Meet Yer 'Maker'

July 18, 2002
Entertainment Weekly

Harrison Ford on ''K-19'' and ''Indiana Jones 4'' -- Harrison Ford talks about ''K-19: The Widowmaker,'' his new Russian accent, and what it will take for another ''Indiana Jones'' movie to happen by Adam Duerson

Early in ''K-19: The Widowmaker'' (July 19), Harrison Ford urges his men: ''Vee dee-liver, or vee drown!'' So much for the all-American hero of ''Indiana Jones'' and ''Patriot Games.'' Ford, 60, takes a creative risk by playing Alexi Vostrikov, the captain of Russia's doomed nuclear K-19 submarine (adoringly dubbed ''the Widowmaker'' by its crew). Based on a 1961 episode that survivors were -- until recently -- forbidden to talk about, ''K-19'' shows Vostrikov deciding whether to ride the wounded sub to its destruction or let his crew be saved by the U.S. troops anxious to get on board and steal the ship's high-tech secrets. EW.com talked to Ford about the film, mother Russia, and the difficulties of getting the ''Indiana Jones'' crew together for one last go.

''K-19'' is the first time we've seen you with a foreign accent. Did you have to work on that particularly?

The hardest work on the accent was to convince [the producers] that using it was an appropriate thing to do. There were people who were involved on the financing side of it who were scared to death of the idea, but I thought it was important to remind the audience that this was a Russian film -- or a film about Russia.

What was their hang-up with the accents?

They were concerned that they had an American movie star and they wanted to protect their investment. And it was exactly the point to me that we had to disabuse the audience of a point of view that they are seeing an American movie star.

You spoke to a number of the survivors of the real-life incident that ''K-19'' is based on. How did they feel about the film?

One of the things they felt was a bit of confusion about why Americans were interested in telling this story. I think they felt very strongly that they wanted their story told accurately. What that meant finally was that they didn't want to be mischaracterized, although we did have to fictionalize characters in order to help tell the story. I think they wanted to make sure that we had legitimate interests and weren't just trying to make a movie about a bunch of buffoons who made mistakes and caused their own suffering.

Does that give you a sense that Russians have been unfairly portrayed in American films of the past?

I'm interested in how -- for our political advantage -- we characterize people. How we characterize other political systems in order to strengthen our own hand. It's a characteristic of all political entities that they demonize their enemies.

When you walk around in a place like Moscow, are you noticed as a movie star?

Not as much. It's always based on whether people are expecting to see you or not. They sort of expect to see you in New York. They don't expect to see you in Des Moines or Moscow.

Captain Vostrikov is a pretty difficult guy. Was he a hard character to live with over a period of time?

I take them all home with me, but we sleep separately. When I start to work on a project, there's very little else that I'm capable of thinking about. I'm always working on trying to refine the process of the script and the character. I don't ever feel like I can just sit on it...where all I have to do is say the lines. In that regard, I take them all home with me, but it's not a kind of Method acting thing. It's just a job. The job takes over.

You're also an executive producer on this film.

I'm normally involved in aspects of the production. When I came on to this project -- with all the different players involved and financing sources and distribution people and the script and all kinds of things I wanted to influence -- I took the responsibility of defining my role, but not simply from the aspect of being the lead actor.

Now you have another Indiana Jones movie coming up?

We have an idea for a fourth ''Indiana Jones'' and it's being developed, and hopefully it will pan out and we'll all be able to agree that it's an appropriate vehicle. I didn't mean to say vehicle. What I mean is an appropriate project for all. There are three players here whose expectations have to be met. George [Lucas], Steven [Spielberg], and myself. If we can all agree on something, we'll be able to do it.

Is it like aligning the planets, getting the three of you to work together?

No, it's more like getting the Supremes back together. The main thing is time. Everybody's got separate projects. We have a date and we have an idea. We'll see how it happens.

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