An interview with Harrison Ford

October 2002
Handbag.com
by Mary Black

We asked handbag.com readers to post questions to Harrison Ford in our discussion boards. Take a look at our saucy Harrison gallery and read his answers to our readers' questions.

If you could go back to when you started out, would you have done anything differently?

I don't ever think about it like that, as I don't think I would have been able to do anything differently except what circumstances compelled me to do. I couldn't have willed myself to be smarter or more talented. I went through a process of learning my craft on the job, and looking back, no, I wouldn't change anything.

Do you ever feel you were just destined to become a huge star?

Well, what I depend on is hard work, commitment, and paying attention to the details and people I work with. I just try and learn from them. I don't have any real theory about why I became a star, or what's going to work for the audience.

Would you still have been an actor or chosen some other career?

Well, I did work as a carpenter for a while early on, but I always wanted to act.

Is it true that the famous scene where you just shot the sword-wielding attacker instead of getting into a big fight with him was because you had a bad case of diarrhoea that day?

(Laughs) It's true. We'd come up with this big action sequence which would have taken four days to shoot, a contest between my whip and the guy's huge sword. And I'd gotten dysentery, and it just also seemed better storytelling for me to follow the girl who'd been abducted than to get involved in this long fight. So I said to Steven, 'Let's just shoot the son-of-a-bitch instead.'

Do you still see yourself as an action figure? Or is it getting harder at 60 to run around so much?

I'm still happy to run and jump and fall down, and I'm still capable of doing action scenes.

Are you up for doing Indy 4?
Absolutely, we're still working on the script but I'm up for it.

You turn 60 next month - do you see that as a milestone or just another birthday?
No, it's just another birthday for me.

Calista and other extravagances

Do you feel you've mastered a lot of things in life now, or is it still a daily process?
It's a daily process. I don't think I've mastered very many things at all. I feel I've learned a bit more about acting than when I started, and I've learned more about flying. But I never feel any sense of mastery in any area. I think that's a dangerous conceit.

Does it get easier as you get older, or harder?

Both. I think you develop certain ideas about how things should be done, and what should be done, and sometimes it's hard to get anyone else - or even yourself - to come up to the mark that you've set. But I don't think it's a question of age so much as one of experience.

Do you still have demons?
No, although I have aspects of my character that I wish were not there. But it's a matter of proportion. I think they are less scary than they were before, and I'm more able to deal and control or just accept them now.

You have a reputation as a very punctual person. Have you always been that way or is it an increasing awareness of how precious time is?
I think I've always just wanted to use time as capably as I can, and get back to life off screen. Talking like this is a job to me.

You separated from your wife and are now apparently seeing Calista Flockhart.
I'm not going to talk about her. The tabloids are already full of erroneous facts and stories.

How do you respond to suggestions that you're going through some kind of mid-life crisis?

Not that it's anyone else's damn business, but no, I don't think I am. In fact, I'm fine and quite happy, thank you.

On planes, trains, and automobiles

What's the wildest thing you've done recently?

In what sense?

Out of character.

(laughs) Oh, I don't ever do anything out of character.

You make it sound like you lead a very boring, controlled life.

I do, I do, although I don't know that controlled is the right word. But I lead a pretty regular life. Probably the most unusual thing I do is flying, and I do that a lot.

And what do you get out of it?

I get the pleasure of practising a skill and taking responsibility for myself, and I just love being in the air and all the mechanical aspects of flying and the machines. I also love the unique perspective you get from a smaller plane and how you can go where you want and see what you want to see. I also love flying helicopters and doing useful things like working with the Sheriff's department in search and rescue squads and occasionally helping someone out.

Do you fly solo a lot?

Most of the time, and it's just very, very relaxing to fly and to get away from it all. I love that.

How many planes do you have now?

Six, but I don't fly any jets because that's like a desk job. Many of the planes I fly use the same skills people like Lindhberg had in the early days of flying.

Ever scared yourself flying?

I've been in a couple of situations where I should have been scared but I was so invested in solving the problem that I didn't get scared. I just had to work my way through it.

Do you worry about the future for your kids, or are you optimistic?

Of course I worry, about the future for all children in general and my particular children. There's always been conflict and there always will be. It's the same old shit, the same struggle to be on top. It's a dismal situation and you wish people would learn how to get along, but it seems unlikely. I'm even more concerned about what we're doing to our planet and how much has to be done to even safeguard the potential for continued life here. That's critical, dealing with the human interference in the natural order of things and the future need for clean air and water. We've got to start living in harmony with nature instead of spoiling it.

You have a big ranch in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Do you still spend a lot of time outdoors?

I try to, and I think of flying as being outdoors. I still really enjoy walking in the woods, but I've never been a person who spends a lot of time in the back country.

What are your extravagances?

Planes and flying, and airplane insurance. That's a big extravagance.

What's the biggest downside of stardom for you?

I've always said that I'd love to have anonymity back. But I don't consider myself a loner, I don't really spend that much time alone, and I'm not obsessive about privacy. I just like to maintain some control over it. So the biggest negative is the loss of anonymity, being able to walk down the street unmolested as it were, or go out to a restaurant unbothered. On the other hand, the biggest pleasure is having people come up and say, 'You've given me pleasure, thank you very much.' So it cuts both ways.

Fair Use Notice

This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. Harrison Ford Web is making such material available in an effort to promote research. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.