UPDATE! Rumor: Harrison Ford Is On The Fast Track For Recovery!

star-wars-harrison-ford-is-han-solo1Millions of voices cried out in terror with the sudden announcement that Harrison Ford injured his ankle in a set accident in Star Wars Episode VII, as fears of another potential delay rose higher than ever before. However, it would seem that these concerns may be suddenly silenced, as it appears the actor that plays hotshot pilot Han Solo is on the way for a speedy recovery – and, most likely, back onto the set sooner rather than later…

 

Firstly, the rumors that the movie is going to be delayed have been fully debunked by Disney. That alone blows a hole in the recent speculation that there’s significant infighting among crew members and Disney executives regarding the production, but even better is that word on the street says that the crew are “in amazingly high spirits” and are operating with “no sense of panic whatsoever”! There was a minor production delay of about a week and a half following the actor’s injury, but otherwise, everything seems to be on schedule for the most part, and any rumor that Disney CEO Bob Iger is unreasonably rushing the film is a gross exaggeration.

 

Even if worst comes to worst, another rumored contingency plan is in place (and I would like to emphasize that this would be an absolute last resort, and will most likely not be necessary for the production). Presuming that they film every scene without Han and Harrison Ford is still recovering by the time they’re done filming those scenes, a body double will be used for filming certain scenes that don’t focus on Han’s face. And should the situation actually require something more convincing than a simple look-alike, then Lucasfilm will pull what they did with Count Dooku in Episode II and use CGI over the actor’s face over the body double, allowing Harrison to do a motion-capture performance regardless of his condition and dub over the actor’s dialogue. This method worked (kinda) for Disney’s 2011 movie Tron: Legacy, where actor Jeff Bridges played both a younger version Kevin Flynn (for flashback scenes using digital technology) and CLU, a program that Flynn created that is a spitting image of his young appearance.

 

harrison_ford_backlot_a_l1-300x1691

Nonetheless, I wouldn’t count Harrison Ford out of being there for filming. After all, Ford is set to appear as a guest at a British celebration in the near future. He also has shown interest in getting back on set before he fully heals, showing how much he cares for the role. Above all else, though, Ford has had a history of hurting himself on the set when doing stunts – he made it through Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Doom with severe back injuries, for crying out loud! He may be getting older, but that doesn’t mean that he can’t pull off a stunt or two in his old age.

 

Nonetheless, it doesn’t appear that an injury isn’t going to stop the guy anytime soon. And that’s because you never tell him the odds.

 

UPDATE!

 

Here’s another proof that the tabloid rumors about the Episode 7 delay, Ford flying back to the US and the seriousness of his injury were complete BS as we were telling you.

 

harrison ford

From Dailymail:

Harrison Ford has been seen hobbling through London in a heavy-duty leg brace as he races his way back to fitness to continue filming Star Wars: Episode VII.
Despite fears the veteran actor would struggle to recover, he is clearly determined to get back on set. But it seems the action man is determined to fight back.
Inching his way down a flight of stairs outside London’s exclusive 34 restaurant in Mayfair last night, he used a prosthetic peg leg for support, refusing any assistance from friends.

 

 

+ posts

Grant has been a fan of Star Wars for as long as he can remember, having seen every movie on the big screen. When he’s not hard at work with his college studies, he keeps himself busy by reporting on all kinds of Star Wars news for SWNN and general movie news on the sister site, Movie News Net. He served as a frequent commentator on SWNN’s The Resistance Broadcast.

Grant Davis (Pomojema)

Grant has been a fan of Star Wars for as long as he can remember, having seen every movie on the big screen. When he’s not hard at work with his college studies, he keeps himself busy by reporting on all kinds of Star Wars news for SWNN and general movie news on the sister site, Movie News Net. He served as a frequent commentator on SWNN’s The Resistance Broadcast.

70 thoughts on “UPDATE! Rumor: Harrison Ford Is On The Fast Track For Recovery!

  • June 30, 2014 at 3:22 pm
    Permalink

    ….Pomojema

    really?? bad article, bad author.

    • June 30, 2014 at 3:39 pm
      Permalink

      No – bad you.

      ~ Amir

    • June 30, 2014 at 9:34 pm
      Permalink

      I’m welcome to criticism, but honestly, just saying “YOU SUCK!” without saying what’s wrong with the article isn’t going to do anyone any favors.

      I’ll admit that this was probably the weakest article of the ones that I’ve written so far (yes, a few more are coming, and they’re much better), but you can’t say that I didn’t try.

