The Sci-Fi Movie Harrison Ford Didn't Understand (But Filmed Anyway)

Actor Harrison Ford has been quite selective about his roles over the years, carefully choosing roles that match his swaggering charm, but he hasn't always made the perfect choice. While the actor has dozens of truly great films under his belt, he also has some stinkers like historical submarine thriller “K-19: The Widowmaker” and the utopian drama The Mosquito Coast, however Ford has defended both quite thoroughly. However, there is one box-office bomb he hasn't been so forthcoming about, in large part because he's obviously never been on the film's wavelength.

The 2011 sci-fi western Cowboys and Aliens had all the ingredients for a box office success. Based on Scott Mitchell Rosenberg's 2006 Platinum Studios graphic novel of the same name, Cowboys and Aliens is directed by Jon Favreau, fresh off the success of the first two Iron Man films. It starred Harrison Ford, Daniel Craig, Olivia Wilde, Paul Dano, Walton Goggins, Keith Cardin and Clancy Brown, making it a wild smorgasbord of fantastic acting talent. Unfortunately, it was a huge financial flop, earning $174.8 million at the global box office, only about $11 million more than its $163 million budget. While some critics (including Roger Ebert!) praised the film's lead performances, Ford and Craig simply couldn't save the film from its convoluted script or its confusing tonal shifts, and eventually “Cowboys & Aliens” was relegated to the cinematic trash heap. In interviews discussing the film, Ford shared that he didn't really understand it at all, and honestly? I can kind of agree.

It was easy to be skeptical of Cowboys and Aliens when it was announced because its two genres seemed too different, but as production began and people got their first look at Ford and Craig in period costumeit just seemed like it might work. Favreau had shown that he could mix sci-fi and comedy quite well with the Iron Man films, and the cast was pretty much assembled. The biggest problem was the script, which went through multiple rewrites with numerous screenwriters, ending up with a script credited to Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci, and Damon Lindelof. (Kurtzman and Orci were often considered a writing duo, working together on films like “The Island” and the 2009 “Star Trek” reboot, while Lindelof is best known as the creator of “Lost” and co-writer of “Star Trek: Into Darkness” with Kurtzman, Orci and JJ Abrams.)

In an interview with A mix of cinemaFord explained that he was initially confused by the script and wanted to stop after reading the first 30 pages, but his agent encouraged him to continue:

“It was ambitious, I think. I said, 'Why don't I go talk to Jon?' and then I met Jon Favreau, I was impressed by what he said and his collegial spirit generous about giving a little more space to the character. Then I started to see the possibility of playing a different kind of character than I'm used to, to really try to bring some texture to the piece, so I said, 'I'm in.' It should be fun.”

Ford has very rarely played villains in his long careerand his role in “Cowboys & Aliens” certainly fell in line with traditional Western villains, so it's a good thing he had fun in breaking bad. Too bad it wasn't much fun for the audience.

While mixing all these great actors with both cowboys and aliens seemed like a potentially great idea, the end result was annoyingly vague, and Ford probably should have ignored his agent's insistence. There were too many cooks in the kitchen with a highly tailored script, heavy-handed producers delivering big notes (e.g. Steven Spielberg directs the main antagonist), and there seems to be a loose attitude towards the overall vision of the film given Ford's comments that it is “very much a work in progress”. What could have been a very fun mix of genres instead is a story that bogs down the plot instead of giving the characters any development, which is a shame because Ford and Craig are at least trying to make it work. Dano is good as the son of Ford's character, although it would have been interesting to see a starring young Glenn Powellas he also auditioned (while channeling his inner Ben Foster). Then again, it might be too polished for one movie, big Hollywood blockbuster or not.

Fortunately, this experience did not lead Ford to take risks in genre cinema, and he will appear as President William “Thunderbolt” Ross in Marvel's “Captain America: Brave New World”, thus giving his role. the special brand of movie star charisma in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Ford is one of the greatest of all time, even if his films fall short of expectations, and it will be great to see what he does in the superhero realm. At least I hope he's having fun.