This Ford is still in mint condition

Manila Times
By Jane Wollman Rusoff
August 28th, 2003

Harrison Ford mixes comedy with action in Hollywood Homicide

“YOU write that down, and I’ll never talk to you again!” Harrison Ford is threatening a reporter after blurting out a comment he wishes he hadn’t.

OK, here’s a hint: It has nothing to do with his love life. About girlfriend Calista Flockhart (“Ally McBeal”), Ford goes on the record with a simple “I’m in love.” This is darn open for the actor, notoriously close-mouthed about matters personal. “I try not to talk about that too much,” says the action megastar, 60. Just four years ago People Magazine tabbed him “The Sexiest Man Alive.” A year later Good Housekeeping trumpeted: “Hollywood’s Sexiest Star.” Even Modern Maturity proclaimed him “Butt-kicking sexy.”

If you’re hungry for private tidbits from the still-ruggedly handsome Ford, who plays a Los Angeles police detective in the action comedy-crime drama, Hollywood Homicide, here are a few he let slip in a recent phone chat:

• He hates desserts but likes to cook “meals in minutes.” His favorite pasta: De Cecco’s Spaghettini No. 12.

• It doesn’t bother Him at all when folks call him “Harry.”

• He has fun designing houses and apartment buildings. (Carpentry is, er, his sideline.)

• Relaxation hardly tops his agenda. Ford’s idea of kicking back is “going to sleep. I love it.”

Right now, he’s at home in Los Angeles, gearing up to play tennis. Earlier he worked out with weights. Sounds impressive, though, he confesses, his exercise regimen is only “loosely observed.” In an interview, the actor with the charming lopsided smile is soft-spoken. His voice, in fact, has a low, intimate tone: he’d probably sound just as come-hither reading the phone book aloud. When, for instance, he describes what he calls his key character trait, how he says it isn’t dry –he still rings sexy:

“What’s helped me most is tenacity–following through on projects and getting things done, having an organized and purposeful life.”

Certainly such stick-to-it-iveness has paid off. Ford is one of the most successful actors ever, reportedly making $25 million per picture plus 15 percent of the box-office take. And he shoots a film every year! So far, he’s racked up 35 features, 10 of which have each topped $100 million in grosses.

He became a household name more than 25 years ago starring as Star Wars’ cocky pilot Han Solo. He reinforced that popularity with two sequels and rose further as Indiana Jones in Raiders of the Lost Ark, following up that huge hit with two more Indy features. In the 1990s, he starred in blockbuster dramas Patriot Games, Clear and Present Danger, The Fugitive and Air Force One. Oh, Ford has had a few misses, too, like the 1995 remake of Sabrina, 1999’s Random Hearts and last year’s K-19: The Widowmaker, in which he played a somber Russian submarine commander.

Now he stars in much lighter fare. In Hollywood Homicide, he’s a grumpy, hard-nosed, hard-drinking detective whose private life is a train wreck. He and his much-younger partner (Josh Hartnett) moonlight–Ford as a real estate agent, Hartnett a yoga instructor. The film’s story line has these two unlikely buddies smoking out a rap group’s murder.

This marks the fifth time Ford has starred as a cop, including 1985’s Witness, for which he was Oscar-nominated–his sole nod thus far. But such typecasting doesn’t mean he didn’t prep to portray Hollywood Homicide’s Joe Gavilan. “I’ve played a policeman a number of times, so I’ve got the basics down. But,” he says, “I did some research with the L.A.P.D. because I wanted to get a sense of their distinct style and bureaucratic profile.”

Right, but this crime story has laughs. In fact, Ford took the part because “it was an opportunity to do some comedy–when my last comedy was K-19–and people didn’t think it was very funny,” he says with self-deprecating humor.

Would he have made a good cop in real life?

“Oh, Lord no! I don’t like the bureaucracy. It’s like a real job! And risking your life isn’t something that appeals to me.”

