The Millennium Falcon is the stereotypical example of a trusty ship. It was able to make the Kessel Run in 12 Parsecs, it helped destroy not one but two Death Stars, and it has long been a fixture in any discussion about the best spaceship in science fiction history. But now, the legendary ship has let its captain down for the first time. Harrison Ford has not only injured his ankle on the door of his famous starship while filming Star Wars: Episode VII, but apparently in the injury is worse than we initially thought.
Yahoo has acquired a statement from Ben Ford, the actor's son, in which he mentions the possibility of surgery being involved in his father's recovery. Specifically, a plate and screws might need to be put into Harrison Ford's ankle, which obviously would force him off his feet for some time while shooting continues as planned. Ford's son seems to think that Star Wars: Episode VII can easily accommodate his father's injuries with an altered shooting schedule or some liberal usage of close ups.
Ben Ford is probably on the right track with that assumption, though if I were J.J. Abrams, I'd would try and pull a reverse Scarlett Johansson (a la The Avengers: Age Of Ultron) and move all scenes where Harrison Ford needs to be in action/on his feet to the end of the shoot. One can probably safely assume that a production this size has many parts moving at once, so maybe they can focus on some other pieces of the puzzle until Harrison Ford recovers. After all, Star Wars: Episode VII isn't just about Han Solo, and with the traditionally multi-pronged stories that the series likes to tell, one might guess that they could switch over to someone else's portion of the story. Provided, of course, that schedules and budget permit it.
Up until now, J.J. Abrams has shown that he can handle the pressures of continuing a franchise with a film as huge as Star Wars: Episode VII. How he handles this hiccup in production will probably be one of the ultimate tests as to how he can keep things moving, while not having to sacrifice Han Solo's screen time in the film. Of course, the next big question in everyone's minds would be, can Harrison Ford recover in time to finish filming Star Wars Episode VII?
While the man has kept himself in action movie-ish shape for a good long while, he is still 71 years old. Unless Harrison Ford is a real life Wolverine, the time it takes him to heal from his ankle injury may be longer than it would have been were he a younger man. The worst case scenario could be that we may see Mark Hamill's Luke Skywalker picking up some of the slack that the injury may leave on the set. In any case, we hope that there are no other harmful injuries on the Star Wars: Episode VII set, and we wish Harrison Ford a speedy recovery.
Star Wars: Episode VII is all clear to blow this thing and go home on December 18th, 2015.
