In 1983, Jack Nicholson was planning a movie. Three years later, Harrison Ford starred in it instead

Jack Nicholson was set to star in Peter Weir’s adaptation of *The Mosquito Coast*, but a pay dispute with the producers led him to leave the project. Harrison Ford took the role of Allie Fox, making the film in 1986, and the casting swap placed Ford in a performance quite different from his familiar heroic roles.

Nicholson discussed the project in a 1983 interview, saying he expected to make it with Weir; screenwriter Paul Schrader later said Nicholson was well suited to the character and argued the film would have been better with him. Schrader said Ford received the salary Nicholson had sought. Ford later called the film the best work of his career, though critics and audiences were less impressed, and he said he had not known Nicholson was the first choice.