Only Fools and Horses legend Sir David Jason has confessed that his world fell apart after missing out on a film role he believed would elevate him to stardom in Hollywood. The 84 year old screen icon, while familiar with television, had aspirations for his next venture to gain him more recognition in the US.
However, a devastating decision by the producers saw him harshly replaced by another actor. In his latest memoir This Time Next Year, David shares the heart-breaking moment when he was dropped from the cast following the pandemic in 2020.
“Still Open All Hours wasn’t the only project of mine that got wiped out by the pandemic. Something much bigger also went down the pan. A feature film I was all lined up for. Oh yes indeed: the movies. Hollywood! Well, actually I’m not sure. Maybe Borehamwood.”
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He penned: “But we were deep into discussions, that much I can tell you. By which I mean there had been a meeting. Big movie, apparently. Kind of a ghost story, if I understood the pitch properly. Glittering all-star cast, definitely – subject to confirmation, of course, as these things inevitably are. Bound for Netflix, don’t you know.”
He predicted the film would be a “massive hit at the box office” and would make “huge strides in the streaming market”. After meetings with the casting team, David agreed to participate in filming the new upcoming production, reports the Express.
David shared his experience of Boris Johnson’s national broadcast from a podium, where suddenly, “everything was cancelled”. He humorously recalled how his dreams of a breakthrough in the film industry and plans for a Malibu beach house (a modest 15,000 square feet with ocean views and motorised glass windows) were put on hold.
In his book, he jests about the tantalising prospect of film roles and admits that he learned it “pays to retain a high degree of scepticism” and not to get ahead of oneself by counting potential Malibu beach houses. He noted that often, only discussions take place without any actual filming, especially not with him involved.
Post-lockdown, David didn’t receive any updates about the movie but made a shocking discovery while waiting for a dentist appointment. He paints a picture of time passing: years going by, moons waxing and waning, a global pandemic coming and going, multiple changes in prime ministers, and Love Island recurring.
In 2023, while browsing a newspaper at a dentist’s waiting room, he spotted an advert for a new cinema release: The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, starring Jim Broadbent. It was the title of the film he’d had meetings about, but his name was conspicuously absent.
As I gently lower the paper onto my lap and lift my head, I find myself lost in a sombre daydream, only to be interrupted by a woman’s voice saying, “Lowering the paper slowly to my lap and equally slowly raising my head, I stare across the room and enter a state of what I can only describe as mournful reverie, broken eventually by a woman’s voice. ‘The dentist will see you now, sir.'” David acknowledged that he “completely understands” the decision, praising Jim Broadbent as a “superb actor with a major background in film”. Nevertheless, in the book, he expressed his disappointment with the producers, “It’s just that… well, what about that meeting? Didn’t we have an arrangement here? Anyway, I retreat and quietly nurse my bruises – from this development and also, of course, from the dentistry. (Installation of a crown: never fun.)”.
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