Enough with the legend stuff. If you want to have a conversation about the job and what really matters in life, Harrison Ford is up for that. “Harrison Ford Has Stories to Tell” by Ryan D’Agostino is on Esquire.com now and in the new summer issue, available everywhere by June 6.
On whether he’s enjoying making a Marvel movie: “Yeah. I mean, there are tough days and easy days and fun days and all kinds of days. It’s a tough schedule and, yeah, it’s fun. But it’s not a walk in the park. It’s not fun fun. It’s work.”
On flying airplanes for 28 years: “I will not be buried under a stone that says actor. For me, flying is as important a part of my life as my business. It’s not like playing golf.”
On trying to clean up his language at the request of his wife, actress Calista Flockhart: “F*ckin’ A. Hey, if you don’t mind, leave the ‘f*ckin’ A’ out. My wife is still giving me shit about that Hollywood Reporter thing, and I’m trying not to say that too much. Me and the writer were sitting on folding chairs in a horse stall. It didn’t feel like a formal enough atmosphere to have to clean up my language. And they printed every single f*ck.”
On why he only watches his movies as they’re getting made: “When it’s done, it’s done. I’m making something else. F*cker’s on his own.”
On how doing carpentry work on Francis Ford Coppola’s offices as a favor to a friend helped him land the role of Han Solo: “I said I would do it but only at night, when no one was around, because I didn’t want to be that guy—I wanted them to think of me as an actor, which I was. I did the job. While I’m finishing up, first thing in the morning in walked George Lucas and Richard Dreyfuss to begin the process of meeting people for Star Wars. George had told our agents he wanted new faces, not the same people from American Graffiti. I was there with my tool belt on, sweeping up, said hello, chatted, and that was it. Later, I was asked by the producer to help them read lines with candidates for all the parts. Don’t know whether I read with people who were reading for Han Solo—can’t remember. I read with quite a few princesses. But there was no indication or forewarning that I might be considered for this part. It was just a favor. And then of course they offered me the part.”
On why he wanted to make another Indiana Jones film, The Dial of Destiny: “I wanted an ambitious movie to be the last one. And I don’t mean that we didn’t make ambitious movies before—they were ambitious in many different ways. But not necessarily as ambitious with the character as I wanted the last one to be.”
On finishing a Dial of Destiny scene on a horse: “I look down and there’s three stunt guys there making sure I didn’t fall off the stirrup. They said, Oh, we were just afraid because we thought, you know, and bah bah bah bah. And I said, Leave me the f*ck alone, I’m an old man getting off a horse and I want it to look like that!”
On his Temple of Doom co-star, Ke Huy Qwan: “He was like a mouse. Such a baby! A lovely kid.”
On whether he’s a movie lover: “In a word: no. It’s not about the movies; it’s about my personal experience. I’m fascinated by how much talent there is out there in all aspects of this business, but I just can’t keep up with the amount of product. I find myself not sitting down to watch a movie every night. We love when we do it, but we do it as a family, so we’re as likely to be watching Poirot the detective as we are to be watching Everything Everywhere All at Once. I’ve got big holes in the fabric, and I don’t consider that to be a positive. I should be watching more, just out of respect for what the business has given me. I love being transported by a movie. A great story. But I do other stuff. I do the dishes instead of watching the movie…Who the hell else is gonna do it? I gotta live.”
On why he’s not writing an autobiography: “[B]ecause I don’t want to tell the truth, and I don’t want to lie.”
On how he views actors: “I call us actors just a trick-talking piece of meat. ‘Stand there! Say this! Shut the f*ck up! I’m the director!’”
On the types of questions Star Wars superfans ask him: “Well, they usually ask me, ‘If there was a fight between Han Solo and Indiana Jones, who would f*ckin’ win?’ And I say, ‘Me, asshole!’ I don’t want to f*cking make shit up like that. I mean, what are you asking me that crap for?”
On being a father: “If I’d been less successful, I’d probably be a better parent.”
[Photo Credit: Ruvén Afanador for Esquire Magazine]
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