New film is not a failure, says Ford

September 1st, 2002
Annanova

Harrison Ford has tried to fight off criticism over his latest movie's poor box-office performance.

Kathryn Bigelow's 138-minute underwater epic K-19 got a tepid reception in the US, with audiences apparently not taking to the all-American Ford as a Soviet navy captain.

Ford, Bigelow and co-star Liam Neeson were at the Venice Film Festival today in the hope that the international release might be a little more successful.

"I do not consider the box office to be the true measure of the film," Ford said. "I think it's very wrong to characterise this as a failure."

Northern Ireland-born Neeson added: "I'm very proud of this film. To be honest, the box office doesn't enter into it."

The movie, which Bigelow worked on for five years, is based on the true story of a Soviet nuclear sub that faced grave technical problems while on a 1961 mission near the United States.

Ford and Neeson play duelling captains who do their best to avert an accident that could have sparked war.

Few American films have taken the Soviet perspective, and Bigelow hoped that this attempt to humanise the enemy could mend some of the old hostility between the former Cold War sides.

"The single-most inspiring element of this picture is the theme of humanity - and that's able to cross all geopolitical lines," she said. "It's an opportunity perhaps to heal old wounds."

K-19 opened in the US in mid-July and had earned 34 million US dollars (£25 million) up to last week - putting it in 51st place among this year's releases, according to the Box Office Report website.

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.