Harrison Ford was at Pinewood studios in Buckinghamshire when a hydraulic door
fell down and hit him as he began work on Star Wars: Episode VII , Harrison Ford, the Star Wars actor, was airlifted to hospital after he was
crushed under a falling door on the set of the new film.The actor was at Pinewood studios in Buckinghamshire when a hydraulic door
fell down and hit him as he began work on Star Wars: Episode VII. Mr Ford, 71, who also played Indiana Jones, was immediately assessed by medics
on the M Stage at the studios close to spaceship, the Millennium Falcon, and
he was taken by stretcher onto a helicopter for further treatment. A spokeswoman for South Central Ambulance Service said: "We were called
at 4.24pm to Pinewood to reports of a 71-year-old male who had sustained an
injury to his ankle from a door that had fallen."Mr Ford was taken by air ambulance to the John Radcliffe hospital in Oxford
with a suspected fracture in his ankle. It is understood he has
no major
chest injuries but is awaiting results of further tests.It is unclear long he will be unable to film for, but his filming schedule
could be disrupted. The set of Stars Wars will also be re-checked for
safety. A spokesman for Thames Valley Police said: “We were called to Pinewood studios
at 5.05pm after reports of a 71-year-old man being injured by a garage door.” The Health and Safety Executive has launched an investigation into the
incident. An HSE spokesperson said: “We have been made aware of an incident at Pinewood
studios and are making initial enquiries.” A spokesman for franchise owner Disney, said: "Harrison Ford sustained an
ankle injury during filming today on the set of Star Wars: Episode VII. He
was taken to a local hospital and is receiving care. "Shooting will continue as planned while he recuperates." Star Wars: Episode VII began filming in mid-May when Director JJ Abrams’
company Bad Robot tweeted a picture of the Episode VII clapper board with
the message “#dayone” from Abu Dhabi. The film will be the first Star Wars title released by Disney, after creator
George Lucas sold the rights to the franchise in 2012. It will also see the return of the three principal characters from the
original trilogy - Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill), Princess Leia (Carrie
Fisher) and Han Solo (Harrison Ford). When it was rumoured that Ford may take part in a fifth Indiana Jones film
last year, the American actor shrugged of accusations he is too old to take
on the action role. He said: ‘I don’t think there is any barrier to Indiana Jones being an old
fart. I’m old enough that we don’t need [Sean] Connery anymore – I’m old
enough to play my own father.’ Star Wars: Episode VII is scheduled for release in December next year. Chancellor George Osborne earlier said the decision to shoot Episode VII in
the UK was "testament to the incredible talent in Britain" and
meant "more jobs and more investment". Mr Ford recently revealed that In Raiders of the Lost Ark, where Indiana Jones
proves that the gun is mightier than the sword and shoots the bad guy with a
minimum of fuss, that the scene hadn’t originally been planned that way. “It was meant to be the ultimate duel between sword and whip,” Mr Ford said. “And I was suffering from dysentery, really, found it inconvenient to be out
of my trailer for more than 10 minutes at a time. “I was puzzling how to get out of this three days of shooting, so when I got
to set I proposed to Steven that we just shoot the son a b***h and Steve
said “I was thinking that as well.” So he drew his sword, the poor guy was a
wonderful British stuntman who had practised his sword skills for months in
order to do this job, and was quite surprised by the idea that we would
dispatch him in five minutes. But he flourished his sword, I pulled out my
gun and shot him, and then we went back to England.” Dysentery wasn’t the worst thing that happened to Mr Ford while filming the
Indiana Jones films, however. “On the first Indiana Jones movie, I tore an ACL (ligament) in one of my
knees, can’t remember which knee,” Mr Ford said. “The scene in which I was fighting the big German mechanic on an airplane
called a flying wing, I was run over by the landing gear and injured my knee, but I can’t remember which one it was.”
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