Ford ready for a whipping
2008-05-18 21:21
Cannes - Harrison Ford said on Sunday he was ready for a critics' whipping over the latest chapter of the Indiana Jones saga, but believed the film revived the "pure joy" of a classic blockbuster.
Asked by a reporter whether he was fearful how hundreds of critics would react to the Cannes premiere, Ford - who plays the whip-cracking archaeologist adventurer - said reviewers spoke a different language to average movie-goers.
"I'm not afraid at all. I expect to have the whip turned on me. It's not unusual for something that is popular to be disdained by some people," he said.
"I'm not really worried about it. I work for the people who pay to get in. They are my customers. My focus is on providing the best experience I can for those people."
He said he thought Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull - the first sequel to the series in 19 years - recaptured the magic of "old school" Hollywood adventure movies like the 1981 Raiders of the Lost Ark that started the franchise.
'It will kick your butt'
"This kind of film, it is such a celebration of the movies," said a tanned Ford, 65, looking younger than his onscreen character.
"I know that we made this movie to reacquaint people with the pure joy that can happen in a dark room with a bunch of other people seeing something that they haven't seen before that will just kick your butt," he said.
Ford insisted on doing his own stunts in the film, saying audiences could tell the difference when a stuntman or computer-generated imagery was used.
"I think it's very important that the audience be able to see expressions. There's storytelling going on during these physical events. Otherwise it just becomes kinetics," he said.
"It needs to be an emotional event, like every moment on screen needs to be invested with real emotion, or pretend emotion.
"That's why it's so gratifying that we were all happy to do the stunt sequences or the action sequences old-school. Human scale."
Ford said Indiana Jones stood apart from other heroes of other long-running series for his "wit and intelligence".
"I'm very gratified that there's been a consistent interest in this character and these films over a pretty long period of time, we're talking nearly 30 years now," he said.
Back to the big screen
"And I'm glad that we have the opportunity to release a film now because, for a couple of generations, the young people have just been seeing this on DVD at home.
"Now, we get the chance to see it in the cinema, the way it is made to be seen."
Ford said his legendary collaboration with director Steven Spielberg had grown better with time.
"It's a very special relationship I have with Steven, I have an enormous trust in him and I take real joy out of just being able to watch him work," he said.
"He is the hardest-working man in show business now that we've lost James Brown. But, he can't dance." he quipped.
Spielberg credited Ford with reviving the Indiana Jones juggernaut by telling him in 1994 when the actor presented him with an Oscar for Schindler's List that he would be willing "to put the fedora back on".
He's a collaborator
He called Ford his "secret weapon" in making the movies.
Spielberg, 61, said: "He's concerned about the whole, he's concerned about the story and other characters and he is a collaborator in the entire process of telling the story.
"That takes a lot of pressure and weight off my back to have this kind of a partner in the trenches every single day shooting the picture."