      If you think you could do better, then you’re welcome to step up to the plate. Staying anonymous will only get you so far on the internet.

  • June 30, 2014 at 3:31 pm
    Permalink

    …. a body double will be used for filming certain scenes that don’t focus on Han’s face. And should the situation actually require something more convincing than a simple look-alike, then Lucasfilm will pull what they did with Count Dooku in Episode II and use CGI over the actor’s face over the body double, allowing Harrison to do a motion-capture performance regardless of his condition and dub over the actor’s dialogue.

    That would suck big time!
    I’d rather they delay filming until Harrison Ford is fully recovered.
    I want to see the chemistry of all the actors on screen (especially original cast members) with Harrison Ford. It would not look right if the other actors are performing with a body double or CGI.

    • June 30, 2014 at 7:29 pm
      Permalink

      absolutley, what a terrible recommendation- it looked terrible in Ep2 and it would look terrible here.

    • June 30, 2014 at 7:30 pm
      Permalink

      Please, this is pure sensationalism. I am 100% positive JJ wouldn’t allow a Cgi Harisson Ford in the movie. He might employ face replacement technology on stunt doubles (which has been done since the early 90s), and scenes shot with off-screen body doubles, but THAT’S IT.
      Believe me.

  • June 30, 2014 at 3:40 pm
    Permalink

    “This method worked for Disney’s 2011 movie Tron: Legacy, where actor Jeff Bridges played both a younger version Kevin Flynn (for flashback scenes using digital technology)”

    “Worked” a relative term in this case. I thought that effect was bloody awful.

    • June 30, 2014 at 8:25 pm
      Permalink

      I thought it was really good.

  • June 30, 2014 at 3:41 pm
    Permalink

    Is the info about the CGI overlay true? Or is it part of the rumour that Ford is getting better quicker (in which case why do they need to consider CGI)?

    Or is it just pure speculation? It is presented as fact (“a contingency plan IS in place”) – in which case what is the source?

    Please don’t present speculation as fact, or if it is fact please make it clear!!

    • June 30, 2014 at 9:47 pm
      Permalink

      It’s a rumor. And generally, I think it should only be used as a last resort.

      Again, given how he seems to be functioning two weeks and a half after the injury (the guy can stand with a bit of assistance instead of being wheelchair-bound), I doubt that he’s going to need months and months of time off as some reporters have noted.

  • June 30, 2014 at 3:42 pm
    Permalink

    We want the real Harrison and not some CGI trickery version. Geez, remember how bad the clonetroopers looked with Temuera Morrison’s head CGI’ed on them in ROTS.

  • June 30, 2014 at 4:04 pm
    Permalink

    This is a once in a lifetime opportunity. If I see a cgi’d Han Solo after all this time because they can’t rework the schedule properly then I will be pissed.

    • June 30, 2014 at 5:48 pm
      Permalink

      The CGI can work just fine. Look at The Social Network. Armie Hammer looks flawless on Josh Pence’s Body. you cannot tell which is the real Armie Hammer and which is Pence. And the chemistry with the rest of the characters worked just fine too. It seems like the big SFX films are usually the ones who do it wrong. Xmen Origins did a crap job, Tron looked silly, Captain America was one of the better once IMO. Dooku looked bad because he was doing a ton of flips and what not. I don’t really see Han doing a ton of flips and lightsaber dueling; he will probably be running, sitting in the Falcon, shooting a blaster, or standing/sitting somewhere talking. I am not an expert but to me the logical choice for which one will be the hardest to render is him running which has to be easier than a lightsaber fight. I have faith that between ILM and The Imaginarium the SFX in this film will be amazing.

      • June 30, 2014 at 5:49 pm
        Permalink

        I should have prefaced that I don’t actually believe that they will have to do this or much of it. I think they will be able to use Ford for most shots

      • June 30, 2014 at 6:27 pm
        Permalink

        I also believe that things will work out okay. But CGI as a worst case scenerio is better than a re-write, in my book. We’re beyond the days of Terminator Salvation. Captain America, and the other examples mentioned look great. We’re going to see CGI/doubles/real footage mixes for Paul Walker and Philip Hoffman (RIP both) in the near future. And if they end up doing it for Star Wars, it will look better than any previous attempt.

        But of course, let’s hope they don’t need to.

        • June 30, 2014 at 7:06 pm
          Permalink

          I completely agree. I dont believe they will need to use it much if at all but if they do it can look perfectly good. and even in the past few years advances in CGI has grown leaps and bounds it feels like. I dont think you will be able to tell in Hunger Games or Fast and Furious 7 who is fake and who is the actor. it will all be seamless. Like you said this is a last resort worst case scenario. There is no reason they can rearrange filming and you different angles to get as many shots done as possible while he is still healing. With big films like this I am sure they have to have a secondary or tertiary schedule in case something like this goes down especially with using aging stars.

