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• Article on Mr. Ford
• Firewall
• Conservation International
• Mr. Ford's bio

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Tavis: Harrison Ford started his career as a contract actor making $150 a week. Nearly 40 feature films later, hard to say so many films, he's one of the most acclaimed and successful leading men of our time. His film resumé is a remarkable run through the popular culture of our day. Movies like 'American Graffiti,' "Star Wars," 'Indiana Jones,' 'Working Girl,' 'The Fugitive,' and the list goes on and on and on.

His latest film is the thriller "Firewall," which opens this weekend. The film also stars two previous guests on this program, Paul Bettany and Virginia Madsen. Here now, a scene from "Firewall."

[A film clip is shown]

Tavis: Mr. Ford, an honor to meet you.

Harrison Ford: Thank you. Pleasure to be here and talk to you.

Tavis: Glad to have you here, man. You may make something of yourself someday in this Hollywood game, if you keep this up.

Ford: If I live long enough.

Tavis: Yeah. (laugh) You may be somebody one day. Speaking of which, you're still doing this action stuff. When I saw this thing, and you're wrestling and tussling and punching people in the face and, what is your problem, man? You too old for this.

Ford: Well, (laugh) I'm not really. I'm not really too old for this. People think they're too old, way before they are actually too old for it. It's pretty choreographed. It's just running, jumping, and falling down. It's not such a big deal.

Tavis: Yeah, just running, jumping, falling down. No big deal.

Ford: It is.

Tavis: You've done, obviously, with that list, a variety of stuff. But it's my sense, I suspect the sense of some of your fans, that you are, in fact, drawn, though, to this stuff that's got a lot of action in it.

Ford: Well, this one's a thriller, and there is just a bit of action in it. I'm drawn to those things that have a strong emotional undercurrent running through them. And I wanna do lots of different genres. To be useful in different genres, and to, because they appeal to different segments of the audience. And action, I haven't done so much action, actually. I've done films that have action in it, but I've never done what I would call a real action film.

Tavis: Let me start with this particular film, "Firewall." I'll let you do the honors to tell me what this is about, so I don't screw this up.

Ford: I play a character named Jack Stanfield, who is a software designer. And his specialty is - he works for a large bank. And his specialty and his responsibility is the protection of the computer network of the bank. Both their online banking and their internal networks. He's the author of the firewall that the bank uses.

The bad guys, led by Paul Bettany, are determined to steal $100 million from his bank, and they hit upon the expedient of taking his family hostage to compel him to defeat his own system. And that's where we start, more or less. It gets complicated beyond that.

Tavis: (laugh) (unintelligible) We'll leave it at that. We don't wanna give the whole project away. Not that that would discourage anybody from going to see your films, because you could tell the whole storyline, we'd still wanna see Harrison Ford in a film.

Ford: You're very kind.

Tavis: No, actually, I'm not being kind. I appreciate your saying that, but it is true that you have developed this relationship. I was just looking at your list of films, and not just what you have done, but what these films have grossed over the years, what says Harrison Ford about this relationship, this special relationship you developed with the movie going audience. What is that about, from your perceptive?

Ford: It's about working for it. It's about understanding that I work for them. That I'm in a service occupation. And if I tell them stories I don't wanna hear, I'm not gonna have my job very long. At least if I do it consistently. I have done it from time to time. But you want to reach people on an emotional level, and when you do, over a long period of time, you develop a kind of friendship, as it were. Or a shorthand for an emotional relationship. I think.

Tavis: Give me an example; I know you'll be candid and honest with me. Give me an example of, since you're in this service industry, since you work for us, the people, give me an example of something that you put yourself in, you made the decision to do, to your earlier formulation, that the people, your fans, we, your employers, didn't wanna see you in.

Ford: "K-19."

Tavis: "K-19." Why did we not want to see you in "K-19?" Where did you go wrong there?

Ford: Well, I played a Russian submarine captain. (laugh) And people had a hard time divorcing themselves from the experience they'd had with me in the past, and concentrating on what was going on on the screen. I think. I think it was a good movie. So I don't think it was that. I think it was just a rejection of me in that part.

