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.
“If we get to work together, we’d want it to be someone else’s idea,” he told the outlet.
“That kind of casting might not be the best way to bring people into an imagined situation, because (audiences) may say, ‘Oh, I know they’re married; now I’m not even thinking about the movie anymore.’”
While at the Los Angeles premiere of “Shrinking” in 2023, Ford talked about how he would “love” to work with Flockhart, who he married in 2010.
“We’d 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 “Shrinking.”
In the series, Ford’s character, Dr. Paul Rhoades, has been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, a condition Fox has had for over three decades. Ford says Fox is a welcome addition.
“It’s been essential. Michael’s courage, his fortitude and his grace, more than anything else, is on full display,” he told Variety. “He’s very smart, very brave, noble, generous, passionate guy, and an example to all of us, whether we’re facing Parkinson’s or not. You cannot help but recognize how amazing it is to have such grace.”
Ford said Fox offers him a blueprint for how to approach playing someone who has Parkinson’s.
“So 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,” he said.
“The truth is that we can’t be f—— around with this just to make a joke or anything. Parkinson’s is not funny. And I want to get it right. It’s necessary to be correct with what we do in respect of the challenge that Parkinson’s represents, and that we don’t use it for its entertainment value.”
Ford has been lauded for his work in “Shrinking,” even scoring his first Emmy nomination, a feat he’s taking in stride.
“I don’t think there’s anything competitive about creativity, and I don’t understand the need to compare and contrast one person’s work to another’s,” he said. If you like it, you like it; if you don’t like it, look at something else.
“I’m grateful, but I would have done what I did — and I’ll do what I’m doing — regardless of whether it’s deemed worthy of mention or not. Because it’s what I do. It’s what I love doing. I love telling stories. I love pretending to be somebody else.”
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 “Star Wars” franchise. His character famously said, “I know” when Carrie Fisher’s Leia told him she loved him. He said that’s not how the line was meant to go.
“I was supposed to say, ‘I love you too,’ and I thought that was a little un-Han Solo-ish,” he said. “I 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.”
Ford has been acting on screen since he made his film debut in 1966’s “Dead Heat on a Merry-Go-Round.” He’s 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.
“No. That’s one of the things I thought was attractive about the job of an actor, was that they need old people, too, to play old people’s parts,” Ford said.
This article was originally published on TODAY.com
