Harrison Ford Reveals Why He Almost Got Fired From ‘American Graffiti’

Harrison Ford American Graffity graphic — Everett Collection; Olivia Wong/Getty Images for SAG-AFTRA Foundation

When Harrison Ford looks back on the film that gave him an early nudge toward stardom, he remembers a cheap set and a director that barely spoke. That film was American Graffiti, and although Ford’s role as Bob Falfa was small, it turned out to be a turning point in his career.

“I didn’t think he could speak. He never spoke,” Ford recalled about director George Lucas in a recent interview with Variety. But despite the quiet demeanor, Lucas saw something in Ford. He cast him as a cocky, cowboy-hatted drag racer, and while Ford didn’t get much screen time, he made an impression. American Graffiti would lead Ford straight into the orbit of Lucas’s next big project, Star Wars.

Everett Collection

At the time, Ford was far from the box-office powerhouse he’d become. He was still picking up carpentry gigs between roles, and the pay on American Graffiti wasn’t great. He added, “A lot of actors came out of that show, and I thought it was remarkable the way George [Lucas] used music in that film; it was a rare use of contemporary music. That movie was fun to make.”

But though Ford has fond memories of the shoot, he was almost forced to leave: “It was made very, very cheaply. I do remember I was almost fired for taking two doughnuts instead of my deserved one.”

The movie, shot mostly at night in California, was a labor of love for Lucas and his young cast. Alongside Ford were then-unknown actors like Richard Dreyfuss, Ron Howard and Cindy Williams, all of whom would go on to become familiar faces. For Ford, it was the first step toward a working relationship with Lucas that would stretch across decades, from Star Wars to Indiana Jones.