Tom Selleck recounts CBS preventing the 'Raiders of the Lost Ark' role

The catch here is that Selleck never actually turned down the role. The mustache himself set the record straight on Letterman, laying the blame at the feet of CBS:

“They held the offer out about a month. And the more they held out the offer and talked to the network, the more the network said, ‘no…’

So I go to Hawaii to start Magnum, the actors go on strike, and I had given my deposit to a landlady and I couldn’t afford a security deposit. So I start working as a handy man, in Hawaii, with no job. And guess who comes to Hawaii to finish their movie? Raiders of the Lost Ark. So I could’ve done them both.”

Selleck as Indy makes 'Sack the Agent' List

Reality check - Don't blame the agent, blame the network since Selleck was held out of Indiana Jones due to his Magnum PI commitments. From http://www.halcyonmag.com comes an article "Sack the Agent"

A wise man once said that experience is a hard teacher; it tests you first and teaches you the lesson after. With that in mind, let’s hope that the agents to these actors and actresses have been studying hard. It time to reveal the top 10 shoulda, woulda, coulda’s in Hollywood history…

Mel Gibson as Gladiator, John Travolta as Forrest Gump...seems like a bunch of bad ideas in hindsight. So... at #4.

Tom Selleck: Indiana Jones. Tom Selleck was once given a choice: Magnum PI, or Indiana Jones. With both projects providing a scheduling clash, Selleck’s agent nobly said that Tom should honour his initial deal for Magnum PI, thus forgoing the chance to grab his fedora and whip (standard archaeology professor issued) and make one of the most successful franchises of all time. To add insult to injury, Magnum PI was later put on hold for 6 months due to a writer’s strike, meaning that Selleck could have been legging it from giant boulders after all. Still, at least he made An Innocent Man…

http://www.halcyonmag.com/2011/09/04/top-10-%E2%80%9Csack-the-agent%E2%80%9D-casting-blunders/

1983 Playboy interview Tom Selleck No regrets on missing Indiana Jones role

Playboy: Do you admit that the biggest selling factor in High Road was Tom Selleck? The picture made money, but the reviews were mixed, at best.

Selleck: Well, I think it was a good movie, but if people came to see me, that's great. I hope they keep coming, because I want to keep making movies. And I prefer calling them movies. I think we can really get full of ourselves when all of a sudden it's "careers" and "films."
Playboy: Didn't you almost become a movie star before becoming a TV star when George Lucas offered you Harrison Ford's role in Raiders of the Lost Ark?

Selleck: Yes. I was also going to do Victor/Victoria, by Blake Edwards. Both would have been exciting projects, but when there were scheduling conflicts, I chose Magnum.

Playboy: Any regrets?

Selleck: No. I can't imagine anybody doing a better job than Ford did. It's his movie, his accomplishment. It was offered to me, and I tested for it. I'd already done the pilot for Magnum, and when Lucas and Steven Spielberg offered me Raiders, CBS picked up my option for Magnum. The network tried to talk them into delaying it, but it didn't work. I have always felt a sense of accomplishment in that I tested for the part and got it.

I know it's easy for me to say now, since Magnum became such a hit. Raiders was such a successful film that had Magnum gone on the air and been canceled after four shows, I might have been depressed. Really depressed. [Another knock. "Rehearsals, Tom!" After a half hour, the interview resumes.]

Playboy: You've been called the new Gable, the new Redford, the new Newman. Is that kind of PR hard to live up to?

Selleck: If it comes from the PR people, I say, "Forget it, guys." I just laugh. If a critic says it, I think all you can be is flattered by that stuff. There isn't going to be another Gable or Redford or Newman. To be mentioned in the same sentence is real flattering. I'm a big fan of all those people. The problem with buying any of that stuff yourself is that next year, they'll be calling somebody else the new Gable. If you really buy that, you've got a long way to fall when it changes--and it will change. Actors have a lot of hills and valleys in their careers, and I see no reason that I won't have a few more valleys in the future. I don't want to fall that far.


http://www.playboy.co.uk/article/16309/playboy-interview-tom-selleck#texttop

Tom Selleck interview: talks Indiana Jones role

from an interview September 30, 2010 with Collider


What did you think Magnum was going to be when it started?

