This is nice – Harrison Ford covers this week’s People Magazine, to promote all of his current and upcoming projects. He’s starring in the latest (and last) Indiana Jones movie. He’s also got Shrinking (on AppleTV) and 1923 (on Paramount+). He gave People Mag an exclusive interview, which must have been like pulling teeth to get him to do. Then again, he seems genuinely excited to promote Indiana Jones, a role he loves so much. Some highlights from Harrison’s interview, plus quotes from his friend and 1923 costar Helen Mirren:

Ford never thought he would be a leading man: “I never thought that I would be a leading man. I really was just hoping I could make a living as an actor and not have to supplement my income with some other side hustle… I thought I would be lucky to have a character part on a regular TV show. No one ever believes this, but I never wanted to be rich and famous. I just wanted to be an actor.”

His love of the game. “I probably enjoy making movies more now than I ever did.”

Still, he’s now in his 80s: He acknowledges age takes its toll—he’s still recovering from tearing a shoulder muscle on the second day of shooting Indiana Jones—but he has no interest in turning back the clock. “I don’t want to be young again. I was young, and now I enjoy being old. You are certainly physically diminished by age but there are wonderful things about age—richness of experience, the full weight of all the time you’ve been spending getting to being old— and there’s a certain ease in it for me.”

Doing his first Marvel movie, Captain America: Brave New World: “I saw a lot of great actors having fun, so I thought, ‘Hey, I want some of this!’”

On his standing ovation at Cannes: “I was just trying to keep myself composed. There was very generous applause from the crowd [and] it was positive and humbling and nice. I am very gratified that I still have the opportunities that I have to work, and I owe that to the audience.”

On Helen Mirren: “Helen is incredible. What a treat it is to work with her again.”

Mirren on Ford: “In his essence, Harrison Ford is the same person he was when I first met him. Impatient with the annoying sides of the great fame that had settled upon him, adult sycophancy, loss of privacy, etc., and yet immeasurably patient and kind to starstruck kids so excited to see their hero. His privacy was a profoundly protected place. His work was always beautifully designed and constructed, like the carpentry he was so well known for, and I was deeply impressed with his understanding and use of the techniques of film acting. He taught me a lot through my observations. He was professional, guarded, and mysterious, and I was both fascinated and intimidated….I think the element that makes him the legend that he is and will be is that sense of being the kind of guy you would call when your car got stuck in a ditch and also completely understand why you were so upset about your cat dying and shed some tears with you. He is a real god-given movie star, but also a chap, a geezer, a guy, a bloke and a mensch. And along with millions of others, I love him.”

[From People Magazine]

“He is a real god-given movie star, but also a chap, a geezer, a guy, a bloke and a mensch” – I agree! That’s why Harrison Ford was and is such a star – he has that star power, that watchable quality, that x-factor, but he also comes across as a completely normal guy, someone you would run into on the street, a neighbor or your dad’s friend. Anyway, I’m half his age and I don’t feel that way about aging and wisdom. Sure, it’s great to not be a young dumbass anymore but I absolutely wish I could go back to when I was a young dumbass.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, cover courtesy of People.