Harrison Ford is on the promo tour for Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny. Last week the film premiered at Cannes to a warm reception–for Ford, not so much the film. But since they’re promising billing this as Indy’s final adventure, I think the PR team can take the Ford-love and run with it. So here he is with a new profile in Esquire. Ford is long known for being blunt, if not downright ornery, in interviews, and right off the bat the writer comes off as exceedingly earnest (during their first meeting he told Ford that “with every assignment, I always try to write the greatest magazine profile ever written.”) So was this a mis-match between author and subject? Perhaps, but they still found a way to write a compelling, and certainly honest, glimpse at Ford:
“Is it fun, making a Marvel movie?”: “Uh,” he said. “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.”
Don’t f— up his eggs: The waiter comes to take our order. You get to pick how you want your eggs with the Farmer’s Breakfast, and Ford says, “Poached, please–and runny.” And here he turns his gaze from the menu up to the waiter, looks deep into his eyes with a sudden ferocity, curls his lips around his teeth, and says, “And when I say runny, I mean run-nee!” as if he’s in The Fugitive saying, “I didn’t kill my wife!” The waiter does a small bow, manages a smile, and whispers, “Okay.”
Getting back off the horse: Early in The Dial of Destiny, there’s a scene in which Jones is riding a horse on a subway platform in Manhattan. As Ford finished the scene, he felt hands all over his legs and, he says, “I thought, what the f—? Like I was being attacked by gropers. 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— alone, I’m an old man–” He’s raising his voice now. “Sorry.” He lowers his voice, but his fingers are drumming like mad. “Leave me alone, I’m an old man getting off a horse and”–loud voice again, he can’t help it–“I want it to look like that!”
Is he high?: “Flying is the tension between freedom and responsibility,” he says, “the obligation on every flight to ensure the safety of the people aboard. It’s serious. And I continually have to meet the standards.” He pauses, then smiles and holds a finger up. “And: It’s the third dimension! We’re living the two-dimensional life here on the ground.”
The Publicity Sheriff: Harrison Ford knows how to get through this life with his self intact. And it’s not just because he’s eighty. He had it forty-six years ago. “We did publicity for the first Star Wars together–we traveled together,” Mark Hamill says. “Harrison was like the father figure. He would give us little report cards after an appearance. ‘You know, Mark, you were a little glib there.’ ‘Carrie, you’re so sarcastic all the time.’ Carrie [Fisher] and I called him the Publicity Sheriff. But more than that, I can’t tell you how many times in my life and my career when I’ve asked myself, WWHD?”
Overall I felt the piece followed a flow of laying out the expected, grumpy Ford at the beginning to then finding the more nuanced person in there. I’ll be honest, Ford has never been one of my favorite actors and I definitely spent the first third of this piece annoyed at him. But my impression of him changed as the profile went on, and then I felt differently about his behavior at the beginning that had originally irked me.
To be fair to Ford, there were thoughtful, dare I say deep moments he shared that I did not highlight above. Why? Perhaps I’m just as ornery as he is, and I really wanted to put focus on the bits that made me laugh. Like his Dr. Seuss answer to the Marvel question (‘there are tough days, there are fun days, there are blue days, there are green days’) to the revelation that he, Harrison Ford, Mr. ‘I Know Who the F— I Am’, this man was giving PR notes to Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher! HA! So for the full picture, yes do read the whole article. For those who’d rather not I’ll answer for you now: Yes, they f—ed up his eggs.
Can’t help but wonder if he were a woman being aggressive with the waiter about the eggs before they were even cooked, would the writer have tried to make it sound so cutesy (instead of the rude behavior it was). Even if the eggs had been less than to his standards, the waiter didn’t cook them.
Does it say where the interview took place? In some places (like New Jersey) it is literally illegal to serve runny eggs. Not even over easy. Very disappointing when I visited!
You can’t pump your own gas there either. Some states are weird.
I clicked on the link. Apparently they were in LA. A waitress brought him the runny eggs afterward. He seemed to have been nice to her.
I personally hate runny eggs but a statewide ban? Lol
Harrison Ford is a grump but so great on screen. Mark Hamill is a treasure.
I’ve lived in NJ for decades and order and receive runny yolk eggs every time I go out. I have no idea where you were, but it’s not the norm. Eggs over easy are a staple at every diner in the state!
Restaurants where I live can’t/won’t serve a burger cooked less than medium (which I know because my dad always orders one “as rare as they’ll let you” and is invariably told that it will be medium.) It’s a food safety thing. I also think that runny eggs (really eggs in general) are gross but my husband loves a runny fried egg so I just look away. 😂
or he was leaning into his grumpy reputation and giving the interviewer something funny to add to the article and the waiter knew it was a joke.
Mark Hammil thinking WWHD is pretty funny. Not sure that would work for everyone😂
The best profile I ever read of Ford was in the Hollywood Reporter in February 2023 – he was articulate, profound and the interviewer captured a thoughtful side of him I hadn’t seen before, although I’ve been a fan of his work (not so much the man) for many years. I think he’s an arrogant asshole in his personal life, but there’s no question he’s a Hollywood icon. He’s not only a good actor and a great movie star but he commands the screen in a way you just don’t see on film anymore. Not interested in seeing the new Indy but he’s doing classic Ford work on the Yellowstone prequel 1923, he’s born to be in a proper Western and his chemistry with Helen Mirren is magical.
He’s also very good in Shrinking on Apple+. The man’s a genius at comedy.
That is SUCH a good show!
One of my best friends has been obsessed with him for 30 years, so I’ve seen every movie he’s done, multiple times. He’s a great movie star. I can’t tell what he’s actually like as a person because I don’t think you ever get the real him in any interview.
How lucky to be a man and to feel comfortable getting older. Wish women were allowed the same
I thought the same. But of course part of that is a chicken/egg thing.
I love Harrison Ford, even his grumpy and ornery side when he interviews at times LOL
Mark Hamill’s impression of him is spot-on and adorable 🙂
Mark Hamill is awesome in every interview no matter if it’s just a single question. And his voice work is amazing — who knew he would have such an interesting career. And Harrison Ford still has it – love his grumpy butt.
Thanks for this piece. Always appreciated Harrison Ford for holding down a certain niche in the panoply of A-listers, not that I’d call myself a fan. (Now Allie MacBeal, on the other hand.) Anyway, nice to see some new writers on the site, and new off-Royal topics. Welcome, Kismet!
Honking for non-royal topics. ☺️ Do we know what his wife, Calista Flockhart, is up to?
Also honking for non-royal topics and new writers!!! And I’m not even a fan of HF, but anything to get us off the royal train.
HONK!
Triple HONK for non-royals!
Yes, please!! Quadruple honk for non-royal stories. I read all of them and hardly any of the royals (the comments are always abominable on any royal story.) Also, HUGE honk for Shrinking, which is AMAZING. Watch it. You will not be sorry.
Here for non-royal coverage and also that I guess I’ll give Shrinking another try. I’m just worried that it’s either going to end very badly or very unrealistically because of the terrible choices Jason Segel’s character makes.
YES FOR NON-ROYAL TOPICS!
Honk honk honk
One key to happiness is that if bad eggs make you that unhappy, don’t eat eggs other people have cooked.
My hubby maintains that HF has but two expressions: constipated and more constipated.
I concur! But I’ll always respect his sticking by the late, great Anne Heche, who could act him and anyone else off the screen, when studio suits recoiled in horror that Heche went public with her romance with Ellen DeGeneres as filming began on “Six Days, Seven Nights.” That courage and decency makes up for a lot of grumpiness, Mr. Ford.
HF would make a brilliant M in the Bond films.