          • June 30, 2014 at 8:43 pm
            Permalink

            Yep. And obviously we don’t know what Han’s role is even going to be. If there is a lot of running and jumping, it was probably going to involve stunt doubles anyway. Assuming it was mostly more calm (with the inevitable major action scene at the end showing ‘the old man’s still got it’), they have plenty of options to pull this off. The only thing I’d worry about is a re-write that lessen’s Han’s role in any way.

  • June 30, 2014 at 4:09 pm
    Permalink

    I loved Tron and I’ll happily admit that the graphical effect was god awful. It wasn’t remotely convincing. They should have touched him up far less…

  • June 30, 2014 at 4:18 pm
    Permalink

    No body doublé in the world can imitate the funny and charactersitic running style from Harrison, that’s a fact.

  • June 30, 2014 at 4:21 pm
    Permalink

    “Firstly, the rumors that the movie is going to be delayed have been fully debunked by Disney. That alone blows a hole in the recent speculation that there’s significant infighting among crew members and Disney executives regarding the production, but even better is that word on the street says that the crew are “in amazingly high spirits” and are operating with “no sense of panic whatsoever” –

    It doesn’t mean that at all. It means they decided on a course of action and everyone has to smile about it to the cameras no matter how they feel.

  • June 30, 2014 at 4:36 pm
    Permalink

    “I’ve seen alot of crazy things in this galaxy, but I will never believe in one CGI’d Han Solo!”

    In all seriousness, I still think this is good news.

    • June 30, 2014 at 5:13 pm
      Permalink

      Really?

  • June 30, 2014 at 4:45 pm
    Permalink

    It’s difficult to parse what’s fact, what’s reliable rumour, and what’s speculation in this article. Also, before we get carried away about the possibility of Ford returning to work before he’s fully recovered, let’s bear in ind that he’s 72. A broken bone is a serious injury at that age, and a well managed recovery will be absolutely essential.

    • June 30, 2014 at 9:43 pm
      Permalink

      I’ll admit that I let my optimism get in the way of writing this. With that said, I do think that even though Ford is much older than he was for Temple Of Doom or any other movie where he’s seriously hurt himself, his determination to keep filming in spite of his injury says a lot about the guy.

  • June 30, 2014 at 4:50 pm
    Permalink

    They did that with both dooku and saidipous in PTand it looked great ! these guys know what they are doing np.

  • June 30, 2014 at 5:10 pm
    Permalink

    Pomojema :

    I don’t get your excitement towards Disney not delaying the release (bad news, Abrams and Kennedy wanted May 2016 even before Harrison’s accident) and cg paste onto a stunt (in Ep. III they did a disaster with Ian Mc Diarmid).

    • June 30, 2014 at 5:32 pm
      Permalink

      It was a disaster indeed, and I don’t want to see any of these freaky mugs in a Star Wars ever again !
      As to Tron Legacy’s CGI…
      http://3danimationcgi.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/clutronlegacy.jpg
      Yuck.

      Anyway, sweet news to hear that Ford is recovering so fast… wait, where did this info come from again ? What was the point of this article ?

    • June 30, 2014 at 10:07 pm
      Permalink

      The film was already delayed to begin with – it was slated for a May 2015 release, which I might add would have been a monumentally bad idea, considering it would directly compete with another Disney property (Avengers: Age Of Ultron), and a May 2016 release would be even *worse* financially, considering you have a Disney property (Captain America 3) and a Warner Bros. property (Batman V. Superman: Dawn Of Justice) released in the same time-frame. Setting the halfway point as the release date seems to be a decent compromise, especially considering that post-production typically takes about a year for these kinds of movies. With production slated to end late in Summer/early in Autumn, that’s more than enough time to finish the product.

      Star Wars productions have a notoriety for being difficult productions – especially the Original Trilogy, which were more driven by practical effects.

      As I mentioned in another comment, I’m pretty sure that they’d only do CGI-Han as an absolute last resort. I’ll admit that Tron: Legacy’s visuals weren’t necessarily the best example of realistic-looking body doubles, but I used that as an example for what Disney has done with the effect. The effect has worked well for films like Gladiator and The Social Network, both of which had been set on smaller budgets than this movie is ($175,000,000-$200,000,000). A movie with a reputation like Star Wars is bound to have fantastic visual effects.

