Harrison Ford: 10 years before Star Wars, the French director was the first to believe in him!

Currently starring in Indiana Jones and the Dial of Fortune, the fifth and final installment of the famous saga, Harrison Ford is now an eight-year-old star who is undoubtedly one of Hollywood’s most legendary.

Yet, like any actor, he was once one of those unknown youngsters who was desperate to break into an impenetrable milieu and began his acting career with small roles.

When he was only twenty years old, in Hollywood, he then met Jacques Demmy, the famous director of The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, and his partner, the film director Agnes Varda, the latter also told us at the microphone in 2008:

“Jack He noticed a young actor who had a contract with Warner but was not making a film.The filmmaker told us on the Hollywood set of the comedy-drama Model Shop.

“She was 20 or 21 years old and He told me: take your camera 16, give me its tests. It was Harrison Ford. So I did the tests, we see them in my film. And the studio said, “This guy has no future.” and was forced to take Gary Lockwood. So Harrison Ford had a lot of laughs about it.”

Even if the studio preferred Lockwood, already known for his role as the title character in 2001’s A Space Odyssey, Harrison Ford would clearly become famous a decade later for his role as smuggler Han Solo in Star Wars. But before approaching George Lucas, the aspiring actor – who had also put aside his dreams of becoming a carpenter – went on to see two French filmmakers.

“Demi was the first person to believe in me so much and I’ll never forget that.”he said In Le Figaro microphone in 2013does not hesitate to describe the director as “His friend.”

The friendship between the future Indiana Jones, Jacques Demmy and Agnes Varda also gave rise to an unusual anecdote, as Ford said. in Figaro. Indeed, on July 21, 1969, when Neil Armstrong set foot on the moon, three friends were watching the series together at Demi and Varda’s house:

“I remember powerful moments like watching the first steps on the moon at Jacques and Agnes’ residence in Beverly Hills.”said Harrison Ford.

“Agnes turned to the TV and refused to watch it, because she was convinced that it was a hoax, that it was all filmed in a studio!”

Ironically, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Fortune, now in theaters, is set in the exact same time frame. Thus, at the beginning of the film, we can see an adventurer trying to lose his pursuer in the middle of a parade in honor of the Apollo 11 mission.

(Re)discover the trailer for ‘The Model Shop’, the Jacques Demi film that could star Harrison Ford…