"Star Wars: The Force Awakens" star Harrison Ford has often downplayed his role as Han Solo in the popular sci-fi franchise, and there were times he said that he has already "outgrown" the character, and that Han Solo feels like "a pretty thin character for me at this point."
During an interview with The Rolling Stone, Ford even admitted that he wanted his character killed off in "Star Wars: Return of the Jedi" because he could not see how Han Solo can move forward in the franchise. Fortunately for him, that did not happen.
"I didn't have the imagination to recognize the future potential for the character," he explained. "I was only going to do three of them, so I wanted to use the character to supply some bass notes, some gravitas. I thought to continue to be the wise-cracking cynic was not, perhaps . . ."
Ford reflected for a while, before continuing: "But if they'd done that then, I wouldn't have this experience, which I think is worthy."
There is no mistaking how happy Ford was to reunite with his other "Star Wars" co-stars Carrie Fisher (Princess Leia) and Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker), as well as work with newbies Daisy Ridley (Rey), John Boyega (Finn), and Adam Driver (Kylo Ren).
Ford has also sung praises for director J.J. Abrams. The seasoned actor sometimes have difficulty saying the lines spun by the writers because it does not sound right to him, but when Abrams gives it the go-signal, Ford goes along with it.
"Nine times out of 10, J.J. was dead-on with it," he said. "You know, it does not feel right in your mouth, and you try a couple of other things, and then you say, 'You know what? You're right.' And 'Chewie, we're home'" - an important moment in the story, he notes - "is manifestly better than 'We're home, Chewie,' or a couple of the other options that I tried."
As for Abrams, he shared a tip on how to manage creative differences with someone like Ford. According to him, compromise is always the key.
"I had to engage with Harrison in the only way that mattered," said Abrams. "Which was, 'This doesn't feel right, what if we tried this?' We had scenes that, in all honesty, needed to get figured out sometimes while we were shooting. Sometimes they needed to be rewritten, reshot."
