Harrison Ford on Han Solo’s Fate, The Force Awakens Cast, Snakes and More.
Harrison Ford was answering fan questions over at Entertainment Weekly’s Tumblr. Read on for some of the highlights…
Q: How do you feel about the ending in The Force Awakens? (I myself am heartbroken)
A: I think it’s a fitting use of the character. I’ve been arguing for Han Solo to die for about 30 years, not because I was tired of him or because he’s boring, but his sacrifice for the other characters would lend gravitas and emotional weight.
Q: If the cast of the force awakens was stuck on an island, who would be the leader and why?
A: I would be the leader. Just cause. Although we’d end up having to listen to Carrie because if Mama’s not happy, nobody’s happy.
Q: We know Indiana Jones hates snakes, but what about you, Harrison? What do you think about snakes? Love ’em? Hate ’em? Ugh-get-’em-off-me?
A: No, I don’t mind snakes at all. Next to John Boyega, they’re almost my new best friends.
Q: Are you and John Boyega best friends?
A: Whatever John says…
Q: who’s cuter, you or daisy ridley?
A: Daisy Ridley. But it’s close.
Q: What do you think of Adam Driver, what is he like to work with?
A: He’s an absolute pleasure. He works independently with real proper ambition. He brings a lot to the table. He’s a wonderful actor and a very kind, generous human being.
Q: Who did you have the most closest relationship with on the set of Star Wars?
A: JJ Abrams
Q: JJ is very active in the shooting of his movies, what is your favorite quality that he possesses?
A: A kind intelligence.
Q: Mr. Ford, have you ever considered doing a voice acting role for an animated movie? You’ve got such a cool voice!
A: I’d love it. Waiting for a good fit.
Founder of SWNN, MNN and The Cantina forums.
Born on April 24, 1980.
I don’t like Tumbr. I just don’t get it as it’s not exactly the most user-friendly social media platform.
Plus, I’ve heard that it’s also a haven for social justice warriors.
It’s a battleground.
I sexually identify as a battleground and I am insulted that you, with your human privilege, are talking about my kind with a negative connotation. STOP TRIGGERING ME!!!!!!!
you misspelled “playground”
jk 😀
I tried logging in to ask him a question today and had no idea how to work it. I am a tech savy 28 year old mind you.
28?
Man, I have utmost respect from the prequel kids. 🙂
SJWs aren’t bad in theory, it’s how far they take it that’s the problem. =c
Like Hitler!
(I can’t quite believe I went there – hahahahahaha!)
Harrison Ford is a bastard for killing Han.
But he’s bringing back Indy!
But, Harrison Ford is a bastard for killing Han.
But he’s still bringing back Indy!
But, but…Harrison Ford is a bastard for killing Han!!
He’s STILL bringing back Indy!!!!
Nah, bollocks. If killing Han gets us more Indy I’m on board.
First of all, Harrison didn’t kill Han. Kylo Ren did.
Second of all, it’s all in the script, can’t blame the actor even if he wanted it that way.
Third, he already tried to bring back Indy, remember? Do you REALLY want him to try again?
Maybe.
First of all, Kylo Ren is not real. Harrison has long since advocated the death of Han.
Second of all, I think you need to learn to understand a not entirely serious post when you read it. 😉
Third of all, yes I do. I think there is potential in a great send off for Indy if done right and if not disrespectful to Ford’s age.
He’ll kill off Indy, too
“Who did you have the most closest relationship with on the set of Star Wars?”
For a major industry publication, that grammar is a disgrace.
These are fans asking him questions.
So? EW chooses them, no?
Harrison Ford chose which questions to answer. Its like a reddit AMA.
OK. Fair enough.
Always choose happiness Turd.
So, did he pick the questions about John Boyega?
Heheeh :)))
I definitely read all the answers in his voice.
I didn’t realize I did the exact same thing till you mentioned it.
I read it in Billy Connollys voice, Fucking hilarious.
Funny how he kind of describes Adam Driver the same way as he did with Jabba in the movies
Totally agree Han Solo *should* have died a heroic death. Instead was kinda tricked into being stabbed and wasn’t intending to sacrifice himself. Why not stun Ren, throw him over Chewie’s shoulder and de-program safely back at Resistance HQ under heavy guard?
Because it doesn’t propel Kylo towards being a villain. It works for the story, but isn’t a fitting conclusion to the character. It’s like a number of other things in TFA – stuff happens because the script needs it to rather than feeling organic.