Tavis: Can I be honest with you?

Ford: Yes, sir.

Tavis: You're right.

Ford: Yeah.

Tavis: And I didn't like you in that movie.

Ford: All right.

Tavis: And I didn't like you in that movie not because, to your point, it wasn't a good film. It was, in fact, a very good film, I thought. I didn't like you in that because, and I don't speak for all your other co-employers who are watching right about now. But what bothered me about it, Harrison, may I call you Harrison?

Ford: Yes, please.

Tavis: What bothered me about it was that - I'm best friends with Harrison Ford now. I'm calling him Harrison. How about that?

Ford: Hey, hey, come on.

Tavis: (laugh) From Mr. Ford to Harrison in nine minutes. (laugh) That said, what bothered me about it was that you have come to represent, for me, a patriot. And I just couldn't accept you in this role as a traitor. And that's not to cast aspersion on the Russians, but I couldn't get with you in that role, man.

Ford: I was a Russian patriot.

Tavis: But I still, you weren't an American patriot.

Ford: Yeah, but I had...

Tavis: You set me up for this (unintelligible).

Ford: The man had the same passion; the man had the same commitment to what he took to be the truth. The man was courageous; he was direct; he was honest. He was tough. He had all the qualities, but you're right. He represented something that wasn't, for want of a better word, American. American.

Tavis: Now, I could take that in one of two ways. You tell me how you take it. As I look at this reality of "K-19," I could read this one way, which says that Harrison Ford has been typecast, and we only wanna see him playing these kinds of characters. On the other hand, I could look at it and say, we know what we wanna see Harrison Ford in, and as long as he does that, he will be successful. He can write his own ticket. How did you view that? How do you view that?

Ford: I view that as a summary of the situation. I view that as incomplete information. I don't quite know how far I can stretch what people's perceptions of me are. I just know that from time to time, it's important that I stretch it, even if it doesn't work. Because I think that there's a profit, overall, for people to understand that even though I work for them, from time to time, I need a little vacation. I need to do something for myself.

Tavis: Speaking of vacation, I like this metaphor. Can I stay with this for a second?

Ford: Please.

Tavis: Speaking of vacation, why not, at this point, take a permanent vacation? I'm not trying to push you in that direction. (laugh) You've made all the money you could ever spend in a lifetime. You've got a track record that is untouchable. Why, for you, still chase the art? Why try to perfect, why still do this?

Ford: It's what I do. It is how I define myself. I can define myself as a father and all of the other things that are important in life. But what I do, literally do, is tell stories. That's what I've spent my whole life figuring out, to whatever extent, what to do, how to do. And when I walk on a movie set, I feel like I've walked into a dream factory.

Everything's there. All the people are there; we can all adopt an immediate shorthand with each other. I know what they're doing; they know what I'm doing. And part of it is the exercise of the craft. But the other very important part of it is, it is what I do with people. That's my community. Those are my coworkers. I feel a sense of community. I feel that I'm a part of a group in a way that I don't feel in many other aspects of my life.

Tavis: How - I don't wanna say that. I was thinking to ask how you came to have this be what it is that you do. I don't wanna ask that. Let me change the formulation. I think what I wanna ask you is why you think you were chosen. Of all the people who could have this long list of success that you've had, and developed this relationship that you have with the employer, and we still wanna keep hiring you every time you come to us.

Why do you think that you have been gifted, talented, given the opportunity to have this be what it is that you do, versus anything else in life? Why acting?

Ford: God only knows. I self selected acting. When I left college without a degree, all of my friends were going off to be the professionals. (laugh) Which to me meant they're going to do the same damn thing for 20 years. And with the same people. They're going to go to the same office, and see the same people, confront the same issue for - I couldn't figure out how I could ever do something like that.

So I started trying to - I'd done a couple of plays in college, 'cause my grade point average was miserable, and I tried to pick out the easiest thing I could find in the course catalogue, and...

Tavis: That makes two of us.

