While 1993’s The Fugitive is considered a cinematic masterpiece, its stars Harrison Ford and Tommy Lee Jones believed it would end their careers during production.
Recently, Rolling Stone magazine covered the oral history of Andrew Davis’ action-thriller in time for its 30th anniversary of release. Ford was riding high in his career following the Indiana Jones trilogy while Jones’ profile as a character actor was raised with his scene-stealing turn as the villain in 1992’s Under Siege. As the two stars were cast in The Fugitive, however, Jones recalled how he and Ford expressed reservations that the movie would succeed.
“I remember being in the giant basement of that hotel, surrounded by hanging bags of laundry. I was standing there speaking out to Harrison’s character. And there was nothing there except big bags of laundry. And I remember thinking in the back of my mind, ‘I’ll never work again,'” Jones said. “‘This is never going to work. And the best thing I can do is be as clear, concise, and coherent as possible, deliver these lines as cleanly and dutifully as possible, and maybe I’ll get another job one day, somewhere down the line.'”
Harrison Ford Thought The Fugitive Would Be His Hudson Hawk
Ford did not take part in the Rolling Stone retrospective on The Fugitive. But Ford’s other co-star Daniel Roebuck, who played one of Jones’ fellow U.S. Marshals, recalls a conversation with Ford while filming a chase scene where he compared the movie’s potential failure at the box office to an infamous Bruce Willis bomb. “Harrison Ford said in front of me when we were in the water, so I can attest that he said it,” Roebuck said. “He goes, ‘Oh, man, this is going to be my Hudson Hawk.'”
Based on the classic ABC series that ran from 1963 to 1967, The Fugitive starred Ford as Dr. Richard Kimble, a brilliant Chicago surgeon accused of murdering his wife. After escaping a near-fatal collision between his prison transport and a train, Kimble goes on the run to prove his innocence while pursued by Deputy U.S. Marshall Sam Gerard (Jones). Released in the summer of 1993, The Fugitive became one of the year’s biggest hits with critics and audiences. Jones went on to win the Oscar for “Best Supporting Actor” and was spun off into the less-successful U.S. Marshals opposite Wesley Snipes and Robert Downey, Jr. in 1998.
Recently, Ford put back on the classic fedora for Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny. The new adventure marks the actor’s final outing as Indiana Jones on the big screen. It is now playing in theaters.