| By Fred Topel
In Theaters Feb 10
|
Harrison Ford is a consummate professional. With 30 years in the business, as one of the biggest stars for most of that time, he still values professional courtesy. When his soon-to-be Firewall costar was nominated for the Academy Award for Sideways, he called her personally to congratulate her and ask her to sign onto his film. Madsen was elated, but Ford downplayed the whole thing.
“It’s just one actor calling another actor, urging them to join the project,” Ford said. “It wasn’t extraordinary at all. It doesn’t seem to me an out of the ordinary thing to do. She was up for an Academy Award. She was being offered a lot of things. She was considering our part I just wanted to tell her that we were very anxious for her to join us and look forward to her decision. Typical professional phone call.”
In Firewall, Ford plays a security executive whose family gets taken hostage by a group of thieves who force him to break his own security software for them. Well known by his fans as a carpenter, Ford said that technology has a place in his life as well.
“I’ve been using computers for years for a variety of tasks just like all the rest of us. Calendar, Phone book. Writing letters. Printing letters. Flight training and flight planning software. I’m fairly comfortable with computers. What was important in this case was to test the theory of our technology on people in the banking community and people in the computer world. We found that something that they agreed upon as a mechanism and if they were at all iffy on whether or not our concept would work we would add the one proviso that we hadn’t given them at the beginning which was that their family was being held with a gun to their head. Now would it work? Yes, it would. You go further, just of general interest, by the way what do you do about your own personal security? Because I’m talking to the guy that’s doing the job that I’m going to be doing and he says, ‘Well, um, not much.’ I think some of them may reconsider how much personal security is necessary when you’re holding that kind of hand of cards.”
Firewall also gives fans a chance to see Harrison Ford in action again. In fighting for his family’s lives, Ford’s character makes many attempts to turn the tables on them, eventually taking out some of the key villains with overpowering physical force. At 63, Ford considers himself lucky to still have the skills of an action hero. He certainly doesn’t train for it.
“I don’t do a lot of physical training. I’ve suffered a lucky, genetic accident and I play a little bit of tennis, four or five times a week when I’m off and probably three times a week when I’m working. That’s about it. When I’m going to do a fight scene I stretch a little bit. It’s not about strength. It’s about, again, acting. Knowing where the camera can be best placed to capture the energy of a particular move in a physical scene like that.”
Ford does as many of his own stunts as he’s allowed, because he considers it a vital part of the overall performance. “It’s more important to me to look into the face of a character and feel his fear or his triumph or his pain or his exhaustion. You have to be on the back of a stuntman’s head. And I know how to do it. I’ve been doing it for 30 years. It’s no big deal. And it’s not that I wanted to do the action, I knew how to do it. I know how to do it. I know how to do it safely. I know how to do it without hurting other people or hurting myself. Just do it. It’s not a big deal.”
All that said, Ford would like for everyone to focus on the intellectual aspects of Firewall. Yes, there are fights and a good explosion for you, but they are only the result of trying to solve an intellectual dilemma. “This is not a physical movie. This is a movie that only has brief moments of physical confrontation in it. It’s a movie about suspense and tension. It’s not an action film. It’s a thriller with a brief bit of action. I’m drawn to all types of films. I like to participate in a variety of different genres. I like to do something different to what I’ve lately done. I want to work with the best dramatic material that I can. And it often happens that when you tell stories of conflict between characters it comes to a physical confrontation. That is the nature of film.”
However, when the question of Indiana Jones IV comes up, as it always does, Ford is happy to use Firewall as an example of his physical prowess. If he’s 63 now, he could be at least 65 when Indy IV goes into production. Could a sexagenarian Indy still crack that bullwhip?
“I think you’ve just seen a film in which I perform physically to an extent sufficient for Indiana Jones.”
Despite seemingly constant script development delays, Ford promises to remain vigilant about Indiana Jones IV. “The audience is there. Everybody involved is anxious to make the film again. Make another Indiana Jones.”
To tide you over, Firewall opens February 10. |
