Harrison Ford Interview
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It's mid-afternoon and Harrison Ford is hungry. But even though he's
holed up in a suite at the luxury Four Seasons hotel in Beverly Hills,
the superstar passes on ordering room service and instead starts
attacking a pile of Kit Kats he's amassed on the table in front of him.
The actor tears into each bar with the same gusto he tears into his
roles on screen, whether he's playing a tough submarine commander as in
his new film K-19: The Widowmaker, or cracking whips and witticisms as
the resourceful and courageous Indiana Jones, which he'll reprise in
Indy 4 due to start shooting in 2004.
In other words, he's a man of action and all business who doesn't like
to waste a minute on unnecessary star trappings. He opens his own door
and there's no sign of the usual entourage of personal and studio PR
flacks and assistants hovering in the wings. The man is alone. His
handshake is firm, and you get a
gruff 'Hi' in a gravelly voice so low and so soft you can barely hear
him sometimes.
His appearance is similarly muted. Dressed in a pale blue,
expensive-looking shirt and black jeans, the star looks pretty much like
you might expect in person. His salt and pepper hair is cut short, with
the sheen of silver beginning to win the battle, reminding you that
despite his boyish looks, the actor has just turned 60. The small silver
hoop in his left ear is the only
concession to jewelry. There is no sign of a wedding ring now that the
twice-married father of four is formally separated from his second wife,
Melissa Mathison, after nearly 20 years of marriage.
There's also no sign of Calista Flockhart, the 37-year-old willowy star
of Ally McBeal, whom Ford is apparently set on marrying.
Characteristically, the star remains tight-lipped about the
relationship, although in this rare interview he does open up - a little
- about his life, his career, and his love of flying.
You play a Russian submarine captain in your new film. Don't you have
some Russian blood?
Yes, my grandmother was a White Russian Jew who left there in the early
1900s, and I can't say that I ever felt a strong emotional link to
Russia, although there's something about the dourness, the resignation
of the Russians, that I felt in my grandmother and mother. Perhaps I
have a certain dourness, but I don't think it comes from being Russian
necessarily.
Did you go to Russia?
I went on several trips there for the film and I did observe the people
and how they behave and look, and even that brief Russian experience was
important for me.
If you could go back to when you started out, would you have done
anything differently?
I don't ever think about it like that, as I don't think I would have
been able to do anything differently except what circumstances compelled
me to do. I couldn't have willed myself to be smarter or more talented.
I went through a process of learning my craft on the job, and looking
back, no, I wouldn't change anything.
Do you ever feel you were just destined to become a huge star?
Well, what I depend on is hard work, committment, and paying attention
to the details and people I work with. I just try and learn from them. I
don't have any real theory about why I became a star, or what's going to
work for the audience.
Would you still have been an actor or chosen some other career?
Well, I did work as a carpenter for a while early on, but I always
wanted to act.
If you could have played ANY part on the big screen, what would it be?
It doesn't work that way for me. I don't have a dream role. It's more a
question of looking for something different from what I've done lately,
and a role and character I connect with emotionally and feel for.
Sailors and actors are notoriously superstitious. Are you?
No, not at all. I've never had any superstitions. I wish I had a cute
story like that, but the fact is, I don't.
If you had to go back in time and could only make Bladerunner or the
Indiana Jones films again, which would you choose and why?
I suppose I'd go with Indy, because in the end it'd be more fun for more
people - if you think of film as a popular medium. And while I admire
'Bladerunner' and the ambition it had and its vision and uniqueness,
Indy touched many more lives.
Is it true that the famous scene where you just shot the sword- wielding
attacker instead of getting into a big fight with him was because you
had a bad case of diarrhea that day?
(Laughs) It's true. We'd come up with this big action sequence which
would have taken 4 days to shoot, a contest between my whip and the
guy's huge sword. And I'd gotten dysentery, and it just also seemed
better storytelling for me to follow the girl who'd been abducted than
to get involved in this long fight. So I said to Steven, 'Let's just
shoot the son-of-a-bitch instead.'
Are you still a 'Star Wars' fan and what do you think of the last two
films?
I'm still a fan and I appreciate them. I haven't seen 'Attack of the
Clones' yet, but I enjoyed the one before.
Are your two youngest children Georgia and Malcolm big 'Star Wars' fans?
You know, I think they felt a little bit separated from the common
experience by the fact that they know it's dad. They're robbed a little
bit of that. But it's a small price to pay. They get a few benefits
having me as dad.
You do a scene in "Witness" where you are using a lathe. Was that from
real life experience or were you coached?
It wasn't a lathe, it was a plane and I had to plane this piece of wood.
