A police thriller about a city cop who goes undercover after a young Amish boy witnesses a murder had some major problems to tackle. It needed a strong lead performance, and it got Harrison Ford moving away from Fantasy Action and earning his only Oscar nomination. (Before Ford, the role was offered to Sylvester Stallone, which shows you how far off the mark this could’ve been.) It was also luck that Peter Weir was hired to direct, a filmmaker now associated with a fascination and respect for unusual cultures and customs.
The biggest challenge was that the Amish live a private life and don’t like to be photographed. That means none of them would play authentic background in the film or offer their places to be used as locations. They were concerned about tourists showing up to see where the film was made. When the production tried to rent an Amish farm for $700/day, they were politely turned down. Locations hired John King as a technical advisor. He was a local lumber salesman raised Amish who left the religion. This is when they found a farm close by that did not have Amish owners. It was also set back from the road, which gave the filmmakers the large vistas and privacy they were looking for.
The barn-raising scene was just a mention in the original script, but Weir felt it was important to show the community working together. Running several minutes with almost no dialogue, it’s even more impressive when you realize it was built entirely by the Cast, Background and Crew – mostly Construction in full Amish Costumes – while the Amish looked on curiously from the distance. If you’re wondering where to find the barn, like most sets it was taken down when production wrapped.
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