MovieChat Forums > Blade Runner (1982) Discussion > Was Harrison Ford on some sort of drug w...

Was Harrison Ford on some sort of drug when they filmed this?


So let me preface this by saying that I am both a fan of this film and a fan of Harrison Ford and his work. Having said that - I rewatched this film recently for the first time in awhile and for some odd reason I noticed how Ford seems a little off here. I know that Deckard is a more somber and subdued character than lots of Ford's other roles, I get that Deckard is not as energetic and lively as Indiana Jones and/or Han Solo - yet even taking that into the equation, Ford really looks off here in so many scenes.
Was he on something when they made this? Its odd to notice and see.

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I guess the subdued performance was due to him wanting to create a contrast between Deckard and Han Solo and Indiana Jones. Other than Blade Runner he really just plays "Harrison Ford" in every role. He's one of those actors whose persona usually dominates every character he plays. This movie came out when he was just starting to be seen as a superstar so he probably was trying to avoid typecasting and created a very noticeable contrast with the wisecracking rogue he normally plays.

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No it was nothing to do with that. It was because he had a terrible time on the set of the movie and clashed with Ridley Scott’s micro-managing over the direction of the character. It was a complete slog to get through for everyone involved

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He’s professional enough not to let that stuff affect his performance. I think he was just playing the character as kinda down and out, and stoic. It fit with the dreary mood, constant darkness and rain in that world. Nobody was happy or energetic in that story. He was world-weery.

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You’re talking about a guy who purposefully gave a bad, monotone reading of his voiceover lines in the hopes they wouldn’t be used by the studio. Hardly “professional.”

By all accounts, Ford was miserable on set and angry that he was dealing with a director that would rather be sitting on a crane with a camera than talking to him.

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a guy who purposefully gave a bad, monotone reading of his voiceover lines in the hopes they wouldn’t be used by the studio


This is rumor.
And even if it were true, Ridley Scott didn't want to include the narration either, so it would have been to his advantage if Ford could give a bad enough take that they wouldn't use it.

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That might have been the one and only time Ridley Scott "micro-managed" an actor instead of doing the exact opposite. Usually actors who work with him complain that he's too preoccupied with the camera, lights, smoke, and other technical details to spend a moment giving them any direction at all. And when they press him about it, he says stuff like, "You're the actor, we hired you because we thought you'd be able to figure out the acting stuff on your own."

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Ridley’s always been shit with characters. Tony was always the actor’s director, Ridley is the world-builder.

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he says stuff like, "You're the actor, we hired you because we thought you'd be able to figure out the acting stuff on your own."

😂

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[deleted]

Agreed, the tone and inflection of the voiceover was similar to old gumshoe noir like Philip Marlowe, Private Investigator, or Mike Hammer. Whatever the intent....it just kinda works. It makes him sound world-weary and burned out.

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Definitely.

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Yes, very matter of fact, he’s seen it all and is probably getting burned out with the job.

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according to Sean Young, Ford had a cocaine habit during the 80s. she talks about it in this video.

https://youtu.be/QwXDvhacesY

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"Ford really looks off here in so many scenes"

I thought I was the only one. I noticed this the first time I saw it in the theatres and and the three or four times I've seen it since.

In many scenes, he almost seems to be mugging for the camera. He displays these exaggerated "I'm deep in thought" looks. Or he's rolling his eyes in an over dramatic fashion.

Some examples of the overacting...the first time Gaff approaches him in the street, getting beat up by Leon, his scene with Zhora. Yes, I know he's playing dumb so as not to alert her, but it's so OVERDONE that, if I were her, it would make me more wary than relaxed.

His big love scene with Rachel is completely off. I couldn't tell if he was going to beat her up or kiss her. He seems more angry than turned on.

Maybe it comes down to the director giving him some strange instructions...

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That "playing dumb" bit was a direct riff on Humphrey Bogart's Philip Marlowe playing dumb in The Big Sleep.

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If I had to guess, Deckard figured a more "subtle" cover for approaching Zhora would be pretty pointless, since she evidently knows there are humans seeking to hunt down and kill her and her friends.

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almost everybody in Hollywood does some sort of drug.

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For me, most things about Blade Runner are great but Harrison Ford's performance is one of the film's weakest aspects.

Now I'm not saying I can imagine someone else in the role. I actually think Ford looks his best here, even better than Indy, with the cropped hair and the long raincoat but his performance is all over the shop.

There's parts where he's perfectly fine like when he's trying to escape from Batty and he's scared and exhausted, and when he returns home and he discovers Rachel is still alive but there's other parts where he leaves you scratching your head a bit.

He does his Han Solo lopsided smirk a few times throughout and I don't understand why when Deckard is not supposed to be cocksure but instead a bit broken and alchohol dependent. When he says to Rachel on the phone "I've had women walk out on me before, but never when I was being so charming" he looks and sounds as if he's just walked on set with an hangover and he doesn't know where he is. Then when Leon is throwing him around he does some awful "scared" expressions that are comically over the top.

It's well known that Ford could never really get an handle on Deckard. Partly because when he signed up to it he was expecting a more traditional detective type story and it's not really that at all. In fact, I would even argue that halfway through the film, Batty becomes more of the main focus of the film. And also he was used to collaborating with directors like Lucas and Spielberg, whereas Ridley was much more interested with every little detail of the visuals and he wasn't really "an actor's director". Certainly not then anyway. When you watch the Dangerous Days documentary you can really see Ford's frustration when you see some of the footage of him on set.

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Maybe he was acting all weird bc hes a replicant

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According to stories, he was really a bit of an alcoholic at the time.

He seems to lose interest in many of the scenes. He also did not get along with Sean Young. Scott drove everyone crazy because he kept correcting Young’s diction through filming and taking many takes of her scenes.

I think the problem stemmed from Scott wanting to push the replicant angle with Deckard. Ford didn’t agree. That could have been the source of his disinterest and sloppy acting.

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