Harrison gets personal

July 2 1998
New Letter

Harrison Ford's Six Days, Seven Nights.

He's well known for his disapproval of stars who use their celebrity status as a platform for revealing all about their personal lives.

So maybe it's surprising that Harrison Ford even considered keeping Anne Heche as his co-star in Six Days, Seven Nights once she "came out" as a lesbian.

Heche, who revealed herself to be the off-screen lover of US comedienne Ellen DeGeneres, shook the film world out of its self-imposed denial that romantic leading ladies could ever be ''that way''

Ford, who has starred in four of the top 10 grossing films of all time, could have vetoed Heche for the part - but apparently chose not to.

''I myself have very little interest in other people's personal lives,'' he says. ''Frankly, I don't give a damn. It was my personal decision with regards to Anne because she was the best actress for the part.''

In Six Days, Seven Nights, released in the UK on Friday July 3, Heche had been cast opposite Harrison Ford as a woman stranded on a Pacific island who falls in love with the pilot of the crashed plane.

For the 55-year old actor, doing romantic comedies like this is far from usual, as his stardom was built mainly on the rock of action-adventures.

''I have tried from time to time to fly in the face of conventional wisdom, to do what I consider a different movie,'' he says.'

'I've always understood that if I stick to one kind of character or one kind of genre too long, I'll suffer typecasting.''

If Ford has suffered any typecasting, it would be in the rugged, honest, everyman role in which he has developed a licence to print money. He seems to have felt like a change, though.

''I have a pretty good idea what my general cultural identity is. I can stretch people's notion of what I am to a certain extent, but I have to be realistic of the experience audiences have with me over the last 20 years. I know it's very hard to disabuse them of that experience.

''I picked this film because it was funny and I understood the character. Why he was repelled at first by this woman, and why he was later attracted to her.''

Surely films like Six Days and Seven Nights are not part of his normal box office image, though?

His answer is succinct - and honest: ''I don't expect a film like this to make the same kind of money that Air Force One does.''

Ford confesses to being a craft-oriented actor. He likes the little details of the work; enjoying the challenge of working very specifically on tempo and energy.

''I don't mind doing a scene over and over again,'' he says. ''I really like working with what all these people do in this silly job - it's a lot of fun.''

In the new film, Ford gets to play a pilot of an island-hopping small plane. In real life flying small planes is one of his hobbies.

''I fly a lot because I have the time, and happily enough I have the money to afford that time. It's a way to focus on something other than the movie business. I love planes. I also got my helicopter license in December.''

For someone who risks his life in his leisure time as a solo pilot, Ford is remarkably cosseted on set.

''I don't do stunts. Stunt people do the high falls, the car crashes. I do physical acting.''

Despite his stardom, you won't often find this man at Hollywood social events, as he tends to only go to Los Angeles on business or for film work. Home is a forest hideaway in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, where he lives with his screenwriter wife and two children.

This lifestyle suits him just fine, though.

''I don't see any obligation to make myself seem interesting,'' he says. ''I think it's unseemly to air your personal problems in public. Personal development is independent of any celebrity status.'