Official Site Interview

2000

He's a man of many guises: sexiest man alive, moving dramatic actor, ultimate action hero, and the greatest pilot to helm the Millennium Falcon. Harrison Ford embodies characters that resonate with audiences, from his action-packed portrayals of the swashbuckling Indiana Jones, the replicant-fighting Deckard, and CIA agent Jack Ryan to his quieter roles in Regarding Henry, Witness, and Sabrina, among many others. With each film, Ford reinvents himself, creating starkly distinctive yet believable characters. His latest film, What Lies Beneath, is no different. In it, he stars, opposite Michelle Pfeiffer, as the perfect husband whose single stray moment comes back to--literally--haunt the couple. Amazon.com's Jenny Brown spoke by phone with Harrison Ford about working in this new genre.

Amazon.com: What Lies Beneath is an incredibly tense film. What made you decide to do a horror film?

Harrison Ford: Oh, it's not a horror film. I think it's rather different than a horror film. It's a suspense film. It's a thriller. It's a scary movie. But at least for me, a horror film is a slightly different thing. I was led to do it by the quality of the script and by the people involved--Bob Zemeckis and Michelle Pfeiffer. I thought we had a really good script; it was an intriguing character for me to play. And I thought it would make spectacular, tense entertainment.

Amazon.com: Your character in this movie is a morally ambiguous one. What was that like? A lot of the characters that you've played in the past tend to be more gung ho good guys.

Ford: Well, you know, I've played a variety of different characters; some of them have not been so gung ho and good. Some of them have flaws and failures. But this is a character that interested me more for the fact of its relationship to the story overall, and the utility that it had in the context of the story than in anything else. It's not a character I would have picked out had the story itself been weak, had the overall fabric not supported the character.

Amazon.com: Was this a difficult shoot? There were so many original camera angles and, of course, all that water.

Ford: Oh, it was a fun movie to make. Totally fun. Bob's great, has great energy to bring to the job. Michelle was a lot of fun to work with, very easy for me.

Amazon.com: So I have to ask this: do you believe in ghosts?

Ford: No. Unfortunately I have to answer it that way, I don't.

Amazon.com: You mentioned that all your roles have been quite different from one another. What is more challenging for you? Something like this? Or something more dramatic, as in Witness? Or a huge action-adventure Indiana Jones-type thing?

Ford: You know, each kind of role, each kind of film has a different set of challenges. But finally it all comes down to the same thing: trying to do the best job you can and communicating the information that's necessary to progress a story, and giving the character a kind of reality and emotional life that other people can relate to.

Amazon.com: Ridley Scott has come out and said that your character in Blade Runner, Deckard, is indeed a replicant. Did you know this during filming?

Ford: I argued against it. It was a question of some discussion and I argued against it. My point to Ridley was that the audience deserved, even required, to have someone onscreen that they felt they could emotionally invest in. So I argued against making Deckard a replicant. And continuously did so. So if in Ridley's mind he is a replicant, so be it. It's a director's medium. I didn't play him that way.

Amazon.com: Which of your past films is your favorite?

Ford: I don't have a favorite. It's like asking which of your children is your favorite child. Each of them are born under different signs and the memories of each of them is complex.

Amazon.com: I think the only genre you haven't done is musical.

Ford: Maybe that's because I can't sing.

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