Harrison Ford has led many iconic thriller movies, from The Fugitive to K-19: The Widowmaker. One such role was actually a handover, due to the original star’s commitment to another project.
Air Force One, a great airplane movie where Ford, playing the president of US, foils an attempted hijacking, was given to to him by none other than Kevin Costner. “This was a script that Kevin Costner originally had and he gave it to me,” Ford told the LA Times. “Kevin knew this was a big commercial movie and his schedule didn’t allow him to do it. And he told [the producers] he would let it go only if I could do it.”
The two action movie stars were friendly through Hollywood, though as Ford puts it, they weren’t “intimates”. Their friendship grew over this arrangement, as you might imagine.
“I’ve met him on a number of occasions and I like him very much,” Ford adds. “I like him a lot more now because he really threw a winner my way.”
The adventure movie, directed by Wolfgang Petersen, features Glenn Close as Ford’s vice president. They were invited by then-sitting US president Bill Clinton for a tour of his ranch, and the actual titular aircraft. Ford claims what we say on-screen was “close enough” to the real thing.