Mark Hamill Confirms What We All Suspected About Harrison Ford's On-Set Behavior
There's no point in denying that Harrison Ford has long been considered the resident grump of the "Star Wars" ensemble. He's known to be a bit grouchy towards the franchise that gave him his first big break into movie stardom (as discussed in this Reddit thread). He's even gone so far as to repeatedly mention how he wished for Han Solo to get killed off at some point (a wish that was finally granted with "The Force Awakens").
Apparently, he simply doesn't like playing Han Solo and would prefer to take on more three-dimensional characters in the vein of Rick Deckard from "Blade Runner." But unless you've been vigilant in reading every scrap of information you can about Ford and his co-stars on the sets of the original "Star Wars" movies, you might not be familiar with a tidbit dropped by one Mark Hamill during a 2015 interview about his memories of working with Harrison Ford on the films.
Before we go on, it's probably a good idea to point out that Hamill's feelings towards Ford seem to be uniformly (and mutually) positive. In an interview with Jake's Takes from February of 2020, Ford returned the favor by saying something quite nice about his Jedi comrade-in-arms: "When I met Mark Hamill, I really learned how to be cool ... He's just a really straightforward nice guy. He's really a sweet guy."
But Hamill has shared at least one "Star Wars" memory that shows Ford could be somewhat volatile on set.
Harrison Ford once tried to destroy the Millenium Falcon with a saw
In a 2015 interview with Empire, Mark Hamill shared a funny story about an incident involving Harrison Ford and Han Solo's iconic spaceship: "You heard about Harrison taking a saw to the Millennium Falcon because he got so mad? People were coming up to me, going, 'You gotta stop Harrison, he's sawing up the Falcon.' It was made of wood, and he just took a saw to it."
Hamill didn't share exactly what Ford was mad about when he decided to make such unorthodox use of his skills as a carpenter, but he did share that he was able to bring things to a peaceful resolution. "I love Harrison," he explained. "I got to stop him because I can make him laugh when he gets really, really mad. And I had no stake in it. He was with Carrie, and I was still hanging out with Yoda."
The Yoda reference is a clue that the incident in question happened during filming of "The Empire Strikes Back." Fortunately, Hamill was there to calm Ford down, and production of what many fans consider to be the masterpiece of the entire "Star Wars" saga proceeded to its eventual creative and commercial success.
Mark Hamill also shared that Harrison Ford has a goofy side
Given stories like the one Hamill shared, it'd be easy to assume Ford is a grump all day, every day. However, considering his career has spanned several decades at this point across numerous different franchises, one has to assume people enjoy working with him to an extent. After all, no matter how good of an actor you are, a bad attitude is a surefire way to sink any career, no matter what your name is.
Fortunately, it appears Ford knows when to cut loose and have fun. In the same Empire interview, Hamill goes on to tell a story of how Ford knows when to be silly, as well. Hamill goes on to relate, "He's got a wonderfully wacky sense of [humor]. I'll give you an example. This disco song that goes, 'More, more, more, how d'ya like it, how d'ya like it,' remember that? We used to love really bad pop songs, so whenever that song would come on I'd run and turn it on. And he'd come into my dressing room and start dancing."
You aren't alone if you're having a difficult time envisioning Harrison Ford dancing along to disco songs. As it turns out, there's a good reason for that: "The minute somebody comes to the door, he'd stop dead and stand there. 'Yeah, okay, I'll be down to the set in a minute.' As soon as the door closes, it's, 'Get the action gain'!' He'd only do it around me."
It sounds as though Ford and Hamill have a special bond, and there's a specific image Ford wants emitted to the general public. Still, we'd give anything to see that footage of Ford dancing along to Andrea True.