Harrison Ford Considers Han Solo The Easiest Star Wars Character To Play

Nothing is more entertaining than hearing Harrison Ford grumpily answer "Star Wars" questions. By "Return of the Jedi," Ford was pretty much done with "Star Wars." That man was over it, which is a big reason why it was such a coup for J.J. Abrams to get him back for "The Force Awakens." 

However, there was a time before Ford got tired of the fandom where he'd speak pretty openly (and positively) about his experience instead of grumbling an insult or sighing through a canned answer to a question he's gotten a trillion times. One of these occasions was documented by Paul Honeyford in his 1986 book "Harrison Ford — A Biography" in which he quotes Ford from an interview the actor did with Alan Arnold about making "Star Wars." Here's what he had to say:

"It is very hard for me to look objectively at the film. It's George's creation. He gave himself a beautiful princess in Leia and a callow youth in Luke. He gave himself a sage warrior in Ben Kenobi, and he gave himself a character called Han Solo, who is described as "a cynical space pirate." But he's not really a cynic, and the phrase "space pirate" doesn't really indicate what he does. In fact, what he does in the story is to function as a kind of synthesizer. He's the most realistic character and consequently, in a way, the easiest one to play. It is a pleasure to play that kind of part."

Gotta love that even when he was engaged in the talk, a little bit of that lovable trademarked Harrison Ford grumpiness still shines through. Ford went on to elaborate on what Solo's purpose to the story is and how that impacted his approach to playing everybody's favorite smuggler.

Ford was working as a carpenter before he landed this career-changing role, so it should come as no surprise that our man wasn't very well-versed in sci-fi and walked away from reading that first script a little confounded. But even in that early form he did see the story's heart and that it rested with the main characters. He said:

"I read the script and asked myself 'can they really make a movie out of this?' I had no idea how it would feel creating Han. What I did understand was the relation among the four characters I have mentioned ... Han helps make everything contemporary, recognizably human, in a way. Anyway, it worked for a lot of people. I was just part of the equation George dreamed up."

Can't help but notice how he has that little dismissive "anyway, it worked for a lot of people," as if he still didn't understand the power of "Star Wars." 

It is interesting that he points out that his main job in the group dynamic was to make the story contemporary, which is very true, and the template that "Star Wars" has been chasing ever since. That's such a delicate line to walk. Make it too contemporary and you get an instant rejection, like how a huge swath of the viewership made fun of the augmented bike gang in "The Book of Boba Fett." Go too far in the other direction and all you're left with is sci-fi/fantasy jargon. 

Han Solo was what grounded the original trilogy and so much of that magic is due to Harrison Ford's correct read on the character.