Ford: Yeah?

Tavis: Yeah.

Ford: Well, but I didn't read the whole course description. (laugh) Maybe you did. (laugh) All I saw is drama, and blah, blah, blah, blah. And I got lazy and didn't read the part where it said where you had to get up on stage and act. Be in a play or two. But when I did it, first of all, I was terrified by it. And then I began to wanna control that.

And slowly, I came to recognize that I loved telling stories. I love the legends we apply to for wisdom. And I love working with people to bring them to life. And that's what happened to me in college. So, I thought well, I didn't know anything about acting, and didn't know, really, anybody in the business. I just knew you had to go to L.A. or New York to do it, and New York was cold, so I went to L.A.

Tavis: Let me take you back to the beginning, or right near the beginning. I think I, and most of your fans, look at you now as this guy who is in control. Not just in terms of the characters that he plays, but in control of the decisions that you make about the characters that you play. So it's one thing to be this guy who every film he does grosses two or $300 million.

It's one thing to be in control at this point in your career. But I was fascinated in my research to discover that when you were offered the part in 'American Graffiti' at 380 or $480 a week, whatever it was.

Ford: Four eight five.

Tavis: You remember this. (laugh) But who's counting? Four eight five. Four hundred eighty five dollars a week they offered you for 'American Graffiti,' and since this is public television and family television, I cannot repeat what you told the producer (laugh) who offered you that money. But you told them to go do something to themselves. And they came back with a nicer offer, and you accepted.

Ford: For $500 a week.

Tavis: Of 500. But who's counting, $500.

Ford: Yeah.

Tavis: After the 485 offer.

Ford: Yeah.

Tavis: The money is insignificant to me. It's only a $15 difference, to your point. (laugh)

Ford: Well, it was the principle. (laugh)

Tavis: Exactly. I'm glad you said that. And that's what's significant to me. What was it about you at that point in your career, when you weren't Harrison Ford, that gave you the audacity, the temerity to think that you could take control of your own destiny at that point in your career?

Ford: It's a personality disorder, Tavis. (laugh) It's a kind of humble arrogance. I knew I wasn't all that hot. But I just knew that at a certain point, my conditions had to be met before I could do the work. And it's not just - they're not arbitrary conditions. They're things that make me comfortable. And I'm not talking about the money, now. I'm talking about the process.

And when I talk to people about the script, I don't wanna just change it to change it. I wanna make it more clear, more vivid, more emotional, more specific. I wanna make it, for me, work so that I can platform off of that and take it, with full confidence in the material, to an emotional expression. But I don't have to do that with everybody's material.

I don't have to do that with every movie. I don't try and tell a director how to make his movie. But I do ask for certain kinds of support, and I have from the very beginning. And some people laughed at me a lot at the beginning, and said just leave us alone, kid. Just do what they say. And I did. But I wasn't very good at it. I wasn't very successful with those kinds of things that that limitation was imposed on.

Tavis: By my count now, you have used the word emotion or emotional four times in this conversation. Which suggests to me that it is important for you, obviously, to connect with the audience on an emotional level, when you and I both know there are any number of other levels on which you could connect with a viewer, with an audience member. Why so important for you to connect on that emotional level? What do you mean by that?

Ford: Because that's instinctive. That's the instinctive level. That's the level that reaches people without judgment. That's what sneaks upside you and slaps you on the side of the head. And by that I don't mean you gotta have tears streaming your face. I just mean that you have to know that feeling has to be observed on the screen, and then the audience will emotionally identify with a character. And that seals them into the story, I think. That's my theory, and I'm sticking to it.

Tavis: (laugh) I just met you for the first time, what, 20 minutes or so ago. And honored, again, to have you on the program. So I don't know you, and I could be wrong about this, but let me just go out on a limb here. Speaking of being emotional, or emotions, it seems to me that with all the success you have garnered, with all of this acclaim, you seem to be really cool about it.