Yet it seems that Ford surely risks his life doing daring movie stunts–and often. Indeed, he’s been injured in the process. But such stuff isn’t dangerous, he insists, because “I work with professionals. And after so many years of doing it, I’m very aware of safety and make myself responsible for it.”

Ford’s Hollywood Homicide love interest is a radio psychic of a certain age played by Lena Olin, 48. “Her character is a mature woman. Mine is a mature man,” he says. “It’s nice to see grown-ups having a romantic relationship on the screen,” as opposed to young couples or an older man and a woman half his age. Critics carped at Ford’s 1998 Six Days, Seven Nights romance with Anne Heche, who, they moaned, was 27 years his junior. Two years later his co-star was Michelle Pfeiffer, then 42, in the thriller What Lies Beneath.

Flockhart, Ford’s off-screen ladylove, is 22 years younger than the actor and the single mom of a 2-year-old. Ford–legally separated from screenwriter Melissa Mathison–has four kids from two marriages, plus two grandsons.

He and Flockhart met at the 2002 Golden Globes awards when the actress reportedly splashed wine on him. Since that fortunate faux pas, magazines have been loaded with lovey-dovey photos of the pair food-shopping and holding hands at Hollywood galas.

About such photo-snapping, Ford huffs: “The paparazzi is making a very good living, I suppose. It’s very annoying. Being a celebrity is a pain in the neck. ... I’m an actor, and I work hard at it–but I don’t work hard at being a celebrity.”

Nonetheless, he likes to maintain that mystique and keep fans guessing. For example, he says, “You can’t assume from a character I play anything about who I am personally.” Hollywood Homicide’s” thrice-wed detective? “I understand the difficulties in his life. . . . I like that he’s pretty out-there. He’s uninhibited on occasion. I’m probably uninhibited from time to time–but rarely.”

Ford collects airplanes (six–all of which he pilots except for a big Gulfstream jet), motorcycles (nine), homes (an L.A. house, Big Apple apartment, Wyoming ranch on land the size of New York City’s Central Park). “But I don’t have a favorite airplane or bike. I don’t have a favorite character I’ve played, or a favorite kid. Variety,” he maintains, “is the spice of life.”

But he does admit to have a favorite pasta–that No. 12 skinny spaghetti. Ford seems to have passed down his fondness for culinary delights to son Ben, 36, a chef and owner of Beverly Hills restaurant Chadwick.

Father Ford says he’d cook more given some spare time, but “I have a number of interests, like serving on the board of Conservation International. Actually I don’t spend a lot of time relaxing.”

In the 1970s, Ford removed himself from the Hollywood fray, working as a carpenter for seven years while holding out for high-profile film roles. He still does “a little carpentry. But you lose your tool skills unless you practice every day. It’s like playing the violin. I do a lot of design work, though–building houses, apartments, things like that.”

Born in Chicago, Illinois, the shy Ford took drama in college to keep from flunking. Finding that he enjoyed acting, he later took work as a Columbia Pictures contract player for $115 a week. Guest-star roles on TV series like Gunsmoke came fast and easy. But, says Ford, “I was tired of doing the same crap over and over.” So for seven years, “I turned down most opportunities to audition. I was ambitious for better work. And I was seeing the competition thin day by day. Other people gave up. Today the competition doesn’t give up: They just die!”

He accepted a total of three acting jobs during his self-imposed hiatus. One was playing a drag racer in 1973’s American Graffiti. Four years later, he nabbed Star Wars, his breakthrough film. Next summer he’s on track to shoot Indiana Jones 4.

At 60, “I’m just doing what I do. I still have opportunities, still find challenge. I’m enjoying work possibly more than ever before because it gets easier the more experience you have.”

But seeking something new, eight years ago Ford took up flying. “I wanted to have another area in which I could learn and concentrate outside the movie business. It’s great to find a whole new world to be part of. And when I’m flying, the attention it takes is very restful and pleasant.”

Kicking off his seventh decade last July 13, he feels chipper: “I still have energy and interests. And,” he says, “I’m physically intact–relatively speaking.”

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