Um nothing that happens is “organic” and it follows a script because it is a movie, not real life. Maybe you are trying to make an intelligent point but you have expressed it very awfully. So its probably not fair for you to criticize a filmmakers work.
You’re a strange, sad little man, with no grasp of writing, and I pity you. Farewell!
Stop quoting Toy Story.
Cause you have written and directed how many movies?
Actually, Han dies the most heroic death conceivable: a father trying to save/redeem his son. He didn’t have any other reason to go and face Ben: the charges were set, Rey and Finn’s job was done, Kylo Ren was litterally walking in the opposite direction – all they had to do was get out of dodge and blow up the place. Han chose to come out and try to save his son, most likely knowing that that would means risking his own life.
That’s pretty much the very definition of “heroism”.
How can you deprogram a Force-user ? Maybe they should had do the same with Vader, and BAM, no Star Wars lol
problem is that Han’s death didn’t have the emotional weight they were hoping for. It wasn’t some great sacrifice…if you feel that you must kill one of the best characters in the SW universe, then do it as a huge sacrifice! once again, just one of too many problems with episode 7!
His death cements Kylo Ren as a real villain. In that sense it has a huge emotional weight.
Once again, just one of the too many invisible problems with episode 7!
hardly invisible and even most that loved the movie pointed to this particular issue with his death. And of course, Ren being the weakest baddie in SW history.
Maybe he is the weakest villain right now, but isn’t that the point?
Maybe…but why send a sadly, half trained villain out to search for Luke? It doesn’t make sense if Snoke is some super powerful dark sider. I just couldn’t like him. Of course maybe it’s because I knew he was loosely based on Jacen…whom I believe was a great character with a devastating fall to the dark side.
Snoke looks like he’s half dead and probably doesn’t have the physical strength to go out and do the things he wants to do, hence why he has his knights of Ren doing all of his dirty work for him.
All of the people who I’ve talked to who dislike aspects of the characters or story are those who are still holding onto their precious Legends EU. Naturally, if you can’t let something go, it’s no wonder you will inevitably compare all of the newer material to the older and wish that you could have something that you didn’t get. How many people do you know who like remakes or sequels made many years later more than the original? Hardly any do, they always say “well, the original was better” or “The first one was better”
That’s what everyone is doing with Star Wars TFA and it needs to not be seen that way. In the end you can just see it as a what if scenario but since Disney/Lucasfilm are committed to this thing, you’re going to be highly disappointed with all of the new stuff from here on out.
I can’t argue with that…I really understand that they are saying goodbye to the older generation of fans and trying to have a whole new generation coming up.
And you’re right, I haven’t been able to enjoy any of the new (except the Claudia novel). I am a huge EU fan and believed they could have brought so much in that would have worked for Disney. Sure, not all of it.
But even being the fan I am, much opportunity was missed in 7. And I’m hoping 8 will help to fix some of that.
Also, nobody knows where Luke is except for R2D2. So all of the First Order I’m sure would love to find Luke as well as the Resistance. Snoke never said “Kylo you are tasked with finding Luke all on your own.” Kylo simply ended up being the one who came closest to finding the missing star map piece, also Im’s sure Snoke knows that Luke is his uncle and therefore figured it would be a greater challenge for Kylo than for any other Knight of Ren.
Sorry you didn’t like the film. You’re not gonna change my mind. haha
that’s not my intent, if you like it…more power to you!
Agreed weakest baddie but killing his own dad gives him a very sadistic nature that lends to him being feared and hated as a villain.
A father trying redeem his son even in the pike of danger. Nothing can be more heroic than this.
well, as many agree…it sure didn’t feel it.
If “many” (and actually, arm chair haters aside, I still have to meet one of these “many”) are incapable to feel how “trying to save your son even when he seems completely beyond redemption” is a bigger, more heroic sacrifice than “I’ll get killed to allow the other good guys to escape” (or some other crap like that), well it really is these people’s problem.
While the idea may have been good, it just fell flat. Even the guys on jedi council talk about it.
When Ben stabbed his dad, and Han fell into the pit, what did you think in your head or say in the theater out of curiosity?
First….as a group we were all in disbelief as to how Han handled the situation with his knowledge about how dangerous the dark side was.
