Chicago Suburb Decides Against Building Harrison Ford Statue

A suburb in Chicago rejected a proposal to erect a statue of actor Harrison Ford. 

Artist Omri Amrany, known for creating celebrity statues, pitched the idea but aldermen on the Park Ridge, Illinois, City Council decided against it, saying costs were at issue as well as concerns that Ford, who attended high school in the city and was bullied as a teenager, would not appreciate the recognition, according to the Chicago Tribune. 

In a 2017 interview with GQ, the "Indiana Jones" star discussed his early teenage years, recalling how children would repeatedly push him down a hill. 

"I was the new kid, and I was kind of short and geeky, I guess," he said. 

"I'd come up the hill, and then they pushed me down the hill, and I'd come up the hill, and if there was enough time they'd push me down the hill again," he said, adding that it did not upset him all that much. 

"I was just more interested in the behavior and what was going on — I didn't really see myself as that much a part of it," he said. 

In light of this, Park Ridge Mayor Marty Maloney expressed concerns about whether Ford would want a statue erected in his honor in the city. 

"Based on some things I've heard just through Park Ridge lore about Harrison Ford and leaving Park Ridge, I would just want to make sure he was comfortable with what we're doing if we're taking that step on this," Maloney said. 

Park Ridge Alderman Harmony Harrington, meanwhile, harbored concerns that the statue idea came from outside the area and did not have the backing of the community. 

"I know we were approached from a very reputable fine art studio with perhaps greater vision than some of us have about what this could be for our town," she said. "But for me, I'd love to see projects like this come from the ground up; that means that the public and others are really invested in wanting this."

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