Acting Enigma

July 17, 2000
Calgary Sun
by Louis B. Hobson

Harrison Ford likes to play his cards close to the chest

HOLLYWOOD -- It's difficult to know what really lies beneath Harrison Ford's cool, reserved demeanour.  After three decades of dealing with celebrity, Ford knows how to finesse any question.  He's almost as guarded about his professional life as he is about his personal life.

Paramount Pictures recently announced that Ford would not return to play CIA agent Jack Ryan for a third time, and that he would likely be replaced by Ben Affleck.  Ford told the Sun yesterday that he "declined to continue with the Jack Ryan character" because he "didn't like the script they were offering me. I didn't think it would work for me."  Ford usually has no problems with revisiting characters he's played before.  He was Han Solo in the first three Star Wars movies and took Indiana Jones on three adventures.

He is considering returning to Indiana Jones for a fourth outing.  "Of course, I'd be eager to do a fourth Indy. It's a great character and the movies are great entertainment.

"A lot of groundwork has been sown on this character and these films. It deserves to be revisited.  "Steven (Spielberg), George (Lucas) and I have spent many, many hours discussing a direction for a fourth adventure.  "I'd personally love to see Sean Connery be with me in the next chapter."

The Hollywood trade papers recently announced that M. Night Shyamalan, who wrote and directed The Sixth Sense, is working on Indiana Jones 4.  Ford is adamant that this "is just another industry rumour. There have been so many rumours connected with this project.  "If he really is working on a script, it's something I haven't been made aware of."

In the supernatural thriller What Lies Beneath -- opening Friday -- Ford plays a university professor whose wife (Michelle Pfeiffer) begins being visited by a ghost. Even though the wife is the central character of the film, it was Ford who director Robert Zemeckis came to first. Zemeckis explains "it was essential to have someone of Harrison's stature and reputation in the role of the husband if the film was to have its maximum impact," refusing to go any further for fear of revealing plot details.  For his part, Ford says "the screenplay (by Clark Gregg) was one of the best I'd read in years, and this scary movie thing is a genre I hadn't visited very often.

"I'm always attracted to projects which will take me in directions I haven't been." On July 13, Ford turned 56. His wife, screenwriter Melissa Mathison (E.T.) surprised him with a 1966 Austin Healy convertible. "It's British racing green and in mint condition. I've been talking about this car for years now, and I'm sure she had a great deal of help from friends in hunting it down." Ford and Mathison have been married for 18 years, but he's quick to point out that they have "been together much longer.

"There's no real secret to our marriage, other than that we really like each other.  "When there's a lack of trust and responsibility in a relationship, that's when strange things begin to go bump in the night."  

When Ford was preparing to star in 1997's Air Force One, he began taking flying lessons, both in the movie and in real life, and has since become an avid pilot.  "I was drawn to flying in the first place ... by the pure pleasure of learning something new and different, and of going places other people don't. "The incredible thing about flying, especially if you're alone, is that you're completely alone with your thoughts.  "It's a magnificent, exhilarating feeling." Ford has had two close calls, but he bristles at the implication that he is tempting fate.  "I don't like to discuss flying or the possible dangers with people who are not fully conversant, because it inevitably gets blown out of proportion.  "My most recent incident, as people refer to it, didn't even qualify as necessary to be reported to the authorities.  "Some guy ran to the newspapers and said Harrison Ford had crashed, which was a total fabrication, but it made good headlines. "Without his interference, there would have been no story at all."

Though he admits he is reading several scripts, Ford doesn't have a project that will start in the near future. "When I don't have a job, I become just another father and husband. I clean up my rooms and I take the kids to school.  "It's a fulfilling life but, I'm afraid, a boring one for the press."

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