Tom Selleck's Indiana Jones Exit Required Rushed Redesigns For Harrison Ford

If you take a look at the original Jim Steranko concept art for "Raiders of the Lost Ark," you can see the initial plan for Indiana Jones himself was a lot different from Harrison Ford's version. When Indy's first adventure arrived in 1981, Ford debuted in the lead role, portraying a daring archeologist adventurer who wasn't without his flaws, lending the character an everyman appeal that complemented his dynamic presence. But Steranko's original vision for the character had been of a much larger, square-jawed action hero type. While Ford undeniably had the requisite jawline, his build wasn't quite that of the Steranko character. Tom Selleck, on the other hand, couldn't have been a better fit, and George Lucas and Steven Spielberg knew it.

Indiana Jones was Lucas' brainchild, but had been handed over to Spielberg, who would direct the character's first on-screen adventure. And while much of the film's production would prove difficult, when it came to casting, things were a lot smoother — or so it seemed at first. Selleck, best known for his starring role in the CBS show "Magnum P.I." (or, for '90s kids, as Richard from "Friends") was originally cast as Indy in "Raiders," partly due to his physicality. But the actor had also delivered an impressive screen test which immediately won over both Spielberg and Lucas, with the latter even remarking, "Yes, he looks just like that Steranko art."

Unfortunately, Selleck would be forced to drop out due to his commitment to "Magnum P.I." clearing the way for Ford to come in and embody the character that would become one of his most iconic roles. But that wasn't the end of the troubles, especially when it came to Indy's wardrobe, which had all been designed with the bulky Steranko-style hero in mind.

The first movie Steven Spielberg ever shot in the UK, "Raiders" was filmed at Elstree Studios, which had already hosted Lucas' first two "Star Wars" movies and, interestingly enough, Stanley Kubrick's "The Shining." In a behind-the-scenes documentary, Spielberg explained how Indiana Jones' famous leather jacket, fedora, and whip, "all came from the concept painting that I think was based on some old serials from the late 1930s. And so Indiana Jones' costume came complete before anybody was hired." Costume designer Deborah Nadoolman, now Deborah Nadoolman Landis, refined the outfit by, as Spielberg put it, making it "less painterly and more lived-in, and more honest to who Harrison Ford was and how he could wear those clothes."

The problem was that Nadoolman Landis had originally made the entire outfit for Tom Selleck, putting the designer in the difficult position of having to redesign everything while on-location in London. As Nadoolman Landis told Deadline:

"I remade the leather jacket at Berman and Nathans Costumiers in Camden Town and the hat at [New Bond Street hatters] Herbert Johnson [...] I had gone to Herbert Johnson and they had nothing to suit. Absolutely nothing, no brown fedoras. Why would they in 1981?"

To create a suitable fedora to Ford's specifications, Nadoolman Landis had to improvise using a hat that was at least somewhat similar to what she was looking for. She explained: 

"Herbert Johnson did have a hat which was called the Australian. So, think about 'Crocodile Dundee.' It was up on one side and had a very large brim... So, I said 'I'll have that one.' We remade it. I redesigned it for Harrison... it was all bespoke... I fulfilled my job, which was to bring Steve Spielberg's vision to life."

Simply buying the hat and redesigning it to better match the Indiana Jones style wasn't the end of Deborah Nadoolman Landis' post-Tom Selleck scramble. In the behind-the-scenes documentary, the costume designer explained how she also had to age her makeshift fedora to give it a lived-in style to better fit Harrison Ford's aesthetic. She said, "We got it really dirty. I took the hat, and I rolled it up in my hands, sat on it, had Harrison sit on it. And when we got through with it, it looked like a nice, old, very well-loved hat.

In 2023, it's strange to think of any other actor besides Ford inhabiting the role of Dr. Henry Jones Jr., despite the now-veteran star being a last minute pick for the role. But somewhere in the multiverse, Selleck stars in a version of "Raiders" that would certainly be interesting to watch. As it stands, Nadoolman Landis accomplished what Spielberg described as designing an outfit that would ensure Ford "would indelibly be only Indiana Jones for the rest of his career." Selleck himself said as much in a 2017 interview where he recounted the story of missing out on Indy and clarified, "Harrison, this is your role and you're indelible in it, it's just an interesting story." Shame things had to end with the box office disaster that was "Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny," but still.

Meanwhile, Herbert Johnson now makes a line of "original" Indiana Jones fedoras, which are presumably based on that Australian "Crocodile Dundee" hat.