This despite his high public profile when it is time to promote his work. "It’s a part of what I do and there is profit for the film in my doing it. I mean we have the opportunity here to reach out through the audience and your fine outlets to bring the story of our movie to them and it’s an advantage so I take advantage of that opportunity," Ford offers candidly.
Unwanted publicity
However, when the ferociously private star has his private life splashed over the tabloids, the actor fights back. "It’s very irritating that people come into your face, then mob you, invade your privacy and then tell lies and make shit up that is just impossible. There’s no test of truth in the tabloid press or this proliferation of untested nonsense which is very hurtful to people," says an angry Ford.
Since Ford split, last August, with his screenwriter wife of 18 years, Melissa Mathison, relentless media coverage has linked him to actresses Lara Flynn Boyle, Minnie Driver and most recently, Calista Flockhart. Ford admits it is tough ignoring the professional gossip-mongers.
"I’d love not to pay attention to all of that, but the fact is that you have to be aware of what’s out there. I do not do publicity but at the same time it’s also important not to play that game which is to engage in constant sparring with the tabloids, so I walk away. But I want to know who I can sue when it is appropriate to take that kind of action. Normally they’re just inside the line of what the law allows." He adds drily, "I don’t have anybody to sue at the moment."
Fashioning a career that is varied
In a career spanning over a quarter of a century, the craggy 60-year-old and former carpenter has established himself as a Hollywood icon. True to form he refuses to acknowledge such status.
"I don’t care about it," insists Ford. "What I care about is that I have the opportunity to continue to work and that I have choices of good material that I can have some affect on the conditions under which I work and the quality of the material that I choose to work with."
Which is why, the actor concedes, he chose to go out on a limb choosing to play the flawed Russian commander of a wounded nuclear submarine at the height of the Cold War. Co-starring with Liam Neeson, Ford’s Captain Alexi Vostrikov is a stark departure from those iconoclastic heroes with whom the actor has been long associated.
The script came along at about the same time as he decided against reprising the role of Jack Ryan in The Sum of all Fears (Ben Affleck took on that role instead), and he has no doubt why he preferred to embark on the riskier K-19 both as star and producer. After all, he insists, "the object of an actor is to continue to play different kinds of roles and for me in different kinds of films. It’s what both amuses and engages me as well as offering me the chance to do something different for the audience. I’d be finished long ago if I continued to do the same thing over and over again."
"I don’t really make my choices on the basis of what the audience wants, but rather on what I think is an effective way to reach an audience. What I look for is something that I have an emotional reaction to because I think that I’m equipped to bring that emotion to an audience."
Lessons not learned
The prevalent anti-nuclear theme of K-19: The Widowmaker was also of interest to the actor, whose political activism is well known. Four decades on, Ford says, the lessons of the Cold War have not been learned. "It's just the same old shit, but practiced on a different scale and with different groups of people. Self-interest is the motivation of all kinds of idiocy and perfidy and whether it is practiced on a personal scale or a national scale it’s what leads to conflict."
In addition, conflict, adds Ford, in trying to relate this back to his movie, "is drama and drama leads to movies and hopefully we’re back there," he concludes laughingly.
Taking stock
So how does Harrison Ford see his career changing at 60? "I don’t look at my life at the decade mark and make any assessment. It’s a day-to-day thing. I feel good this day or I don’t feel good that day. I sometimes think that I’m an idiot and sometimes I think I’m the smartest guy in the room. It’s constantly changing," Ford says with a slight smile.
The day we spoke, he admits he was feeling more the idiot, especially when reminded that even at sixty, he is still voted the sexiest man alive. "Oh! that makes me so very, very happy," he says, with more than a tone of sarcasm.
Indy IV hinges on script
As to the future, depending on who you talk to, there is most likely going to be a fourth Indiana Jones movie. Ford remains noncommittal. "If there’s a good script and we all agree upon it, we’ll do it, but right now there’s NO script so whether or not I do it depends on the script."
As to the recent barrage of criticism that Ford, who will be well over 60 by the time cameras roll, may be too old to be playing an action hero, Ford hits back. "I don’t understand what that means: Is Indiana Jones somehow immune from ageing?"
Next up, he returns to the cop genre in the new Ron Shelton-directed thriller which he says will contain some comic elements. After all, as stoic and serious as he is, Ford is not without a sense of humour even though he loves to pretend otherwise. When reminded that while shooting K-19 he apparently made use of someone’s fart machine in between takes, without missing a beat, Ford replies: "That doesn’t sound like me, does it?" No indeed, Mr Ford!
Read the review of K19: The Widowmaker
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