Very balanced about it. Very normal about it, when I know people in this business who have gone crazy, lost their minds, gotten arrogant, out of control, yadda, yadda, yadda, yadda, yadda. How do you keep all of this in perspective when you're making these kinds of projects, and people are standing in line to go see them, and you're the sexiest man alive on the cover of magazines, and all that? How do you keep all this in perspective?

Ford: It's just a job. It's nothing...

Tavis: Oh, come on, it's not just a job.

Ford: Yeah, it is just a job. It is just a job. And you're as good as your last movie, and the business is not a generous business. The audience is more generous than the business itself.

Tavis: What do you mean when you say the business isn't generous?

Ford: I mean that it is necessary for the people who support our artistic endeavors to make hard business choices. And they do so without emotion, based on numbers. They run the numbers on it. So, it can change at any minute. It can change. Your question implies - you asked your question in a very nice way. And all I can say is, I just treat people the way I wanna be treated myself. That's all.

Tavis: When you talk about this business, I wonder if you could share with me, in the years you've been doing this so successfully, what you like most about this business, after all these years, and what you like least. I assume there's gotta be something that's worked your nerves after all these years about this business. So what do you like most, what do you like least about this business?

Ford: What I like best is that every day is a new day. The challenge every day is incalculable. You don't know what it's going to take to get the job done every day. It's life in the trenches, and there's 200 people standing around, waiting for you to get it right. You feel that sometimes. And so it's compelling, I think, for that reason, among others.

But I like it for the problem solving aspects of the job. I've said too many damn times, probably, that figuring out what to do is the hard part. Acting is easy. It's just fun. All of us do it every day.

Tavis: What do you hate about this? What do you dislike about this? These interviews, probably, huh?

Ford: Probably.

Tavis: Yeah. (laugh) Somehow I felt that coming, man.

Ford: But no, no, you know something?

Tavis: I felt that coming.

Ford: No, you know what? It's an honest pleasure for me to sit here and talk with you. 'Cause we're having a conversation. But a lot of people I'm talking to are stuck in the cards, and their next question is well, you and Callista, how are you, blah, blah, blah. And I dread it. I dread it. But this is easy. You make it easy for me.

But when I start going out to do publicity, I'm gonna meet 3,000, 4,000 people over the next couple of months. And a lot of them aren't going to be as prepared and as wise as you are.

Tavis: That's very kind of you. I appreciate that. Let me ask you this as an extra question, I hope it's an extra question. Clearly, you know what you wanna do, what challenges you as an actor, what interests you as an actor. I wonder, at this point in your game, whether or not you think you can still get better at it, or are you at your peak? Are you in the zone right about now, and it don't get no better than this?

Ford: No, I think I can get better.

Tavis: In what ways?

Ford: I just think you learn something. Every time you go out and make a film, you just learn more and more about your craft. I think of it as a craft. And you can't stop practicing craft skills. You pick up little nuances as you practice a craft skill.

Tavis: Let me ask - I said an extra, and I lied. I wanna squeeze one more in right quick.

Ford: Please.

Tavis: Since you dread doing these - I'm glad you're here, and I thank you for your compliment again. But since you dread doing this part, aside from acting, what do you do when you're having fun? What do you like to do, aside from this business, that you just love doing?

Ford: Flying.

Tavis: Flying.

Ford: Flying. I love flying.

Tavis: Yeah. Well, you are flying, and you can take that any way you wanna take it. You are flying right about now at this point in your life, and you have been flying for some time now. And I am flying, as all of us are, that you came to see us. We're soaring that we had a chance to have a good half hour conversation with you, and I'm delighted that you came to see us.

Ford: You're very sweet. Thank you.

Tavis: It's an honor to meet you, Mr. Ford.

Ford: Harrison. Harrison.

Tavis: Harrison. (unintelligible) Mr. Ford, it's my boy, Harrison. (laugh) Harrison. Anyway, that's our show for tonight. (laugh) You could catch me on the weekends on PRI, Public Radio International, check your local listings. See you back here next time on PBS. Until then, good night from Los Angeles. Thanks for watching. Go see "Firewall," as if I need to encourage you to do that. And keep the faith.