My thought was that Han(the Han I remember ) would have a plan…maybe carrying something to incapacitate his son in case they met, knowing how dangerous he was.
So just watching him struggle with his son and the saber, just had me in disbelief. And once it happened all I thought was Harrison Ford must have had them add it in his contract to kill Han. Not only stab him, hAve him fall and then blow him up….
The scene had no emotional connection with me and just felt all wrong.
So we all just discussed how flat it felt. If this was going to be the big moment then it should have been set up with more connection between them.
See, there was never any moment in Star Wars that struck me as Han being the type of character to always have a plan like Batman. He always seemed like the act first, ask questions later, or oops, I didn’t think that all of the way through, or even I’ll survive in whatever way I can type. In the end, it’s a matter of opinion and what you make of the characters but I would like to point out many moments from the original trilogy to refresh your mind as to why I believe Han acts on emotion as well as survival more than meets the eye.
This is going to be a long post, you don’t have to read it all, but it goes to show why I believe Han is not the best at thinking things through.
Ep. 4 – A New Hope:
1. Han shoots Greedo before he can get a good shot off (If you’re a purist he was the only one who shot lol) but he didn’t think about the consequences or the reaction from Jabba or the Imperial authorities before shooting Greedo. He just shot Greedo because he was trying to survive and because Greedo didn’t really give him “much of a choice.” Han gives off the first impression of a character who tries to talk his way out of things but when that fails he has to resort to more “hostile” means. He flips the coin to the bartender and replies with “Sorry, about the mess.” Meaning he doesn’t care about who he just killed but that the problem was dealt with and off he goes to prepare the Falcon.
2. He gets caught in the Death Star’s tractor beam by trying to blow up one TIE Fighter in the middle of Alderaan space. Even Luke and Ben Kenobi tried to warn him about not worrying about it, but good ol Han had to “take care” of it which led them to getting caught.
3. Han doesn’t want to rescue Princess Leia at first because he only cares about his own skin. He decides to only rescue Leia because Luke convinces him to by reminding him that she’s royalty which means a lot of money as a reward. It was Luke’s idea to try and use Chewie as a means to get closer to the prison cells. We aren’t told in the film who’s idea it was to disguise themselves in the first place but we can assume it was Han’s.
4. When they shoot all of the guards in the detention area, and the alarm goes off alerting the officer. (The best comedic part in the film imo) Han has no idea how to handle the situation but to pretend to have a reactor leak, and he ends up shooting the comm mic alerting the Imps to their presence. Granted he didn’t have much time to respond with something better, but that adds to the believability and establishment of his character as a guy who just goes with the flow and reacts by doing what he thinks is best, which might not always be the best idea.
5. Han shoots the door in trash compactor, thinking it will blow open the door but the bolt bounces all around also making a loud noise causing the Imps to respond by turning on the trash compression system. He didn’t think that through very well once again.
6. Once they escape and come across troopers in the Hallway, Han shoots immediately (Another really good comedic scene) and chases after the squad of troopers only to come across many more troopers. Didn’t think that through very well either.
7. Han originally refuses to help the Rebellion because he only wants the reward but as we all know he comes back and helps Luke destroy the Death Star. Forever sealing his fate as a leader of the Rebellion, whether he thought about that or not is unknown, but he definitely acted on guilt and decided to help rather than be selfish and leave with the money. Which of course adds to the development of his character from selfish smuggler to bold hero of the Rebellion.
Ep. 5 – The Empire Strikes Back:
1. I will say his plan to use the dead tauntaun as a source of heat and shelter for Luke was pretty brilliant. However, he didn’t originally intend to do that he was acting on his skills to survive and help save Luke.
2. His plan to escape the Star Destroyer by docking on it’s garbage release was also very clever. That once again wasn’t originally a part of the plan and he had to do that because he couldn’t escape via hyperspace.
3. On Bespin, he shoots at Darth Vader right when he sees him, not thinking about what the consequences might be.
4. Han unfortunately didn’t have a plan to escape the carbonite chamber which could have killed him. Granted they were completely surrounded and if he tried to resist he probably would have been killed too. Han didn’t have any idea how long he would be encased in carbonite for, he just hoped that someday he could get out.
Ep. 6 – Return of the Jedi:
1. Han thinks they are all going to die on Tattooine, but luckily Luke “took care of everything”
2. Han gets spotted by the scout troopers because he steps on a branch. There were many other better ways to take care of the troopers I’m sure, and that wasn’t necessarily one of the best moves. He was almost shot because of that mistake too. His decision to try and be sneaky ended up being the reason why they all got separated.
