It’s not every week that starts out with a sit-down with Harrison Ford, wearing a tuxedo no less.
But that’s how last week began for Angelique Jackson, Variety‘s senior entertainment writer, who penned this week’s cover story on the legendary movie star. At 83, Ford nabbed his first-ever Emmy nomination earlier this month for his work on the Apple TV+ comedy “Shrinking.” Jackson discusses her experience sitting down in Los Angeles with the famed star of “Star Wars” and the Indiana Jones franchise for the Cover Story segment of the latest episode of “Daily Variety” podcast.
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Jackson notes that Ford, true to his reputation, was a consummate pro who delivered on every level.
“What I will say is really interesting was that it kind of was like Clark Kent turning into Superman a little bit because Harrison walked in with a cup of black coffee in hand, wearing this olive green sweater, his glasses, and then next thing you know, he’s in this tuxedo and becomes Harrison Ford. As soon as that camera was on him, there was just something about it. Every single take that was taken was of movie star quality,” Jackson says.
Ford was generous with his time and his memories, from his earliest movies to his experience working with Jason Segel and the creative team behind “Ted Lasso.” It was clear to Jackson that he enjoyed revisiting the lesser-known titles on his C.V.
“He rarely gets a chance to play the deep cuts. He rarely gets a chance to talk about witness or some of his earlier roles like ‘American Graffiti’ or ‘Apocalypse Now,’ So he seemed to have a lot of fun with the idea of looking back on it all. But something that really struck me just in general was something that he said about acting,” Jackson says. “And from the very beginning when he was a college student and decided this is what he wanted to be, the thing that he loved about it was that it actually allowed him to hide. Where other people, they really felt like they were being their full true selves by being actors, acting allowed [Ford] the opportunity to kind of hide himself in parts of these characters.”
Also in the episode, Todd Spangler, Variety business editor, discusses the latest moves in the cable TV divorces that are pending at NBCUniversal and Warner Bros. Discovery. The leaders of the spinoff organizations — Mark Lazarus of Versant (the NBCU spinoff) and Gunnar Wiedenfels of Discovery Global — face big challenges in managing the linear channels that the larger parent companies are eager to shed.
“Part of the thesis here is that you’re going to present a company that has a certain financial growth aspect. And for certain class of investors, that’s great. It’s going to produce consistent profits, but it’s going to shrink unless they find some other way to either recombine with other cable networks or find another way to get into you know the larger media eco-system,” Spangler says. “On Day 1 for these companies, the goal is going to be to make sure you’re running a tight ship and you’ve got all of the processes and people that you need to keep these things going and that the wheels don’t fall off.”
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