“Tom Selleck Wonders if Harrison Ford is Tired of the Indiana Jones Casting Story”

Tom Selleck skyrocketed to fame as the Ferrari-driving, Hawaiian shirt-wearing private detective Thomas Magnum on TV’s Magnum, P.I., but this iconic role came at the cost of another: Indiana Jones.

Selleck, who was initially cast as Indiana Jones in 1981’s Raiders of the Lost Ark, lost the role to Harrison Ford due to CBS’s contract obligations. Reflecting on the experience, Selleck tells Yahoo Entertainment, “I don’t have scars. What it did for me was that I became a better actor as people invested their confidence in me.”

Selleck credits the confidence Spielberg and Lucas showed in him with boosting his self-assurance. Despite not being able to take on the Indiana Jones role, he appreciated the belief they had in his abilities. “Whether or not CBS allowed me to do Raiders, Steven Spielberg and George Lucas believed in me enough to offer me the role and held that offer out for over a month. That was a significant confidence booster for me,” he explains.

In his new memoir, You Never Know, Selleck reveals the full story behind the role he lost and other Hollywood anecdotes. At the time, he had six failed TV pilots under his belt and was initially hesitant about Magnum, P.I., but a contractual obligation led him to take on the role. The script for Magnum was reworked, which improved his interest in the show, and he went on to shoot the two-hour pilot movie.

While waiting to see if Magnum would be picked up, Spielberg and Lucas invited Selleck to screen-test for the secretive Indiana Jones role. He excelled in the test, and Spielberg and Lucas even held the offer for over a month while awaiting CBS’s decision. Ultimately, CBS chose to move forward with Magnum, worried that Selleck’s potential fame from Raiders might lead him to abandon the show.

Interestingly, just as Selleck was set to start filming Magnum, the 1980 actors’ strike delayed production. He later saw in the local paper that Raiders would be concluding its shoot in Hawaii, which meant he could have potentially balanced both roles.

Despite this, Selleck kept his spirits up, buoyed by the success of Magnum, which won him an Emmy and became one of TV’s most-watched finales. When Raiders was released in June 1981, he went to see it at a local theater in Waikiki, despite friends’ concerns that it might be too upsetting.

Selleck recalls, “It took about five minutes and [Ford] just inhabited the role. A couple of times in the movie, I was mad at myself because of the ‘What if?’ But I wanted to enjoy the movie, and it was good—Harrison was terrific.”

The relationship between Selleck and Ford has remained friendly. Ford, who went on to star in five films of the blockbuster franchise, has publicly thanked Selleck for stepping aside. Selleck chuckles, “I heard that. Harrison has been great. I’m sure he’s sick of the stories. Steven didn’t help by including my screen test for the [30th] anniversary of Raiders. Harrison’s been a great sport. It’s his role.”

When asked if he’s seen the latest Indiana Jones film, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, Selleck responds, “No, I haven’t seen them lately. Blue Bloods keeps me busy, and it’s not for any other reason.”

Selleck’s memoir, which took four years to write, was intended to entertain. “I wanted to entertain people,” he says. “I included things that might move people or make them laugh, but the goal was to entertain. There aren’t enough books like that.”