Under Ford's skin

July 19th-2000
Boston Herald
by Stephen Schaefer

There isn't much that scares the star of new horror film `What Lies Beneath'

Maybe Harrison Ford isn't the ideal candidate to discuss scary movies. Even though he stars in one opening this week, ``What Lies Beneath,'' he's not exactly a fan of the genre. Pressed to name a memorable one, he opts for that classic, tragic tale of a child watching her mother killed by a deer hunter.

We're talking ``Bambi.''

``Scariest movie I ever saw,'' said Ford, 58.

Come again?

``Because of the thematic loss of a parent, that scared me,'' he said, adding, ``I'm not huge fan of scary movies. I don't think I've seen one that really scared me.''

What about ``The Exorcist,'' often cited as the scariest movie ever made and which is returning this fall in a newly expanded version?

``Especially not `The Exorcist!' '' Ford replied. ``When you know it's coming in that form, it doesn't get me. It doesn't surprise me.''

Then what about ``Jaws''?

Ford makes a face, then seems to think better of it. After all, Steven Spielberg, whose reputation was made with the 1975 shark thriller, is not just a good friend but his employer: DreamWorks, Spielberg's film studio, has made ``What Lies Beneath'' and Spielberg also is behind the Indiana Jones series that Ford hopes to revive. ``There were wonderful things about `Jaws,' '' Ford said diplomatically, ``but it didn't really scare me.''

It's only natural, then, to ask why he made ``What Lies Beneath,'' which is very much in the Hitchcockian tradition of psychological suspense with a dangerous and deranged psyche and the religious overtones of guilt and punishment. Oh, and there's a ghost.

``This surprised me several times when I saw it because Bob (Zemeckis, the `Forrest Gump' director) had created extra tension in the cutting room besides what we were able to do on the stage,'' Ford said. ``There were three or four places where I was surprised.''

``What Lies Beneath'' finds Ford in familiar terrain, playing what one critic has dubbed ``another of his Rock of Gibraltars.'' He's a brilliant university professor whose younger wife (Michelle Pfeiffer) is having a difficult time. First, in a ``Rear Window'' reversal, she spies on their new neighbors, a bickering couple, and becomes convinced they are actually homicidal. Then she is certain a ghost is haunting their splendid lakeside house. Through all of this, Ford remains an understanding if dismissive rock. The movie shows, he said, how ``relationships are meant to be based on trust and responsibility and when they're not, strange things go bump in the night.''

Ford is more likely to be comically exasperated off-screen, and he has plenty of opportunities. Consider the recent report of his horseback ride in Puerto Vallarta on Marijuana - the steed, not the weed. ``What?'' Ford exclaimed, his eyes widening, rejecting completely the notion he had ever ridden a horse called Marijuana, much less one in Mexico's famed resort.

Then there was his most recent aerial mishap, the ``wind shear'' that reportedly damaged his six-passenger Beech Bonanza plane in a sudden landing in Lincoln, Neb. That followed last October's incident, which People magazine described as a ``crash landing'' of his helicopter while he was practicing emergency landings. ``There were not two `close calls,' but I hesitate to get into this with people who are not fully conversant of the aerodynamic effects involved here,'' he said, searching for the appropriate words. ``But the most recent incident with the Bonanza didn't even qualify as necessary to report.''

Ford almost scowled. Almost.

``If it hadn't been for the fact that someone ran to the newspapers that said `Harrison Ford crashed!' there wouldn't have been a story there. The information released was erroneous and incomplete. There were no bruises, no injuries.''

Enough with the air traffic. What's up with Indy? The Hollywood trades say M. Knight Shyamalan, Oscar-nominated director of ``The Sixth Sense,'' has been hired to write the script, which Spielberg would direct and George Lucas would produce. The worldwide tally for the previous three films tops $1.2 billion.

``Of course, I said I'd be eager to do another Indiana Jones and I don't know if Knight is to do a script,'' Ford said, adding pointedly, ``I don't know if you do either.''

But the story was in both Variety and The Hollywood Reporter.

``They put a lot of crap into the trades,'' Ford said.

This much Ford will confirm: he has played Jack Ryan for the last time. Ford has starred in two film versions of the Tom Clancy stories, ``A Clear and Present Danger'' and ``Patriot Games.''

``I have declined to continue,'' he said, citing specifically ``the script'' for the next film as the issue and the unsolvable problem. He wouldn't comment on the notion of the three-decades-younger Ben Affleck replacing him. At this point, Ford seems ready to climb back into the cockpit for a solo flight. He took up flying during the last decade, and the attraction is obvious. ``I like the pleasure of learning new things,'' he said, ``and refining and practicing a skill and going places other people don't go.''

``Other people'' being reporters?

``One tends to be let alone,'' Ford drily agreed.

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