HARRISON FORD HITS THE ACTION FIREWALL WITH HIS NEW FILM

While everyone is anxiously awaiting INDIANA JONES IV to get off the ground, in the meantime, the actor plays another everyman

Heee’sss Baaaaack. After a few years off, Harrison Ford comes back with force, starring in the new thriller FIREWALL. But what took him so long?

"It was a long process to bring this film to the screen," acknowledges Ford. "It was a long process working on the script, doing work that we thought was necessary. During that period of time I was engaged in the process and I didn’t really feel that I could go off and do something else."

The fact that the first director had to drop out for personal reasons only delayed production even further. Then Richard Loncraine took the reigns and basically put in his two cents about what the film needed, taking more time in pre-production. Hence, Ford’s small departure from the big screen.

Still, choosing this film seems right up Ford’s alley. He notoriously goes for scripts where there’s at least one good old-fashioned ass-kicking scene: AIR FORCE ONE, SIX DAYS AND SEVEN NIGHTS, WHAT LIES BENEATH, not to mention all of the Indiana Jones films, the Jack Ryan films and of course, all three STAR WARS films that he appeared in. But, interestingly enough, Ford, seems to think that’s only a coincidence and that it’s all par for the course.

"This isn’t a physical movie," explains Ford. "This is a movie that only has very brief moments of physical confrontation in it. It’s a movie about suspense and tension and so it’s not an action film. It’s a thriller with a brief bit of action."

Defending his artistic versatility, the 63-year-old Ford adds, "I’m drawn to all kinds of films. I participate in a variety of different genres. I like to do something different from what I’ve done lately. I want to work on the best dramatic material that I can, and it only happens that when you tell stories of conflict between characters it comes to a physical confrontation. That is the nature of the film."

The suspense and tension is definitely in abundance in FIREWALL. Ford plays a security specialist who is being forced to rob the very bank, via electronically, that he is paid to protect in order to save his family. Being pushed into that situation in real life, Ford says he doesn’t know how he would handle it because there is no guarantee the family would in turn come back alive.

"The character that I’m playing…he’s already given the man the money in order to secure his families’ release," explains Ford, "and he knows that because the guy has been sent to kill him in the house that his family is not going to survive it either. And so he takes a very bold step of taking the money back because it’s the only leverage that he has. That’s a scary and difficult thing for him to do and it’s critically important to the shape of the film. So you don’t know and I don’t know until you come to that moment what you are going to do."

Ford, who says he has a "fairly" decent knowledge of computers – he uses it particularly with his flight training and planning since he is an avid pilot – spoke to various security specialists to get their take on the script and the plausibility of it. The authenticity was an important aspect of the project for Ford.

"If they were at all kind of iffy on whether or not our concept would work we would add one proviso that we hadn’t given them right at the beginning," says Ford, "which was that their family was being held with a gun to their heads. ‘Now would it work?’ And they all said, ‘Yes, that it would.’"

Whatever you want to call it, there is an "action" scene involving a fistfight with actor Paul Bettany who plays, you guessed it, the bad guy. You might think staying in shape is criteria for creating those moments in the film, but Ford says it’s more about choreography than actual strength.

"I don’t do a lot of physical training," reveals Ford surprisingly. "I have suffered a lucky genetic accident and I play a little bit of tennis and that’s about it. When I am going to do a fight scene I stretch out a bit."

And more important than Ford’s endurance, he says, is the technical aspect. The positioning of his character, Bettany’s character and the equipment in order to make it look real and at the same time keep anyone from getting hurt

"It’s about acting," says Ford, "and knowing where the camera is going to be best placed to capture the energy of a particular move in a physical scene like that."

It’s ironic that Ford, who takes a very active role in his film making, never expresses any interest whatsoever in directing, the next step for many other actors his age and younger, i.e. Clint Eastwood, Kevin Costner and George Clooney. Ford says he has never even thought about it.

"I like what I’m doing," confirms Ford. "I enjoy what I am doing."

Ford, after over 35 years of acting, still gets a kick out of acting, looking at every single job as a new task and a wondrous adventure to explore. Where many may get bored with the extrinsic nature of the craft, Ford seems fit to be right where he is in his career.

"I have spent my life acquiring some understanding of the process," explains Ford. "Because it’s challenging to me because I get to participate as an actor in filmmaking which is a group activity and I like working with people on a problem."

And not to discount an added bonus Ford adds, "And because they’re paying me money to do it."

- By Pamela Harland, Managing Editor