What lies beneath Ford?

July 18, 2000
Toronto Sun
by Bob Thompson

Thriller star still gives a reluctant interview

Harrison Ford's total lack of enthusiasm for interviews is well-documented. If he's not looking at his watch during them, he's usually wondering out loud if that's it for the questions. So what a surprise to see Ford crack a smile during a recent sit down with him at the Four Seasons Hotel.

He's here to talk about his latest picture, the suspense thriller What Lies Beneath. In the Robert Zemeckis thriller opening Friday, Ford plays an adulterous doctor dealing with his apparently strange wife (Michelle Pfeiffer).  Pre-release screenings have been encouraging. Indeed, this could be another big hit for 58-year-old Ford. He's had lots over his 30-year career.  Five of the top 25 grossing movies of all time have Ford to thank in part. Try to imagine the Star Wars series or the Indiana Jones flicks without him.  Not a bad reason to pay him his $20-million-per-picture salary or give him the American Film Institute Lifetime Achievement Award last March.  Maybe that's why he's less dour these days, although Ford doesn't see any changes.

"Maybe it's you," Ford says looking at me and smirking as he teases before getting serious. "To imagine that I've suddenly changed over 30 years is unwarranted. I'm a human being. Sometimes I take umbrage at things people say to me." Sometimes he likes to give reporters a hard time. "I get impatient and bored with having to say the same things over and over again," he confesses. Whatever his mood, he's come a long way from growing up in a Chicago suburb, from getting kicked out of Ripon College in Wisconsin, from his screen debut in 1966's Dead Heat On A Merry-Go-Round as a one-line bellboy.

Ford took a while to learn his acting craft, starting with his bit part as the cocky cowboy racer in George Lucas' American Graffiti. He confirmed his talent a decade later with the Oscar-nominated Witness where he played a cop on the run.  What Lies Beneath likely won't earn him another nomination, but it is a happy change of pace for Ford, a self-admitted novice when it comes to scary movies. "I like this one," he says. "When I saw it recently, it surprised me several times. There is extra tension created in the cutting room." Ford also appreciates the What Lies Beneath sub-text which deals with relationships. "When trust and responsibility aren't there, that's when strange things go bump in the night."

Here are some other Ford ideas:

On another installment of the Indiana Jones series: "I'd be eager," he says, although he's still negotiating with Steven Spielberg and George Lucas. "But we are at a serious point."

On another Jack Ryan spy picture: "I have declined to continue," he confirms.

On turning 58 last week: "We were up in Wyoming having a special family day." What did his long-time wife Melissa Mathison get him? "A green 1966 Austin Healey convertible."

On his alleged air incident landing his Bonanza airplane at an Omaha airport: "It didn't even qualify to report," says Ford the pilot. "Erroneous and incomplete" news reports made it sound more dangerous than it was, he maintains.

On What Lies Beneath: "This is a good entertainment," says Ford. "Hopefully, it will find an audience in this market place. You never know anymore what's going to click and what's not going to click."

On giving up his title as People magazine's sexiest guy a few years ago: "I gave that up almost immediately," he says smiling one last time before he leaves.

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