As a core member of Hollywood’s beloved elite, Harrison Ford has been around the block a time or two, and that includes just about every kind of block there is. And while there are so many elements about his long and esteemed career that others would love to enjoy for their own, perhaps one that’s lesser-envied would be the actor’s occasional penchant for injurious mishaps on the set and off. I’m not sure every living actor would love having multiple life-threatening accidents in their past to compare fictional character injuries to, but Ford recently talked about reliving some of those anxious and hectic feelings from his near-fatal plane crash in 2015 while filming the first season of 1923.
Though Harrison Ford wasn’t ever a ranch-owning badass living in Montana in the early 20th century, the actor told People that he was still taken aback by how much of Taylor Sheridan’s written narrative for Jacob Dutton through Season 1 served as a subtle reflection of Ford’s own experiences. In particular, he talked about how the moments surrounding Jacob getting shot during the sheepherder ambush in Episode 104 brought him right back to the aftermath of his scary plane crash. In his words:
When the scripts were coming, I was struck by how many major moments in my character's life had a substantial and not coincidental shadow of the same things in my life. I watched a rehearsal with a stand-in being brought into the kitchen, and Helen [Mirren] coming in, sweeping everything off the counter, taking command...
Anybody who watched 1923 knows exactly what he’s talking about. Even if you only watched the very first episode, it opens with a flash-forward to the ambush, and highlights Helen Mirren’s Cora Dutton during a particularly intense moment of deadly self defense. That scream she released in that moment is probably not entirely unlike what Harrison Ford’s wife was feeling after learning of her husband’s plane having crashed onto a golf course in Santa Monica.
The actor continued, saying:
Even when I talk about it now, it emotionally relates to the airplane crash I had and what my wife went through.
Potentially deadly incidents such as plane crashes obviously aren't just impactful to those in the planes, as Ford indicates, but also to the loved ones of those who were involved. It's heartbreaking to think about what the actor's wife must have gone through emotionally during not just that time, but also the other plane-based incidents and near-crashes he's been involved in over the years. There's something about that feeling of being helpless outside of the situation that warrants heaping empathy. But as horrible as it was for Helen Mirren to have to swipe tables clean in order to lay her wounded hubby down, at least viewers could take that mild modicum of comfort in knowing she was taking charge and doing what she could.
Things are far more up in the air than usual at the moment for Taylor Sheridan's TV universes. Yellowstone has yet to return to production to film the remaining episodes of Season 5, with star Kevin Costner reportedly throwing a wrench in the works over scheduling issues. Meanwhile, the cast is coming together for the currently filming Bass Reeves series, which recently changed its official title to perhaps once again keep it separate from 1883 and other Yellowstone spinoffs. As such, it's not quite clear when 1923's ensemble cast will reconvene to film the already ordered second season.
Relive Jacob's return to hat-donning badassery by streaming the entirety of 1923 with a Paramount+ subscription.
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