    • June 30, 2014 at 10:30 pm
      Permalink

      Abrams and Kennedy wanting a 2016 release is a false rumor. Or if it’s true it’s the same rumor we’ve heard last year.

  • June 30, 2014 at 5:28 pm
    Permalink

    “but otherwise, everything seems to be on schedule for the most part, and any rumor that Disney CEO Bob Iger is unreasonably rushing the film is a gross exaggeration.”

    But Iger is unreasonably rushing the film. As perrymoon pointed out in the comment above, Abrams and Kennedy wanted 2016 before Iger put his foot down and declared that there would be a new Star Wars film every year, meaning that the main series entries will come every two years instead of the traditional three. This greedy, impatient son of a bitch is expecting everyone to work miracles, and don’t be surprised if six years we look back and see what BS that was.

  • June 30, 2014 at 6:12 pm
    Permalink

    Both this article and the last one about JJ feel like top down PR pieces: “The rumors that the film will be delayed have been completely debunked by Disney” – firstly, it’s rushed filming (which is kind of the opposite of delays) that fans are concerned about and the author addressed that concern merely by calling it an exaggeration and then proceeded to describe the ways that Disney would be willing to digitally rush the process rather than postpone the release.

  • June 30, 2014 at 7:04 pm
    Permalink

    I’m with you, I don’t believe the CGI’ed in face is the most likely scenario. Ford will most likely be able to do it. This sort of thing happens a lot (Ford in particular).

    Also, we don’t really know how much Ford has already shot. It may be that the shots for Ford were almost complete or at least a majority of them.

    I say, we should stay positive and be patient.

    • June 30, 2014 at 8:02 pm
      Permalink

      Who should be patient is mr. Bob Iger. LFL had a tight schedule for post-production, and now you have to add Ford’s face compositing which is one of the most difficult things to get realistic.

      • June 30, 2014 at 9:40 pm
        Permalink

        I just don’t understand why they would do this. It could be such a good film – they are going out of their way to make as much as possible ‘real’ – as little CGI as possible. Why undermine and ruin the entire effect with a not-quite-perfect and/or totally rubbish obviously-pasted-on face of one of the main character (or if rumors are to be believed THE main character)? It makes absolutely no sense at all!!

  • June 30, 2014 at 7:06 pm
    Permalink

    Has anybody else had problems replying to a certain comment? Every time I click reply, my comment is not under the comment I’m trying to respond to. It goes to the very bottom like a new comment would.

    • June 30, 2014 at 7:50 pm
      Permalink

      Yeah same. Used to happen all the time with me, but not so much anymore.

    • June 30, 2014 at 8:17 pm
      Permalink

      This is a reply to Rebel Scum… if it’s not directly beneath his comment then yes I too am suffering from this glitch.

      Earlier I replied to someone and it did put me at the bottom. I’m hoping it’s fixed.

      • June 30, 2014 at 9:18 pm
        Permalink

        We’re working on fixing these issues. When we do I’ll let you know. Sorry guys.

        • July 1, 2014 at 6:01 pm
          Permalink

          Okay, this seems to be going to the right spot…..here goes nothing!

      • June 30, 2014 at 10:37 pm
        Permalink

        @Adavanter
        Your reply is fine. It’s beneath Rebel Scum’s. It’s just that you were the second person who replied to him.

        • July 1, 2014 at 12:05 pm
          Permalink

          I understand that. It worked this time. I was the guy who mentioned Tron’s lack of believability. I was actually replying to the guy who mentioned Tron first. Yet it put me at the bottom as a stand alone comment.

          It seems to be working fine now anyway so alls good =D

    • June 30, 2014 at 7:39 pm
      Permalink

      Just hope he is being careful walking down steps with that contraption around his leg. We wouldn’t want him to fall over and break the other leg.

      • June 30, 2014 at 7:46 pm
        Permalink

        He can just lean on Peter Mayhew. Between the both of them they should have two good walking legs.

    • June 30, 2014 at 8:54 pm
      Permalink

      I don’t think he ever flew to the US. Tabloids.

  • June 30, 2014 at 8:21 pm
    Permalink

    It looks to me like Ford is doing everything he can to keep himself active while he heals up, which is good to see. I also suspect that he may be thinking that the “peg leg” might help him to be able to more effectively shoot some waist-up scenes in the movie while his leg mends.

    As much flack as he catches for his last few film performances being a bit less than stellar, he has always struck me as being the kind of professional who will do whatever it takes to honor his commitment to a movie once he’s signed on. These photos just further support that, IMHO.