There are probably more, but as you can see Han Solo is definitely not the master of having the perfect plan for all situations, or even a secondary plan necessarily. He acts on instinct, as well as emotion a lot of the time. He definitely could have handled the Ben Solo encounter much better by having some sort of method to contain him, but to me, his encounter with Kylo fits perfectly with the rest of the series. Han Solo, the man who has pretty bad luck, as well as a soft spot for friends and we can all assume family as well, ended up coming to his demise by believing that he could turn his one and only son from the dark side back to the light. He even said he’d do anything to bring his son back and since we don’t know if Kylo will be redeemed in the future films (I’m assuming he will be) then Han’s sacrifice is what helped allow Kylo Ren to turn to the lightside. If Kylo doesn’t redeem himself, then Han basically died in vain. However, what Han thought of in those final moments before his death I’m sure was shock, pain, disappointment, as well as love. People always say that a parent’s love knows no bounds, I for one don’t know what that kind of love is like but I’m sure it is a powerful force.
I will readily admit that the Han, I came to know since Jedi is the EU Han. So I am tainted in that regard. And you may be right about all of it, but it is just how I feel about it. Something was just amiss about the whole scene.
Understandable, another point I’d like to make is that in the Legends EU, the time period for when TFA takes place is around the same time as The Dark Nest Trilogy, or The New Jedi Order series. Imagine Lucasfilm keeping the Legends EU and adapting The Dark Nest Trilogy into films. I think that would have been far worse of a choice than what they ended up with. The New Jedi Order series wouldn’t have been much better, and although they work decently as a series of novels, they wouldn’t necessarily translate well into movie format. They’d have to cut out tons of material and it would just be a big pain.
I’ve heard comments from people saying they should have done The Thrawn Trilogy instead, and I just laugh because those books take place only 5 years after RoTJ, Harrison, Carrie, and Mark are way too old to portray their characters only five years after RoTJ. They’d have to get a completely new cast and nobody would want that for a sequel. So, Kennedy, JJ, and Kasdan were wise to stick with a story 30 years later and use their age for a more fitting story.
They’re were many elements that could have been used….Thrawn as a character years later would still be great! Jaina, Mara Jade and a few others as well would have been fun to see.
I personally like the lost tribe of sith and abeloth story….which Lucas had input in by tying it to the clone wars and the mortis story.
I think the Thrawn type character is being recycled for Rogue One. The Mara Jade character might not exist anymore or could be recycled too, I personally never really liked her character, so it wasn’t much of a loss to me.
Jaina is basically Rey recycled into a new character, and Kylo Ren is basically Jacen Solo.
The Lost Tribe of the Sith stories take place in the old republic so that’s not really a valid option for TFA to have used.
No….Lost tribe was in the last books, they took over corusant with the help of Abeloth. Luke and the new jedi order raided, to win it back. It’d been an excellent story to roll with.
I see more of Ben in the Rey character than Jaina. Jaina was just badass in my book. Still wish they’d release “Sword of the Jedi” novel.
while i sure like your idea. Davis is clearly right for me. But maybe this could had be handled better. The main problem of TFA is “too much, too fast”. Besides that the films rocks.
As a dad, I feel the same way. I would do the same for my son if he grew up to be a bad person or something, and damn the consequences.
I’d do anything for my kids, even risking my life.
I feel the same for mine….but there’s no sith in the real world. So Han should have shot first!!!!! Lol
I agree. I was sad to see Han die, but I also think it was probably the right thing to do for the story. It certainly gave the film a bit of gravitas it would have been otherwise largely lacking. Han dying in some other heroic way wouldn’t have had nearly the same impact as him dying in the process of a last-ditch effort to redeem his son. This was heroism at a personal, family level – much akin to Luke’s heroism he shows towards Darth Vader – just with, you know, different results.
Maybe it’s takes being a father to really understand this. But so be it. Good stories aren’t written solely for those with limited life experiences with which they can relate.
He should have gone out saving Luke one last time. His final words: “That’s three kid….” KAAABOOOOOOOM!!!!!!
Didn’t he call Jabba a “wonderful human being” too?
Wow. He’s actually very open in this interview. I love when he’s happier.