With James Mangold's Indiana Jones 5 on the horizon, it's easy to forget that there was a time when it looked like Harrison Ford wouldn't reprise the role of the iconic adventurer. The actor recently celebrated his 80th birthday, and it's clear that next June's fifth chapter in this franchise will likely be Ford's last.
Set photos have confirmed that VFX will be used to de-age him for certain sequences, but a few years ago, we heard that Chris Pratt was being eyed to take over the role.
Hot off the success of Guardians of the Galaxy, that news didn't come as a surprise. However, fans weren't overly keen on the idea of Ford being replaced, and while reliable sources reported that Pratt was being eyed to play Indy, it's believed the response to Solo: A Star Wars Story (where Alden Ehrenreich played Han Solo) put an end to that idea.
During a recent interview with Josh Horowitz, Pratt was asked about those Indiana Jones recasting rumours, and it's clear he was once under consideration.
"I don't even know who Steven Spielberg is. Steven who? No, aren't they doing Indiana Jones with Harrison Ford?" the actor joked, feigning ignorance. "Here's the thing, all I know is that I once saw a quote from Harrison Ford who said that when, and I don't even really know if it was really him, but it was enough to scare me, he was like, 'When I die, Indiana Jones dies.'"
"And I'm like, am I gonna like get haunted by the ghost of Harrison Ford one day when he dies if I play [the character]. I don't know, that's not anything that is real I think, people are capable of making mistakes even if they're Deadline."
While it would make sense for a younger actor to take over the role so the franchise can live on, it's easy enough to see how it could have backfired on Lucasfilm. It would have also been a risk for Pratt, especially as his star was on the rise at the time thanks to Guardians of the Galaxy and Jurassic World. Even with those, a failed Indiana Jones reboot could have been disastrous.
Do you think Chris Pratt would have made a good Indiana Jones?