Harrison Ford Has Never Worked With Christopher Nolan but One $113M Thriller Almost Made It a Reality 22 Years Ago

SUMMARY

• Harrison Ford and Christopher Nolan were almost part of the same production when Ford was looking for something new to work on.
• Before Al Pacino, Harrison Ford was interested in being the lead for Insomnia, Nolan's third film.
• While the film had a great critical reception, it failed to make much of a commercial splash.

Harrison Ford has had a very strong career as an actor, but despite his great acting chops and resume, the man has yet to find himself in a Christopher Nolan production. The actor has appeared in some of the best science fiction films of the last forty years, and there was one film that could have seen the legendary actor rub shoulders with Nolan.

Harrison Ford as Han Solo || Credit: Lucasfilm

Christopher Nolan was not the first pick to make Insomnia, but it remains one of the most interesting films from the director. At one point, Harrison Ford was attached to star in the film, but that did not come to fruition.

Harrison Ford was looking for something new to do

Harrison Ford in Blade Runner || Credit: Warner Bros. Pictures

Al Pacino was the actor who was cast as the leading man in the film, but Harrison Ford was interested in the film before Nolan was attached to direct it. Having Christopher Nolan direct Harrison Ford would have been just as great a masterclass in filmmaking as his work with Al Pacino, but the director was not the first choice to lead the film into production.

Silence of the Lambs director Jonathan Demme was also in talks to direct Insomnia, who would probably have delivered something vastly different than what Nolan presented to viewers. Demme and Ford would never cross paths in a production, going to different films as Pacino and Nolan took their respective positions as lead and director for the film.

Insomnia had great critical acclaim, despite its lukewarm box office

Christopher Nolan | Credit: HellaCinema/ CC-BY-SA-4.0/Wikimedia Commons

Christopher Nolan‘s Insomnia, as is the case with most of his films, was very well received by fans and audiences alike. It was a moderate success, given that it managed to gross $113 million (via Box Office Mojo) on a budget of $40 million (via Box Office Mojo). While by no means a blockbuster, the film was one of Nolan’s early films, which managed to get the audience to trust the director to deliver when it comes to films.

Christopher Nolan’s next film is going to be based on Homer’s epic poem, The Odyssey, which is set to star Nolan alums like Anne Hathaway and Matt Damon, along with the likes of Zendaya and Tom Holland. While Harrison Ford would make a great Poseidon messing with whoever is playing Odysseus, it seems unlikely that the Star Wars alum will ever unite with Nolan for a film.

Written by Anuraag Chatterjee

Articles Published: 1198

Anuraag Chatterjee, Web Content Writer
With a passion for writing fiction and non fiction content, Anuraag is a Media Science graduate with 2 year's experience with Marketing and Content, with 3 published poetry anthologies. Anuraag holds a Bacherlor's degree in Arts with a focus on Communication and Media Studies.