Why Harrison Ford Rejected Martin Scorsese’s Cape Fear

It is often repeated that Harrison Ford hates “Star Wars” and Han Solo, the film and role that made him a star. Ford himself leans towards this, as when destroyed a Han Solo action figure on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.”

Even when he first filmed the original 1977 “Star Wars,” Ford wasn’t the biggest fan of George Lucas’s script: He memorably exclaimed, “George! You can write this shit, but you sure as hell can’t say it!” Of course it looks less than Ford despises “Star Wars” and more just isn’t sentimental about it. For him, playing Han Solo was just a hit gig, nothing more, and he’s frustrated by superfans who insist on always beating dead tauntaun.

That unsentimental approach showed in his comments about being in “Star Wars” for Vanity Fair: “‘Star Wars’ was a huge hit, so I was happy to come back and play Han Solo again and again, but that was enough. I thought he had reached his potential, therefore he could serve the story by dying.” “.

Ford didn’t set out to be a movie star either: Acting is a job for him, so he doesn’t revere many of his famous roles, from Han Solo to Rick Deckard in “Blade Runner,” as his fans do. If you found playing Han Solo in “Return of the Jedi” boring (and you can see that clearly onscreen), would probably have been frustrated by his typecasting as an action star.

Ford tried (and failed) to break that pigeonholing with Martin Scorsese’s 1991 film “Cape Fear.” That film, a remake of a 1962 Gregory Peck/Robert Mitchum thriller, follows lawyer Sam Bowden (eventually played by Nick Nolte). Bowden and his family are stalked by Max Cady (Robert De Niro), a sadistic criminal whom Bowden helped imprison years earlier for rape. (Bowden was actually Cady’s defense attorney, but he was so convinced of his client’s guilt that he sabotaged the defense.)

In a 1997 interview with The Irish TimesFord mentioned that De Niro asked him to play the role of Bowden. Ford, however, was only interested if she could play Cady. De Niro didn’t want to give up the role, so Ford didn’t make the film.