Harrison Ford talked his ex-wife, Melissa Mathison, into writing a legendary movie with Steven Spielberg. In 2002, Harrison Ford began dating fellow actor Calista Flockhart for the first time. After that, Ford and Flockhart got married in 2010, and they have been together ever since.
Long before she married Ford, Flockhart played the lead role in the very popular legal comedy-drama Ally McBeal. At its peak, that show was so popular that fans still want to know how much the cast of Ally McBeal is worth 20 years later.
Some people have forgotten that Ford used to have other wives because Flockhart was once so well-known and has been married to Ford for more than ten years. Ford walked down the aisle twice before he married Flockhart.
Many of Ford’s fans don’t know that one of his ex-wives wrote the script for one of the most popular movies ever made. Also, Ford’s ex-wife would never have worked on that popular movie if he hadn’t persuaded her to do so.
Harrison Ford Talked His Ex-wife Into Writing the Script for E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial
After Melissa Mathison turned down Steven Spielberg, he told Harrison Ford what happened, and the Star Wars actor had a funny answer.
“I went back to the set and shot a few scenes with Harrison. I told him this strange story about running into Melissa while she was looking for seashells in the middle of the Tunisian desert. I told him I had asked her to help me write a movie, but she said no. Harrison said, ‘Sounds like Melissa…'”
Spielberg still wanted to work with Mathison, so he went to Ford and asked for help. “”Can you help me?” I asked. Let me talk to her tonight, he said. So, Harrison went to work the next day, and the first thing he said was, “I think she’s changed her mind.”
Spielberg and Mathison got together to talk about working together because of Ford. Mathison told Spielberg that she barely paid attention to their first conversation, which was funny, so he had to explain his idea again.
Since E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial has a lot in common with Spielberg’s other movies that have nothing to do with Mathison, some people might think she just wrote his ideas down for him. But Spielberg said that Mathison had a big effect on the movie right from the beginning.
“She started coming up with ideas with me and added a lot of new ones. And that’s when I knew I had someone to work with. Melissa started writing again.”
Mathison joined Spielberg in the editing room several times a week while he was finishing up work on Raiders of Lost Ark. During those meetings, Mathison and Spielberg worked together to come up with the story for E.T.
Mathison then wrote the script on her own, and when Spielberg read it, he was very impressed, even though they had to make changes. “When I finally read the script, I pretty much said, ‘I could make this movie tomorrow.'”
When it came out, E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial was, of course, so popular that it made the most money of any movie ever. Mathison was also nominated for an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay.
Due to his part in making E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial, it makes sense that Harrison Ford shot a cameo for the movie, even though it was cut. On top of that, it’s awesome that Mathison and Spielberg worked together on the script for The BFG right before Mathison died.
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