Actor Reveals He Was Almost Fired From STAR WARS Because of Harrison Ford
When we think of the stars of Star Wars, we think of the obvious ones whose faces we have seen through the films and through the years. But there are so many behind the scenes and inside the costumes who don’t always get their fair due. In a recent video interview online, YouTuber Jamie Stangroom sat down with Tim Rose, the actor and puppeteer that brought us Admiral Ackbar as well as the pet of Jabba the Hutt, Salacious Crumb.
In the interview, Rose told the story about working on Return of the Jedi, on the day they shot the scene where Leia frees Han Solo from the carbonite on Tattooine. When Solo was freed, Leia kissed him, and the curtains were pulled back to reveal Jabba the Hutt and his followers, who were instructed to yell and chant, “We saw you kissing!” This was upsetting to Harrison Ford, who went to the director, Richard Marquand, and complained, “Are these puppet characters going to laugh over my line? Because I don't want to have to come back and do ADR (Automated Dialog Replacement),” Rose said.
Marquand then asked the puppeteers to pantomime their actions in the background so as not to upstage the actors in the scene. After a couple of takes, Marquand sat down next to Rose and asked what he thought of the scene. Rose, in the character of Salacious Crumb, replied, "Eh, this Harrison guy... is he gonna talk over our laugh? 'cause it's really putting me off." Rose didn’t realize his mic was still on, so his remark was heard by Ford. The rest of the cast and crew thought his reply was hilarious, but Ford… not so much. Harrison Ford went to Marquand and insisted that he wouldn’t be returning to the set unless the person who made the remark was fired.
Luckily for Rose, he only ever appeared on set in costume, so Ford was told that the jokester was fired, and Rose went on to work on the film, telling everyone he was the new guy. That’s pretty crazy and hilarious! I wonder if Harrison Ford would see the humor in it today. My guess is probably not.
Watch the full interview below: