9 Captivating Details About the Film ‘Witness’

Released on February 8, 1985, Witness surprised critics and audiences alike, earning glowing reviews and securing second place at the box office during its opening weekend. Within a month, it dethroned Beverly Hills Cop as the top-grossing film of 1985. Globally, the movie earned close to $69 million, catapulting Danny Glover and Kelly McGillis to stardom and showcasing Harrison Ford’s dramatic range, earning him his sole Oscar nomination to date.

Remarkably, this was a film that initially struggled to find support. Peter Weir, the Australian director of Picnic at Hanging Rock, made his U.S. debut with this story of a Philadelphia detective safeguarding an Amish widow and her son after the boy witnesses a crime. Set against the backdrop of Pennsylvania’s Amish community, the movie defied Hollywood trends of high-concept comedies and sci-fi blockbusters, instead weaving a tale of forbidden love and suspense that resonated deeply with viewers. As Witness approaches its 40th anniversary, here are some lesser-known facts about this cinematic gem.   

The origins of Witness trace back to an unproduced script for Gunsmoke.

During the 1970s, William Kelley and Earl W. Wallace contributed as writers to the long-running CBS Western series Gunsmoke. As revealed in a 1985 interview with film expert Michael T. Marsden, featured in the book In the Eye of the Beholder: Critical Perspectives in Popular Film and Television, they developed a story in the show’s final year inspired by Amish characters from Kelley’s unproduced TV movie titled Jedidiah.

The proposed Gunsmoke episode featured a heroic character—likely Buck Taylor’s deputy Newly O’Brian—protecting a woman from an Amish-like group called the “Simonites” from harassers. After being shot, the character was nursed back to health within the Simonite community, where he developed feelings for the woman he had defended.

Although Gunsmoke ended before the episode could be made, Kelley and Wallace repurposed the concept. They adapted it for a storyline in the first season of How the West Was Won, retaining the fictional Simonites and casting Bruce Boxleitner’s Luke Macahan in a role similar to what would later become Harrison Ford’s John Book.

By 1981, both writers had shifted to other endeavors, but Wallace convinced Kelley to revisit their story. They modernized the fish-out-of-water tale, relocating it to Pennsylvania’s Amish Country and transforming their cowboy protagonist into a Philadelphia detective.

Despite their efforts, multiple major studios rejected the script, partly due to skepticism about Harrison Ford’s acting abilities.

The screenplay by Wallace and Kelley, co-authored with Wallace’s wife Pamela—who reportedly suggested modernizing the story—landed with producer Edward S. Feldman in 1983. As detailed in Feldman’s 2005 memoir Tell Me How You Love the Picture, the script was initially named Called Home, an Amish term for death, and spanned 182 pages, equating to about three hours of runtime. Despite its potential, the script’s extensive focus on Amish traditions and its length deterred studio executives. One even remarked that the thriller elements were overshadowed by the “Amish content.”

Feldman personally financed the script and persuaded the writers to streamline it and enhance its pacing. However, studios remained hesitant. Fox dismissed it, claiming they didn’t produce “rural films,” though an executive suggested attaching a big-name star. Feldman envisioned Harrison Ford—then a box office sensation thanks to Raiders of the Lost Ark and Star Wars. Even with Ford on board, Witness faced rejection. Fox stuck to their stance, Warner Bros. objected to Ford’s $2 million salary, and MGM doubted Ford’s acting skills. Paramount showed interest but only if Feldman secured a director. 

Directors like David Cronenberg and John Badham declined the project. 

Feldman recalled considering Australian director Peter Weir (Picnic at Hanging Rock; Gallipoli) immediately, but Weir was already tied to what would later become another Harrison Ford project: Warner’s The Mosquito Coast.

This left Feldman scrambling to find a director. Peter Yates, known for Bullitt, briefly joined but left to focus on another movie. Arthur Penn (Bonnie & Clyde) expressed interest, but Paramount rejected him. John Badham, director of Saturday Night Fever and the 1983 hit War Games, declined, uninterested in a police thriller. David Cronenberg, fresh from The Dead Zone, was approached but declined, criticizing Amish culture as a “repressive, closed society,” as noted in the 1993 book Cronenberg on Cronenberg.

Feldman was nearing desperation when a breakthrough came: The Mosquito Coast was postponed, freeing up Weir for the project.

Robert Redford expressed interest in portraying John Book.

At a pre-production meeting in February 1984 with Paramount’s then-president Michael Eisner, Feldman and Weir discovered Robert Redford’s interest in the lead role of Witness. Weir was intrigued; Redford, an Oscar-nominated actor, had demonstrated his dramatic talent in films like All the President’s Men, The Sting, and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. However, Feldman, supported by Eisner and other Paramount executives, persuaded Weir to meet with Ford. Despite initial concerns, the meeting went exceptionally well. Feldman later described the encounter, saying the two men “fell in love.” Their rapport was so strong that when Weir’s Mosquito Coast resumed production, he cast Ford in the starring role.

Ford had reservations about Kelly McGillis’s casting. 

Kelly McGillis, later known for her roles in Top Gun and The Accused, had only appeared in one theatrical film before being cast as Rachel Lapp, the young Amish widow in Witness. Feldman revealed that just five months prior to filming, she had been working at a coffee shop in New York City.

Although Feldman and Weir were immediately taken with McGillis, Ford needed more convincing. Initially skeptical of her suitability for the role, he only agreed after Weir reminded him to trust the director’s judgment. Ford, known for his gruff demeanor, eventually conceded, reportedly telling Feldman, “Well then, I guess she’s in the picture.”

While McGillis and Ford maintained a professional relationship on set, they didn’t form the close bond that Ford shared with Weir. McGillis later commended Ford’s professionalism but noted his reserved nature, stating, “he’s a very private person” and “doesn’t open up easily to people,” as recounted in Robert Sellers’s 1993 biography Harrison Ford: A Biography.

To prepare for her role, McGillis lived with an Amish family, while Ford immersed himself in a Philadelphia homicide unit.

To authentically portray Rachel Lapp, McGillis—a California native and Julliard graduate—traveled to Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, and stayed with an Amish woman and her seven children. During her stay, she helped out with daily tasks, learning skills like milking cows, planting potatoes, and seeding alfalfa.

There’s some disagreement about how her stay with the Amish family concluded. While rumors suggested she was asked to leave for not disclosing her acting intentions, McGillis maintained this wasn’t true. A Paramount representative explained that McGillis left to prevent complications for the family after her photo was published in a local paper. She relocated to a nearby apartment, continuing her study of Amish traditions and language. 

Ford adopted a similarly hands-on method to prepare for his role as John Book. He dedicated two weeks to shadowing a Philadelphia homicide unit, even joining raids targeting murder suspects. He was exposed to crime scene photos and, reportedly, viewed murder victims in person. “The first body was shocking,” Ford remarked, “and the fifth was just as shocking.” 

This film marked Viggo Mortensen’s first appearance on the big screen.

During the spring and summer of 1984, when Witness was being filmed, Viggo Mortensen was a 25-year-old aspiring actor without a major film credit. He had missed out on the lead role in The Legend of Tarzan to Christopher Lambert and had his part removed from Woody Allen’s The Purple Rose of Cairo.

Mortensen’s fortunes shifted with Witness. Initially hired to deliver one line in the funeral scene, Weir was so impressed that he expanded Mortensen’s role and asked him to stay on set for six weeks.

“That film gave me a completely misleading impression of what filmmaking is like,” Mortensen shared in a 2016 interview with Vulture. “The director was courteous, there was no shouting, and everything proceeded smoothly and professionally. ... It felt like, ‘Wow, what a fantastic industry!’ It took me two more decades to encounter a similar experience.” 

The screenplay was adjusted to incorporate Harrison Ford’s woodworking expertise.

In the early 1970s, Ford—who had taught himself carpentry by purchasing power tools and renovating his home—quit his acting contract to focus on carpentry. He quickly became a sought-after carpenter for celebrities, including Joan Didion and Rocky star Talia Shire. By the time he landed a role in George Lucas’s American Graffiti, his carpentry work was so lucrative that returning to acting meant earning less—his salary for his breakthrough role was roughly half what he made as a carpenter. 

While revising the script for Witness, Weir focused on a short scene where Ford’s character, John Book, helps build a barn, only to fall from the roof and be rescued by an Amish man competing for Rachel Lapp’s affection. Weir replaced this moment with an intricate barn-raising sequence, now a standout scene in the film. He capitalized on Ford’s carpentry skills, ensuring the onscreen work was authentic—though Ford had to use spruce instead of the Amish-preferred oak. The scene became one of Ford’s largest carpentry projects, and Weir noted that Ford thoroughly enjoyed it. The barn, however, was dismantled shortly after filming, with the landowner selling the wood. Weir later utilized Ford’s construction talents again in The Mosquito Coast.

While local Amish community members declined to appear as extras, they contributed technical expertise and labor to the production.

The Amish community is diverse, with individuals holding varying degrees of conservative or progressive beliefs, much like followers of other religions. However, they generally avoid being photographed, adhering to the Second Commandment’s prohibition against “graven images.” This made it impossible to cast Lancaster’s Amish residents as extras in Witness. While some Amish men contributed off-camera as laborers and technicians, no Amish individuals appeared on screen. Feldman noted, “I assured them that if they worked on the film, they would never appear on camera, even as extras.” For scenes requiring large groups of Amish characters, such as the barn-raising sequence, the production enlisted local Mennonites, whose beliefs allow for photography, and added prosthetic beards to achieve an authentic Amish appearance.