Harrison Ford Q&A

The TOMB flies to Barcelona to discuss new film 'Firewall' with the most successful movie star of all time.

Mar 28 2006

Harrison Ford tells The TOMB about flying planes, being a senior citizen and his long overdue return to moviemaking in the shape of 'Firewall'.

Last year you said of working on 'Firewall' with director Richard Loncraine that you didn't know whether to kill him or marry him. So was it a good relationship?

I think it was a wonderful relationship. I really enjoyed working with Richard. I did push very hard for the things I believed in and he didn't always believe in the things I did, so we would reason together. I didn't want to get everything I wanted to get, if you know what I mean, but I did want to test my theories and for Richard to allow me to test his. We were collaborative in this particular case. I'm quite happy to work other ways but in this particular case I think that it worked well for both of us to have a collaborative relationship.

Do you like the resistance?

I like the intellectual exercise of being able to defend your point of view, to be able to forge a common point of view, a thread with which you both feel confident about.

'Firewall' seems to start out as a technical thriller then becomes a bit 'Harrison Fordish'.

Well, I appreciate what you are saying but I don't have an ambition for a movie to become 'Harrison Fordish'. We had the opportunity here to contrast the hi-tech part of the story with the visceral, animal nature of the story. I don't think either one of them would work without the other. We are introduced to this character's world. It is comfortable, advantaged, confident, productive and he has every confidence in the security of his life. Then the bad guys who want to affect their hi-tech scheme for stealing money hit upon an expedient - taking his family hostage. The brutality compelled him to do what they wanted him to do. And then at a certain point he had to realise that he would not be able to defeat them without beating them on their own terms to some extent. This is a guy who was about to be executed, they were going to take him away and shoot him. He knew that being dead would prevent him from helping his family, so he reached for the nearest object and hit the guy with the blender. Then the son of a bitch wouldn't die so he had to hit him again and then he had to hit him again, and it changed the man. And we get a chance to see what happens after that. That, to me, is drama.

Are you an instinctual person?

Yes.

Where do you get your visceral, hands-on moments?

Out of my own experience, out of my own imagination, out of my own observations of the world and how it works.

Do you use your celebrity to book a table or make an appointment with a doctor?

It's nasty but it's real and it works.

I also heard that you use your senior citizen's pass.

I don't have an actual senior citizen's pass. But if it's seven bucks to go to the movies and if you happen to be my age you can get in for four, well yeah, I'm no idiot. So I say 'that'll be one adult ticket for my girlfriend and a senior citizen's ticket for myself and kiss my ass'.

You have described yourself as an 'assistant storyteller'. Is that essentially what you are?

In most respects. The writer and director are understood to be the storytellers. I am an assistant storyteller.

Richard Loncraine said that 'Firewall' is a Harrison Ford movie. What does he mean?

I have no idea what he means. You have to ask him what he means. I assume that what he means is that in his mind there is some contest between what he wants to do and what makes a good Harrison Ford movie. I told him over and over again that that is bullshit. What makes a good movie is what makes a good movie. There have been Harrison Ford movies that worked and there have been Harrison Ford movies that didn't work. It's not about me. I insist that it not be about me.

But people do want to see you in a certain type of role.

They want to see me in a certain role but it does not then become my job to satisfy their ambitions, to have me repeat something that they enjoyed before. It is a service occupation but you have the option of changing the furniture in your store any time you want.

But doesn't the industry think in those terms?

I don't think that they do, they think about that at the marketing end of things. But they are very often thinking about marketing even before they read the script. It is what it is and perhaps I defend too strongly against the notion (of Harrison Ford) but the only pride I have is in doing work to the best of my ability, working as hard as I possibly can to try and satisfy other people's expectations. The rest of it I frankly don't care about.

You seem to spend a lot of time flying planes these days – do you have to be technologically competent to do that?

No, you don't. You have to learn and know what you need to know. You know how engines and fuel delivery systems work. You don't need to know how the computer works; it either works or it doesn't. And you'd god damn well better know how to fly an airplane without an autopilot if you're going to use the technology which cuts your workload way down. If it craps out you'd better be available to work on a more rudimentary level. That's what they say. Whatever happens in an airplane – a wing falls off, some shit is on fire, whatever – the first obligation is to fly the airplane and not to get distracted by what's going on. Fly the airplane and then figure out what's going on when you can. So technology is helpful but it doesn't do the job of a human brain.

Is flying special for you?

Hmmm. What I love about it is the freedom. That is the freedom that comes with responsibility. I like the blend of those two things. I like to be responsible for myself. I don't want anybody else to tell me. It is important to be willing to take responsibility for your actions and the outcome of any event. In a car you can pull over to the side of the road and sort it out. In an aeroplane it's a little more critical. I also love that when I'm up there I'm November-3-6-Charlie. I'm not Harrison Ford and that's nice.

The guys who talk to you must know who it is?

Well, they do. They know my voice.

Do you fly for fun?

All the time.

For business?

I do that too. I didn't do this trip because I don't have the range in my plane. But last summer we went into the back country with 15 guys in planes and camped out and that was really fun.

Would you like to do a romantic comedy again?

I wouldn't mind doing a romantic comedy again but it depends on whether the studios will cast a 50-year-old actress to play my girlfriend?

A 50-year-old actress?

Well as opposed to a 30-year-old actress, unless it's a May-December kind of story like 'Sabrina'.

So how important is being and feeling young to you?

It's not important at all.

But you are still believable.

Yes, as a 63-year-old man (laughs). Of course I could play a 50-year-old man but every newspaper article that is written has my age so the audience will go 'he's 63 so why is he falling down and why is he hitting that guy?' The truth is that those things happen, there is a reality and under the right circumstances a person of my age could react physically when all the other options are gone.

So what happens when the studios say you're too old for a role?

I would say fine, get somebody younger.

'Firewall' is released on Friday, when The TOMB will also have some exclusive news about 'Indiana Jones 4'.

UPDATE: Indiana Jones news here.

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