Mel Gibson - Witness (1985) Discussion

[–] palisade-1 12 years ago

If the producer is to be believed, Harrison Ford is the only one he considered for the part. He explains this in detail in the documentary, "Between Two Worlds: The Making of 'Witness'"

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[–] BigWhiskers 12 years ago

this thread should be burned. Mel Gibson ? GTFOH .
He sucks and should be banned from the industry

"So, a thought crossed your mind? Must have been a long and lonely journey"

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[–] 12 years ago

[deleted]

[–] GruesomeTwosome 12 years ago

I don't know why these other posters are so dismissive. Mel Gibson also started out in Australia and of course Peter Weir is Australian, and had Gibson star in his prior films Gallipoli and The Year of Living Dangerously, so it wouldn't be out of the realm of possibility that Gibson was in the mix for Ford's role in Witness.

The password is Fidelio.

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[–] palisade-1 11 years ago

it wouldn't be out of the realm of possibility that Gibson was in the mix for Ford's role in Witness.

Yes, it is out of the realm of possibility, not related to Gibson's acting abilities but because Harrison Ford was hired for the film before anyone else. Ed Feldman, the producer who got the ball rolling on the film and decided to do it himself when Twentieth-Century Fox told him dismissively, "Ed, we don't do 'rural pictures,'" remembered Gary Cooper in Friendly Persuasion and thought to himself, who could play a role like that in today's world and his only idea was Harrison Ford. He was amazed when Harrison committed to the film only 4 days after receiving the script. It took more than 6 months to get a director on board (Feldman ran through a long list of the famous and less famous; he had thought of Peter Weir earlier on but PW was involved in another film project and not available).

When Weir was hired on, he made most of the rest of the casting decisions in partnership with Feldman, but Harrison Ford was a given from the get-go and no other actors were ever considered for the role.

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[–] kennellygerard 11 years ago

Gibson has never been nominated for acting

he should have been nominated for,,

THE BEAVER

EDGE OF DARKNESS

RANSOM

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[–] fxdiamond 11 years ago

i think at this time when the movie was made (1984) he (gibson) was a little young for the lead character anyway.. if it been made in 1994 though then yes.

the character itself was someone who was a little older and seasoned and it did benefit the story, especially relating to the part where rachel asks john if he has a family and how she talked to his sister about him.

as i pondered on another topic on this board i stated my thoughts on what may have become of book.. he probably would have really went back home and after the initial chaos might have really re-evaulated his life and what to do with it.. the farm would have changed him definitly and probably his new ideals in life from then on.

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[–] decamefo 11 years ago

I could see Mel Gibson in the role, but Harrison was definitely the correct choice. I really liked his chemistry with both Kelly and Lukas. And he's more intense then Mel, imo.

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[–] redban (6548) 5 years ago

I haven’t heard that Mel Gibson was considered. But I could see it.

I heard a rumor that they considered Sylvester Stallone. I think Stallone wouldn’t have been able to blend with the Amish the way Ford did.

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