Filmmaker Gurinder Chadha faced repeated rejections when pitching her 2002 film 'Bend It Like Beckham' to British industry gatekeepers, who insisted the project could not proceed because finding an Indian actress capable of the required football skills would be impossible. When meeting with John Woodward, the incoming head of the UK Film Council, Chadha deployed a pointed rhetorical question—asking whether Woodward thought Harrison Ford actually performed his own helicopter stunts in action films—to challenge the fundamental logic of their objections. The comparison proved persuasive; Woodward committed the first million pounds of the film's five-million-pound budget that day.

The film ultimately achieved both critical acclaim and commercial success, becoming a landmark moment for British Asian cinema and influencing broader cultural conversations around gender, family, and religion. When Chadha recounted the story to Ford himself in 2023, the actor responded with characteristic dry humour, noting he was pleased to have helped her career—and confirming that yes, he does indeed jump out of helicopters.