A vintage Ford

Harrison Ford remains very much his own person, still exercising the kind of rugged star power even in his 60s, writes Jamie Portman.

BEVERLY HILLS - The unruly shock of hair is greying. The short-trimmed beard is more salt than pepper. And that weather-beaten face -- itself a craggy testament to the passage of time -- has clearly not been subjected to the tender mercies of Hollywood's nip-and-tuck brigade of plastic surgeons.

Harrison Ford remains very much his own person, continuing to exercise the kind of rugged star power that suggests that he's as durable as Mount Rushmore.

And he's certainly not in denial about being 63. Ask him whether he wants to do another romantic comedy, and you get a gruff laugh.

"Yeah, if the audience is interested in seeing a romance with a 63-year-old leading man," he chuckles.

For Ford, it's "all about the suitability of the script and the suitability of the casting." Yes, he'd like to do a comedy -- "but it doesn't necessarily have to be romantic comedy."

Ford is his usual thoughtful, soft-spoken and occasionally sardonic self. He's never been completely comfortable with the media, but he also has an old-fashioned courtesy and sense of obligation when it comes to promoting his films.

He comes across as a veteran superstar who, like a Spencer Tracy or Paul Newman, is prepared to age gracefully.

"I'm very comfortable with aging," he says reflectively. "I think that as far as age is concerned, the only wrong thing you can do is make a mistake and pretend to be something you're not -- to take on roles that are not age-appropriate."

In his new thriller Firewall, which opens Friday, he plays a middle-aged husband and father who falls prey to a vicious gang of criminals who are determined to use his expertise in computer security to rob a bank of $100 million U.S.

Ford is at ease playing such a character. And he promises that if the fourth Indiana Jones movie -- and by all accounts it will be an older Indie this time -- does start shooting by the end of the year, he will not be straining the audience's credulity. He cites the example of Firewall -- "a film in which I perform physically to an extent that will be sufficient for Indiana Jones."

Ford is talking to the media the same week that British veteran Christopher Lee has slammed Hollywood's current habit of casting "pretty boys" in projects for which they are unsuited, a week in which the Los Angeles Times seconded Lee's verdict with a lengthy article deploring the industry's lack of rugged and believable leading men among the new generation of actors.

Ford belongs to an older generation, and he's held in awe by Britain's Paul Bettany who appears in Firewall as the prime villain. Bettany says that over the years his co-star has created his own distinctive genre -- the Harrison Ford thriller -- and "he does it impeccably."

Firewall is in the line of previous Ford hits such as Patriot Games, Clear And Present Danger, The Fugitive, Air Force One and Raiders Of The Lost Ark -- films in which he emerges as a reluctant hero trapped in a desperate situation. Even the U.S. president in Air Force One emerges as a beleaguered Everyman.

As for Indiana Jones, regarded by most filmgoers as a super hero, Ford says he belongs in this category because Indie is always "way in over his head."

In Firewall, which was shot largely in Vancouver but set in Seattle, Ford plays Jack Stanfield, a high-ranking bank executive who has built his reputation designing the most effective antitheft computer system in the industry.

Bettany is the criminal mastermind who has been electronically monitoring every aspect of Jack's life for months, and who is now ready to pounce -- invading Jack's home, taking his family hostage, and ordering him to find a breach in the security system he has created and siphon $100 million into an offshore account.

Ford has his own personal prescription for a good thriller.

"Strong characters. A story without excessive complication. Characters equal to each other to the extent that the bad guy represents a significant threat. Enough opportunity for realistic behaviour so the audience can emotionally identify with the character."

Ford has suffered more that his share of on-set accidents over the years, and Firewall contains some physically tough moments, including one in which he is thrown out of a window and another in which he stumbles jumping onto a balcony.

The stumble, although dangerous, was deliberate on Ford's part.

"That's storytelling. I put it in purposefully. That's the kind of thing that I think is an observation of how people behave under those circumstances. It reflects the reality of that kind of circumstance."

Ford has always insisted he has never followed a long-term "plan" for his career. Instead, he has made a series of "decisions." Now that he's in his 60s, he's becoming more involved in a movie's development process, and after years of resisting an agent, he's finally hired one in order to secure him better access to good scripts. So he's optimistic about his current situation.

"At the moment, it looks pretty good to me. I've (got) some things in development which are beginning to bear fruit and which look like good projects. They're different genres, and some of them are character roles in which I won't play the lead."

He's firm on this latter point: If a good secondary role comes along, he'll take it -- if "it's a good strong character role in a good strong film."

Ford's professionalism impressed Firewall director Richard Loncraine. "He's a really demandingly good actor," Loncraine says. "I've never seen an actor convey narrative information without dialogue better than Harrison."

He cites an intricate moment of suspense that was done in silence. "Using what appear to be large brush strokes, Harrison would actually communicate that narrative without a single word."

Ford's response to this praise is low-key.

"I have always thought that words frequently get in the way too much," he says quietly. "Too much dialogue simply draws attention to itself. Or, if it's too clever, it draws attention to itself.

"If you can convey what you need to convey without words, it is very much more interesting because the audience has to pay a little bit more attention. They have to be with you. You have to depend on them being with you. And so they will be with you if you depend on them, if you respect them and don't try to hit them over the head with a blunt object, but instead invite them into your heart and mind."

So why does he like acting? It's a characteristically forthright Harrison Ford answer.

"Because it's a complicated problem. Because I have spent my entire life acquiring some understanding of the process. Because it's a challenge to me. Because I get to participate as an actor in filmmaking, which is a group activity, and because I like working on a problem -- and because they pay me money to do it."

- By Jamie Portman