It’s tough to imagine anyone other than Harrison Ford embodying Rick Deckard in the 1982 film Blade Runner, which you can now stream via the official SYFY app and will air on the network later this week. However, back then, his role as a leading man was still evolving.
When filming for “Blade Runner” officially started in early March of 1981, “Raiders of the Lost Ark” was still a good three months away from its theater release. Harrison Ford, despite his beloved role as Han Solo in the blockbuster hit “Star Wars” (1977) and the sequel “The Empire Strikes Back” (1980), hadn’t yet demonstrated his ability to lead an entire film as a bankable star.
Indeed, suggesting him for the role of the detective chasing Replicants, a character styled after the traditional noir detective, generated a few surprised glances from those financing the adaptation of Philip K. Dick’s work.
For More on Blade Runner
1. The classic Blade Runner game from 1997, long thought lost, has been resurrected and is now playable.
2. Famed designer Lawrence G. Paull, who contributed to the visuals of Back to the Future and Blade Runner, has passed away.
3. In Blade Runner, Rutger Hauer showed us the poignant reality of mortality in a bittersweet manner.
Why Harrison Ford wasn’t the top casting choice for 1982’s Blade Runner
During an interview with GQ earlier this year, director Ridley Scott recounted his conversation with his financiers: “You don’t know who Harrison Ford is? Prepare to find out, because he will be my leading man.
In 2012, _Time_ magazine mentioned that well-known actors such as Sean Connery, Jack Nicholson, Paul Newman, Clint Eastwood, Peter Falk, Al Pacino, Nick Nolte, and Burt Reynolds were all taken into account.
In an interview with Los Angeles Magazine for a 2007 oral history of the film, Blade Runner producer Michael Deeley stated that they were convinced after Steven Spielberg shared some early Raiders footage during the filming of the first Indiana Jones movie in London. As he recalled, “We realized he was a leading man,” and they had found their leading actor for the project.
In a conversation with Vanity Fair back in 2020, Harrison Ford stated that nothing he had experienced before resembled Blade Runner up until that particular point for him. He found the character and the entire narrative, as well as Ridley Scott’s storytelling abilities, to be quite appealing and enticing.
Remarkably, the project we’re discussing was one of two sci-fi films that debuted on June 25, 1982. The other was John Carpenter’s “The Thing.” Both movies initially underperformed critically and financially but later gained recognition as significant works in the genre. Unlike “The Thing,” however, “Blade Runner” remains a topic of discussion among fans due to differing opinions about which version offers the best viewing experience. As for Ridley Scott, he favors the 2007 version titled “The Final Cut, ” which is the one available for streaming on the official SYFY app.
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2025-07-14 19:16