to being stuck in your life and feeling like something extraordinary is just around the corner.
“Star Wars is probably the most influential film of my generation. It’s the personification of good and evil and the way it opened up the world to space adventure, the way Westerns had to our parents’ generations, left an indelible imprint. So, in a way, everything that any of us does is somehow directly or indirectly affected by the experience of seeing those first three films.”
As for Harrison Ford and his relationship with Han Solo, most would describe it as complicated. In 2010, the Star Wars: The Force Awakens cast member went as far to say, “I’m done with him” and in general has dodged questions from reporters, so it is refreshing to hear he was excited to go back to playing the role, despite initial doubts and comments about the character made to ABC News in 2010.
“As a character, he was not so interesting to me,” the actor said, but he had to accept it, since he was out of work with a baby on the way at the time. He had an edge over hopefuls Kurt Russell and Christopher Walken since “Harrison was the funnier, goofier one — but he could also play mean,” George Lucas said of the casting.
Ford — who appears in the cover of the new Vanity Fair issue — was also not so sure about the dialog Lucas had come up with, a similar sentiment shared by Sir Alec Guinness in some letters to friends while filming Star Wars.
“I told George, ‘you can type this sh**, but you sure has hell can’t say it.’ But I was wrong. It worked.”
[Image via Disney]