The prop man gave me a plane, but he didn't know anything about them,
and how carefully you have to adjust and sharpen them so that you can
pull off one long shaving. So it was actually a great chance for me to
sharpen and adjust it and use it on camera.
Do you still do carpentry? What sorts of things do you make?
It's sad but I've lost my chops. I used to make all kinds of things,
bits of furniture and so on, but I don't make stuff anymore. What with
work and everything I just don't have the time anymore.
Do you still see youself as an action figure? Or is it getting harder at
60 to run around so much?
I'm still happy to run and jump and fall down, and I'm still capable of
doing action scenes.
Are you up for doing Indy 4? Spielberg said he's trying to work up the
energy.
Absolutely, we're still working on the script but I'm up for it.
You turn 60 next month - do you see that as a milestone or just another
birthday?
No, it's just another birthday for me.
Do you feel you've mastered a lot of things in life now, or is it still
a daily process?
It's a daily process. I don't think I've mastered very many things at
all. I feel I've learned a bit more about acting than when I started,
and I've learned more about flying. But I never feel any sense of
mastery in any area. I think that's a dangerous conceit.
Does it get easier as you get older, or harder?
Both. I think you develop certain ideas about how things should be done,
and what should be done, and sometimes it's har to get anyone else - or
even yourself - to come up to the mark that you've set. But I don't
think it's a question of age so much as one of experience.
Do you still have demons?
No, although I have aspects of my character that I wish were not there.
But it's a matter of proportion. I think they are less scary than they
were before, and I'm more able to deal and control or just accept them
now.
You have a reputation as a very punctual person. Have you always been
that way or is it an increasing awareness of how precious time is?
I think I've always just wanted to use time as capably as I can, and get
back to life off screen. Talking like this is a job to me.
You separated from your wife and are now apparently seeing Calista
Flockhart.
I'm not going to talk about her. The tabloids are already full of
erroneous facts and stories.
How do you respond to suggestions that you're going through some kind of
mid-life crisis?
Not that it's anyone else's damn business, but no, I don't think I am.
In fact, I'm fine and quite happy, thank you.
Are you related to 'The' Ford family?
(laughs) No.
Do you drive a Ford?
Yes, and I've driven many Fords over the years. Don't ask me to remember
which models.
What's the wildest thing you've done recently?
In what sense?
Out of character.
(laughs) Oh, I don't ever do anything out of character.
You make it sound like you lead a very boring, controlled life.
I do, I do, although I don't know that controlled is the right word. But
I lead a pretty regular life. Probably the most unusual thing I do is
flying, and I do that a lot.
And what do you get out of it?
I get the pleasure of practising a skill and taking responsibility for
myself, and I just love being in the air and all the mechanical aspects
of flying and the machines. I also love the unique perspective you get
from a smaller plane and how you can go where you want and see what you
want to see. I also love flying helicopters and doing useful things like working with the
Sheriff's department in search and rescue squads and occasionally
helping someone out.
Do you fly solo a lot?
Most of the time, and it's just very, very relaxing to fly and to get
away from it all. I love that.
How many planes do you have now?
Six, but I don't fly any jets because that's like a desk job. Many of
the planes I fly use the same skills people like Lindhberg had in the
early days of flying.
Ever scared yourself flying?
I've been in a couple of situations where I should have been scared but
I was so invested in solving the problem that I didn't get scared. I
just had to work my way through it.
Do you worry about the future for your kids, or are you optimistic?
Of course I worry, about the future for all children in general and my
particular children. There's always been conflict and there always will
be. It's the same old shit, the same struggle to be on top. It's a
dismal situation and you wish people would learn how to get along, but
it seems unlikely. I'm even more concerned about what we're doing to our
planet and how much has to be done to even safeguard the potential for
continued life here. That's critical, dealing with the human
interference in the natural order of things and the future need for
clean air and water. We've got to start living in harmony with nature
instead of spoiling it.
You have a big ranch in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Do you still spend a lot
of time outdoors?
I try to, and I think of flying as being outdoors. I still really enjoy
walking in the woods, but I've never been a person who spends a lot of
time in the back country.
What are your extravagances?
Planes and flying, and airplane insurance. That's a big extravagance.
What's the biggest downside of stardom for you?
I've always said that I'd love to have anonymity back. But I don't
consider myself a loner, I don't really spend that much time alone, and
I'm not obsessive about privacy. I just like to maintain some control
over it. So the biggest negative is the loss of anonymity, being able to
walk down the street unmolested
as it were, or go out to a restaurant unbothered. On the other hand, the
biggest pleasure is having people come up and say, 'You've given me
pleasure, thank you very much.' So it cuts both ways. (END)
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