Tom: Thirteen paychecks. We were picked up, and that was the best thing that ever happened. I didn’t know past that. It almost didn’t go because CBS got in a fight with Universal. Universal said, “We’re not shooting it in Hawaii,” and CBS said, “We bought a show for Hawaii.” It was off the schedule after it sold, so it was a bit of a roller-coaster for awhile. Then, I went over there to start it and the Screen Actors Guild went on strike. I was stuck with a rent I couldn’t afford and worked for my landlady for seven bucks and hour, so I didn’t have to give up my security deposit until the show actually started.

Is that when you almost got the Indiana Jones role?

Tom: Yeah, I couldn’t do it. Bob Daly wouldn’t let me do it. I got offered Indiana Jones, after I did the pilot. While it turned out I could’ve done both, CBS said, “No, we’ve got a contract.”

Was that disappointing?

Tom: Yeah.

More disappointing when you saw the box office?

Tom: No. Steven [Spielberg] and George [Lucas] let me read the script. Up until then, I was pretty philosophic because I thought Magnum was probably going to sell and I told them that. They said, “We’re not worried about that. We’ve got cards to play with the network.” I screen-tested without seeing the script, and they let me go into an office when they made me the offer, so that I could read the script. I went, “Oh, my God!” because it was all there. It was on paper. They held out the offer for about a month. Harrison gets sick of this because he’s indelible. He’s Indiana Jones. It’s just an interesting story and I’m proud that I didn’t drive my car into a wall. I lived up to my contract and things didn’t work out so badly.

The really big problem for Selleck was how the timing worked out - CBS, naturally, would have had no problem having Selleck star in the picture under normal circumstances. Who wouldn’t want the star of their upcoming series to be the lead in a major motion picture? It’s great publicity.

The problem was that Magnum P.I. was developed for a specific purpose - to make use of the sets and production equipment left in Hawaii from the filming of the long-running series Hawaii 5-0.
Therefore, since that series was still filming until the beginning of 1980, CBS could not film Magnum P.I. any earlier than early 1980, which directly conflicted with the March 1980 filming schedule for Raiders of the Lost Ark.

Thus, CBS told Selleck he could not do the film.

That’s fairly well known, but what’s a bit less well known is that, as it turned out, there was a television writer’s strike in the Spring of 1980 that halted production of Magnum P.I. long enough that production was delayed for a few months, giving Selleck plenty of time to do Raiders of the Lost Ark…if it hadn’t already been given to another actor.

Pretty sad.

As a cute gag, in one of the very last episodes of Magnum P.I. ever made, Selleck was finally given the chance to play Indiana Jones, with “The Legend of the Lost Art.”

Selleck Still Waiting for Indiana Jones Payback

Tom Selleck is still waiting to work with STEVEN SPIELBERG, more than a quarter of a century after he missed out on the chance to play INDIANA JONES. Selleck was offered the role of the swashbuckling archeologist in 1981's Raider's of the Lost Ark, but was contracted to star in Magnum, P.I. and a studio dispute forced Spielberg to hire Harrison Ford instead.

The director promised Selleck they would make a movie together - and the 62 year old is still waiting. He says, "I still have a letter from Steven Spielberg saying what a rotten deal I'd gotten and that I had a part out there and somewhere along the line we are going to work together. I haven't played that card yet." (IG/CA/MT)

BY: WENN | Wednesday, December 5, 2007

http://www.atpictures.com/news.php?id=4523

Tom Selleck Screen Test for "Raiders of the Lost Ark"

Screen test shots of the actor auditioning for the role of the famed archaeologist/adventurer have emerged, with the star even donning the wide-brimmed hat made famous by HarrisonFord in the Indiana Jones franchise.

Reports claim that Selleck was forced to turn down the role in "Raiders of the Lost Ark" as he had signed to star in cult TV series "Magnum PI" and the studio would not release him.

In a cruel twist of fate, shooting on the series was delayed by six months due to writers' strikes, meaning Selleck could have done both.

One person who will certainly be happy that Selleck passed on the part is Ford, whose status as a leading man was cemented by the role and the following prequel and sequels.

He went on to star in box office hits such as Patriot Games, Airforce One and What Lies Beneath. He most recently reprised the role in 2008 in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

Magnum PI, meanwhile, ran for eight years and Selleck went on to star in a number of big-screen hits including "Three Men and a Baby."

Read more: http://www.metro.co.uk/film/865659-tom-selleck-screen-test-shots-for-indiana-jones-emerge#ixzz1OgJKzZ00