  • June 30, 2014 at 8:46 pm
    Permalink

    Now the comments suddenly require
    me to enable java script? Nothing changed, everything looks the same, comments worked and everything worked blazingly fast. Even if just temporarily. Viral hide told that he dislikes java himself. I hope it will go away.

  • June 30, 2014 at 8:55 pm
    Permalink

    At 71, Ford is unlikely to be doing action scenes in SW7. At least, not physically demanding ones, or certainly few in number, if any.
    As John Malkovich said to Graham Norton on his show when talking about his ‘action’ scenes in Red 2, ” There’s a limit to what we can do at our age; if we can walk to the car ok, we feel like, yeah, we’ve nailed it”.

  • June 30, 2014 at 8:55 pm
    Permalink

    I really pray to god that they will NOT
    use a cgi han. Because they can resolve to creative, artistic choices. Maybe han must wear a mask whatever or just dont show his face. But a cgi face is like the most unhoky desecrated thing to do and Im even atheist. Its even worse if the actor is dead see phillip seymour. And Bob Iger is just an arrogant person. After nearly 40 years why putting pressure on the largest movie brand ever? Does thr boss of Disney really not care for the content? Just stubbornly
    wanting the release date… What for? Money? Does disney really fear about money? Wow here is the true dark empire and its lord hatred

  • June 30, 2014 at 10:04 pm
    Permalink

    He only broke his leg. He should be back in couple months, no problem.

  • June 30, 2014 at 10:15 pm
    Permalink

    “He’s got to choose his own healing time, no one can choose it for him”

  • June 30, 2014 at 10:20 pm
    Permalink

    “Here’s another proof that the tabloid rumors about the Episode 7 delay, Ford flying back to the US and the seriousness of his injury were complete BS as we were telling you.”

    The only thing that proves this photo is that Ford is in London. Unfortunately for sw7news some article posters are truly uninformed. Speculation posts by viral hide are yet interesting, though.

    • June 30, 2014 at 10:41 pm
      Permalink

      It proves a lot indeed. He never flew to the US. As I said before the movie won’t be delayed and Abrams and Kennedy didn’t want a 2016 release.

      • June 30, 2014 at 10:45 pm
        Permalink

        Source?

      • June 30, 2014 at 10:54 pm
        Permalink

        @viralhide, there’s no official info about production after Ford’s injury, not even a cast member or JJ giving a support message to the actor. SILENCE. If there was no problem they would have informed asap to avoid tabloid’s BS. We don’t even have an official version of what happened to him. And the story of Iger ending his contract at Disney in 2016 is true, so it’s no difficult to imagine a cinflict between Kennedy / Abrams and Iger on this.
        I’m speculating, of course, which is what you do in this site when you don’t have a solid source (at least thats the feeling when you don’t tell where the information comes rather than other websites).

    • June 30, 2014 at 11:06 pm
      Permalink

      VH wrote the update, not me.

  • June 30, 2014 at 10:41 pm
    Permalink

    Just goes to show how fit Harrison Ford really is for his age still walking around with that awkward contraption on his leg. Most other people his age would be on crutches or confined to a wheelchair.

    More good could come from this unfortunate accident for some of the other cast members. It has bought Peter Mayhew a little more time to get his legs stronger and maybe a bit mor time for Carrie Fisher to lose a little more weight.

  • June 30, 2014 at 11:03 pm
    Permalink

    “Rumours fully debunked by Disney.” Source: philly.com / Celebrities and Gossip

    Serious??

  • July 1, 2014 at 6:02 pm
    Permalink

    As much as I think saying just “bad article” is not a valid critic, the usual “do better if you can” answer is not really valid either. People have the right to judge something they don’t practice.

    • July 1, 2014 at 8:11 pm
      Permalink

      I get what you’re saying, TMBTM – and I typically don’t use that argument. The reason I added that in there is because it was an anonymous post. In general, it was mostly an afterthought for my main argument, which was to actually critique the article instead of just whining about how you don’t like the writing.

  • July 1, 2014 at 6:35 pm
    Permalink

    My previous post was about an earlier post. I fucked up somehow… anyway.

  • July 1, 2014 at 7:32 pm
    Permalink

    Captain Pegleg… ooo ar me hearties

  • July 1, 2014 at 10:07 pm
    Permalink

    Luke got he’s hand cut right off. Suck it up ya ol’ Nerf Herder.

  • July 2, 2014 at 12:24 am
    Permalink

    He’s more machine now…than man

Comments are closed.

LATEST POSTS ON MOVIE NEWS NET