Jon Favreau has confirmed on Twitter that Harrison Ford is indeed joining the cast of Cowboys & Aliens, Favreau's next film after Iron Man 2. Ford joins actors Daniel Craig and Olivia Wilde. I have to say, this is pretty damn cool casting. I think it would have been slightly cooler had Robert Downey Jr. remained on the project -- he was initially signed up for the film but had to leave due to scheduling conflicts -- since I just drool at the notion of Downey Jr. and Ford working together, but Craig and Ford isn't a bad match-up. James Bond and Indiana Jones in the same movie! Ha. http://www.superherohype.com/news.php?id=9255
I'm a fan of both actors, Ford in particular despite some miscues last decade(Hollywood Homicide anyone?) and it may take that to get me interested in this Firefly on steroids project. Bond is the only place I don't think Craig is the best fit but he is a great actor in everything I've seen him in so I'll follow this closer now with Ford being added to the cast.
Touche Randy! I have to admit I'm watching more Daniel Craig movies in the hopes that he is going to truly breakout, so we'll just have to wait and see. I used to watch everything with Harrison Ford, but I don't think I've seen anything of his since Air Force One. What else is there after that besides Hollywood Homicide and K-19 The Widowmaker? They're the only significant ones I can think of.
Ford seems to have had an unerring knack for absolute stinkers in recent years (and sadly I include the last Indy outing in this - though he was actually pretty good in it). He's also turned down great scripts like Traffic and Syriana. I hope that this breaks the run of duds for him. I really hope also that Favreau brings out the old Ford charm of the Star Wars and vintage Indiana years instead of the dour old codger persona he's adopted for the last few decades. Craig is a fairly intense actor, so let him do all the squinting and scowling and let Harry open up, crack wise and act like Han Solo in the old west. Appropriately enough, given that Han is basically a cowboy in space.
Harrison Ford was also in the recent movie "Extreme Measures" with Brandon Frasier about the father who is desperate to find a cure for his kid. Ford played the disgruntled but brilliant scientist. Ford was ok but the movie suffered from Frasier's poor performance.
Cowboys versus Aliens? Harrison Ford? Jon Favereau? Daniel Craig? Are you kidding? This is popcorn excellence.
I haven't read the comic it's based on (it's out of print, according to Amazon.com, but one imagines there'll be a big reissue in time for the film), but it was written by Fred Van Lente, who's a genius (Incredible Hercules was consistently my favourite series for its whole run).
Somewhere in there before Hollywood Homicide anyway is What Lies Beneath that he did with Michelle Pfieffer. That was good, the first time he played the bad guy outright I think. He was dillusional in Mosquito Coast and his actions ended up causing harm, just unitentionally. In WLB he was a straight up baddie.
Oh yeah, What Lies Beneath and Crystal Skull are not super bad, but not on par either. Extreme Measures is a remake from an old movie with Andy Garcia and Michael Keaton. I like Craig in Layer Cake, but I don't think he's done a movie that has a Best Actor nom in it yet. From what I've seen, I do think he is capable of a tour de force appearance, but it never seems like there's enough of him doing his thing-even as Bond. The Golden Compass anyone? wonk wonk
Eh? The movie with Garcia and Keaton, Desperate Measures, is about a cop (Garcia) whose son is reliant on a serial killer (Keaton)donating bone marrow to save his life. Keaton escapes in the hospital and goes on the rampage - Garcia has to stop him but can't let Keaton be killed. The Ford movie is Extraordinary Measures, based on a true story about a family and their doctor who developed a cure for their son. Extreme Measures is a rare thriller for Hugh Grant, about a young doctor who discovers that body harvesting is going on in the hospital where he works. There's a medical theme in all three, but that's it. Incidentally, on another board I was reading, someone suggested that with Ford on board, this movie should be called Curmudgeons and Aliens. Well, it made me laugh ...