Harrison Ford

Having it out with America's favorite action hero

Harrison Ford, a true pop culture icon and a bona fide movie star, has a reputation for getting a little testy in interviews. Nevertheless, for our one-on-one, I figured I’d be able to at least strike up a friendly conversation with the guy, and get some questions answered along the way.

Which is what happened. Until things went horribly wrong.

I’d seen his new film, Firewall, and found it to be tantamount to a particularly good episode of 24—fast-moving, thrilling, lots of up-to-the-minute computer technology, but nothing you could really sink your teeth into.

After an awkward round of photos, the interview began and he immediately put his game face on. First, I asked him about his new film and how it plays on our current national fears about identity theft and privacy invasion. Was it an intentional attempt to capture the mood of the times?

“No, I wasn’t particularly looking for something topical,” he answered, his expression unchanging. “I’m looking for a story that I think will make an entertaining film. And by entertaining, I don’t just mean a trifle,” he added, as though he sensed that I didn’t love his film. “I want it to mean something on an experiential level. I want it to be emotionally engaging.”

I asked if he had a lot to do with putting the film together.

“Well, I am always involved in the script, that’s one of the things I have approval of,” he answered. “We worked very long and hard on this script. This was a particularly arduous film getting to the screen.”

“It seemed like it was physically arduous for you, too, the way you get thrown all over the place when you’re getting the crap beat out of you at the end,” I added impulsively (though I swallowed the urge to bring up how he’s doing Indiana Jones 4 at such a grandfatherly age).

“Well, I was, but I wasn’t getting beat up. I was faking it,” he explained, as if such a thing had never occurred to me.

OK. Improvising wasn’t really working out here, so I turned to my list of prepared questions and asked him, “Were you familiar with the highly technical computer lingo that so much of the film relied on?”

 “I made it my business to be,” he said. “I needed to inform myself about the specifics of this film. I spent a lot of time with banking and computer people. The theory and the plot are very realistic.”

So far, so good. “Is it difficult to make a film that mostly revolves around computer screens exciting?”

 “It can be. You can get caught up in wanting to see things typed up in the screen. I think other directors might have made a mistake and spent too much time on that, but Richard Loncraine rightly understood the proportions and made it interesting.”

Starting to loosen up a bit, I asked if he was thinking about taking on future roles that would deviate from the competent, good-guy characters he normally portrays. I was hoping to engage his imagination, but he took it the wrong way entirely.

“I don’t think I always play the same character,” he said, somewhat miffed. “The character in K-19 was very different from this character. And Mosquito Coast. And What Lies Beneath.”

OK, I’d seen Mosquito Coast years before, where he played a nutty dad; and I was aware that he played a crazy husband in What Lies Beneath. Later, I realized I’d once seen about two-thirds of K-19: The Widowmaker (where he played a bad-guy Russian submarine commander) on TV—but I didn’t recognize the name when Ford spoke it. In fact, I thought he’d said “Canine,” and that maybe it was some dog film that I’d missed. My intended (and obviously badly communicated) point had been that his biggest films all banked on him playing the crusading hero.

In an attempt to steer things to safer waters, I started to ask: “About Firewall, you said this is the kind of film you want to do—”

“I said this is a kind of film that I wanted to do,” he said.

“Right. Well, what other kinds of films are you interested in doing?”

“I’d like to do comedies, films that have other types of appeal. That’s why I did K-19, which I know you’re not familiar with.”

Ouch. I brushed myself off, got back in my seat, and hit him with one more:

“You’re on this tour, talking about the film. Is it something you enjoy doing?”

“Yeah, it’s part of the process, but I don’t particularly enjoy it. I’m aware of the opportunity I have to bring people’s attention to the film. I have a goal, an ambition, and I am in pursuit of that ambition.”

As I left the hotel, I ran into Joyce Kulhawik from Channel 4 News, who was heading up for her interview with Ford. She asked me how it had gone. I pondered for a moment, then answered: “I think he’s in a good mood.”

She grimaced slightly as the elevator door closed.

FIREWALL
RATED | PG-13
OPENS | FRIDAY, 2.10.06

- By David Wildman