In fact, Indiana Jones was virtually played by a different Hollywood heartthrob before Harrison Ford cracked his whip behind him in a boulder while running. It’s a little-known fact that fans of Spielberg and Lucas today will be amazed by: Tom Selleck, who was somewhat of a name until then in television, was the first and only choice of the two to play the part of the archeologist adventurer. What happened next isn’t a story of rejection or lack of ability, but one of subtleties and timing and contracts and network television. In retrospect it seems like one of those things that could have happened because of a piece of paper signed years ago. You can almost imagine the other reality in which it’s not the Nazis that are chasing Ford, but Selleck, and you wonder what it would have been like.
Steven Spielberg himself revealed this interesting what if scenario in an appearance on IMO podcast by Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson. He remembered casting the characters with George Lucas in the late ’70s when they were carefully picking their way through the cast to find the right actor to play Indiana Jones. They eventually came to a definite decision after numerous tests and readings. That was the plan in either case,” said Spielberg, “we both found out and decided that it makes sense to have Tom Selleck as Indiana Jones.” Anyone who made a decision wasn’t afraid to make it. It was in their mind that Selleck was the one. He was ruggedly handsome, physically imposing, and had this roguish smile which was just right for a hero who worked as a part-time professor. However, there was one little thing Spielberg wanted to alter. He said he would have had Selleck shave his signature mustache off if they’d cast him. It’s a little bit of a fun thing to think about, would Indiana Jones have felt the same without that facial hair? No, but then again, Harrison Ford didn’t either.
However, there just was not a fitting of the stars. Spielberg pointed out in a way that with great poignancy, “the strings of destiny didn’t cross with Tom at that time.” It wasn’t that they didn’t want to or that they disagreed creatively, it’s that they did want to and they did disagree. It was a much simpler and more out-of-our-hand thing. While Spielberg and Lucas were negotiating Selleck into the new Indiana Jones, the man was already committed under an outstanding contract to the CBS network to star in a new TV series, ‘Magnum P.I.’. The show’s production was well underway and there was no doubt about it. No time for talks, no chance of the television show being delayed. Selleck was forced to turn his back on the movie that would’ve made a whole different career for him. But of course, Magnum P.I. was to become an huge hit, airing for almost a decade and making Selleck a household name. Yet one can’t help but wonder, however, if he ever turned to consider what could have been.
When there was no one he wanted to make his first choice, Spielberg recalled saying to Lucas one simple but important thing. He told Lucas that there was one other actor that could do the part. The actor was Harrison Ford, who was a former partner of Lucas in the film “American Graffiti” and the original “Star Wars” trilogy. Ford was not the superstar he would become in the world, but he had the right mix of rudeness and size. Spielberg and Lucas chose to take the script for Indiana Jones: Raiders of the Lost Ark to Ford. Later the actor admitted that he was instantly smitten by the material. He was willing to do the role without any of the contractual squabbling and hesitation that had surrounded the Selleck negotiations. The rest, of course, was the mythical butterfly effect that revolutionized action cinema.
It began in 1981 as a backup idea, but ended up becoming a huge franchise of five movies, a loyal international following and one of the most popular movie characters in history. The Indiana Jones franchise has continued on for decades since that time and the most recent entry was Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny in 2023. How the world almost became Indiana Jones for a completely different reason is an interesting thought to be sure. Had Tom Selleck not signed the TV deal, the whole tone and feel of the show may have turned. I’m not sure how much more charmed would have been Jones from Selleck, but he would have been warmer and more explicit about it, and maybe more humorous in a casual manner. Harrison Ford’s character was a grumpy old boy who was trying to stay out of this adventure, yet somehow couldn’t, and though he was always mad at it, he still accomplished puzzles from ancient times. Either of these things could have happened, but they would have been very different movies.
This is a tale of more lessons than one, and one of them is that a lot of success can be found in closed doors, as well as open ones. In Magnum P.I., Tom Selleck found himself playing Indiana Jones when he lost the role, making it the ideal role for his kind of laid back manhood.
