Yahoo News Watch Harrison Ford Reflect on His Iconic Roles, From 'Star Wars' to 'Air Force One' (Exclusive)
'I probably enjoy making movies more than I ever did,' Harrison Ford tells PEOPLE
Harrison Ford has made over 50 films in his unparalleled five-decade career, including the epic Star Wars and Indiana Jones franchises. Grossing over $10 billion worldwide, Ford’s movies have thrilled, entertained, and warmed hearts for a generation.
As for Ford himself, he’s always enjoyed the ride.
“Movies continue to require me to be focused, to be attentive, to be inventive, to collaborate and play well with others,” he tells PEOPLE in this week’s cover story. “It’s life in the trenches, moviemaking [and] I feel like I know what to do with myself when I’m working. I feel comfortable.”
Says Ford, 80, who picks up the fedora and whip for one final time in Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, out June 30, “I probably enjoy making movies more than I ever did.”
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With little interest in taking to, say, the golf links in retirement — “that’s just a shortcut to ugly pants,” he quips — Ford is busier than ever. But he does occasionally allow a moment to look back at the films, from Empire Strikes Back to The Fugitive, that have made him a legend.
One classic memory harkens to when he was just starting out and still working as a carpenter to make ends meet. “A friend of mine, Dean Tavoularis, who was the art director for Francis Ford Coppola, had designed an entrance to Francis's new offices at Goldwyn Studios,” Ford recalls. “He designed it, it was built in the studio's mill, but he couldn't find a carpenter to install it. And, when he finally ran out of options, he called me and asked if I would do it.”
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Ford agreed but said he could only work at night lest the industry types confuse him for a full-time carpenter. “I wanted them to think of me as an actor, not as a carpenter,” says Ford, who had been in American Graffiti by that point. “[One] morning, I was sweeping up and finishing up my job when George [Lucas] and Richard Dreyfuss walked in…George had said he wasn't going to use anybody from American Graffiti, he was looking for new faces. We chatted a bit, and that was probably the beginning of how I got to be in Star Wars.”
Ford adds an understatement: “It worked out.”
He also says writer Tom Clancy thought he was "too old" to star as Jack Ryan in Patriot Games and recalls Bill Clinton calling him “the kick-ass president” after he played a commander-in-chief who battles a hijacker in the 1997 film Air Force One.
Fun fact? Ford snagged three suits from the Air Force One set and “was wearing them up until about five years ago,” he shares.
Watch the video for more of Ford's memories about the Star Wars movies, Witness, Indiana Jones and more.
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Read the original article on People.
