Harrison Ford surprised many who had never seen the venerated Indiana Jones and Star Wars actor, now 80, working outside of film. Perhaps most surprised of all was Shrinking series co-creator Bill Lawrence, who fully expected the actor to turn down the role he had him in mind to play across Jason Segel’s character.
Speaking with AP, Lawrence recounted his efforts to recruit the Han Solo actor to play a working-class therapist on the new Apple TV+ comedy series:
Bill Lawrence co-created Shrinking alongside Jason Segel and Brett Goldstein. Lawrence also is a showrunner for the Apple TV+ comedy series Ted Lasso, which features Goldstein as a crabby former footballer trying to improve his sour disposition, with intermittent support from the terminally optimistic titular head coach played by Jason Sudeikis. In his latest series, Lawrence is continuing the theme of “turn lemons into lemonade” with the help of a true big-screen legend in Harrison Ford, who also recently starred in the Yellowstone prequel series 1923:
“We had written in the script: ‘a blue collar Harrison Ford-type.’ I had known him a little over the years. So I said a Harrison Ford-type… Let’s just call him and ask, and when he says no, we’ll ask the next person. I sent him the script and called him. He called me up and said, ‘It’s a good script, uh maybe, what’s it like?’ And I wasn’t ready for anything other than ’no.’ I said, ‘Whoa, whoa, whoa, before you should talk to Jason Segel.’ And he was like, ‘Who’s Jason Segel?’ Alright I’m going to send you some movies, and you’re going to watch them. And he watched the movies, and said, ‘Jason Segel’s so funny. I’m going to be in London shooting Indiana Jones.’ And I said, ‘My buddy Brett [Goldstein]’s there shooting Ted Lasso, he’s going to take you out for a drink.’ And he had a drink with Brett and said, ‘I love that guy. Is he in the show?’ I’m like, ‘No Harrison, he’s in a different show. And he’s like, ‘Then why am I talking to him?’
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“It was one of those experiences, if he had not shown up on set, I would not have been shocked. But he showed up, he’s lovely, he’s inspiring… he’s 80 years old and still challenging himself.”
Focusing on Mental Health
AppleTV+
The subject matter of Shrinking – which also stars and is co-created by Jason Segel – is very much a meditation on grief, tragedy, and depression, as much as it is a comedy series. Segel has previously been open about his own mental health struggles in real life, telling Yahoo! Entertainment:
Speaking about collaborating with the aforementioned Ted Lasso fam, Segel said:
“In my own mind, they’re not stigmatized. I’ve asked for help so many times in my life, in so many different ways… I have always struggled a bit with anxiety. And some sense that something is wrong.”
The first episode of Shrinking is available to stream now on Apple TV+.
“I think that one of the things that the shows have in common is that they are hopeful. At the end of the [Shrinking] episodes, even though they’re going through some really complicated stuff and grieving and there’s loss, I think the message of the show is that, ‘Hey, we’re all in this together. None of us come out of this life unscathed and there’s actually some comfort in that.’”
