Harrison Ford is open to the idea of mixing business with pleasure.
In a recent interview with Variety, the Oscar-nominated star, 83, said he and wife Calista Flockhart have one rule in place for them to team up on a project.
โIf we get to work together, weโd want it to be someone elseโs idea,โ he told the outlet.
โThat kind of casting might not be the best way to bring people into an imagined situation, because (audiences) may say, โOh, I know theyโre married; now Iโm not even thinking about the movie anymore.โโ
While at the Los Angeles premiere of “Shrinking” in 2023, Ford talked about how he would โloveโ to work with Flockhart, who he married in 2010.
“Weโd love to find one we could do together,” he told People, adding that they “haven’t found” the right project at the time.
Although Ford has yet to appear on screen with Flockhart, he will collaborate with another acting icon when Michael J. Fox guest stars on the upcoming third season of โShrinking.โ
In the series, Fordโs character, Dr. Paul Rhoades, has been diagnosed with Parkinsonโs disease, a condition Fox has had for over three decades. Ford says Fox is a welcome addition.
โItโs been essential. Michaelโs courage, his fortitude and his grace, more than anything else, is on full display,โ he told Variety. โHeโs very smart, very brave, noble, generous, passionate guy, and an example to all of us, whether weโre facing Parkinsonโs or not. You cannot help but recognize how amazing it is to have such grace.โ
Ford said Fox offers him a blueprint for how to approach playing someone who has Parkinsonโs.
โSo he gives me both a physical representation of the disease to inform myself with, but more than that, he allows me to believe that Paul could believe that he could be adequate to the challenge,โ he said.
โThe truth is that we canโt be f—— around with this just to make a joke or anything. Parkinsonโs is not funny. And I want to get it right. Itโs necessary to be correct with what we do in respect of the challenge that Parkinsonโs represents, and that we donโt use it for its entertainment value.”
Ford has been lauded for his work in โShrinking,โ even scoring his first Emmy nomination, a feat heโs taking in stride.
โI donโt think thereโs anything competitive about creativity, and I donโt understand the need to compare and contrast one personโs work to anotherโs,โ he said. If you like it, you like it; if you donโt like it, look at something else.
โIโm grateful, but I would have done what I did โ and Iโll do what Iโm doing โ regardless of whether itโs deemed worthy of mention or not. Because itโs what I do. Itโs what I love doing. I love telling stories. I love pretending to be somebody else.โ
Ford, of course, has played everything from the president to Indiana Jones to police officers, but he soared to fame playing Han Solo in the โStar Warsโ franchise. His character famously said, โI knowโ when Carrie Fisherโs Leia told him she loved him. He said thatโs not how the line was meant to go.
โI was supposed to say, โI love you too,โ and I thought that was a little un-Han Solo-ish,โ he said. โI thought it was a little banal. So I said no, and (director) Irvin Kershner agreed with me. George (Lucas), when he saw it, was not so sure, and made me sit next to him at the screening of the film the first time we ran it for an audience. They laughed, but it was a good laugh, so we kept it in. Thank you, George.โ
Ford has been acting on screen since he made his film debut in 1966โs โDead Heat on a Merry-Go-Round.โ Heโs closing in on 60 years in front of the camera, and when asked if he plans to retire, the actor shared he has no plans to stop.
โNo. Thatโs one of the things I thought was attractive about the job of an actor, was that they need old people, too, to play old peopleโs parts,โ Ford said.
