Empire/Harrison Ford

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In a hotel room in Beverly Hills, Harrison Ford is introduced to a group of European journalists and struggles uncomfortably through a series of polite introductions. One of them – an older Spanish woman keen to bond with the actor and remind him how they’ve met before – goes on at some length about her children and how they go to the same school as his. Ford listens politely for several minutes before the strain is clearly too much and he abruptly cuts her conversation short.

“Well, enough about you,” he says, dryer than a desert storm.

There’s a fine line between funny and mean, and Harrison Ford straddles it like a pro. Later, when your Empire correspondent is ushered into his lush suite for a little one-on-one time, he’s no problem displaying both sides.

Sporting a grey goatee beard, wire rimmed glasses and midlife-crises earring, his face hasn’t done quite as well as his still-fit body in staving off the ravages of time, looking like it’s actually taken every blow Hans and Indy suffered. ‘Lived in’ would be the polite way to put it, though we suspect he’d be just as OK with ‘Crumpled’.

At 64-years-old and with around 50 films to his name, the man who was Deckard, the man who was Hans Solo and the man who was Indiana Jones – and will be again – doesn’t need to take any shit from anyone. He’ll go from monosyllabic to effusive in a heartbeat depending on how worthy the topic, and he’s little time for small talk and gossip. As we soon discovered…

So, why Firewall?

The script, and the potential for it to be both exciting and emotional for an audience.

Your character’s pretty computer savvy – are you?

Not terribly, no. I did whatever research I felt necessary to understand what the character’s work is about. And then to make sure the plot works, to know the world we’re positing as a reality could in fact be a reality.

How involved with the development process are you?

Very. My face is going to be put on the can and if it’s not good people are going to say ‘I know the son of a bitch who did this to me and I’m not going to buy that shit any more’.

Ever considered writing a movie yourself?

I can’t do that – it’s too hard.

How about directing?

It’s too hard and doesn’t pay well enough. Plus I don’t want to be the boss – I want to have unusual access to the boss. Right now, though, I’m getting more involved in the development process than I’ve ever been before because the studios are no longer doing the job of development.

What do you look for if you’re developing a project?

Something that will engage on an emotional level with an audience.

What films are you personally engaged by?

I don’t go to films often so don’t claim to be any expert. I did recently see Good Night, and Good Luck in the theatre and really thought it was fantastic - a wonderful story to tell to our culture now. But that’s the only movie I’ve been to in about six months. The one before that was the penguin movie, which was about three quarters good.

Are you just not much of a movie fan?

I’m a fan of good work, it’s just that I somehow don’t get out of the house and I don’t want to watch it at home. I don’t have a big screening room there or anything.

How do you see the current state of the industry?

I’m no expert – I don’t try and figure it out, I just work here.

You must have seen many changes over the years – is it a better or worse time?

It’s a better time for some people and not a good a time for others. It’s a very good time for Ewan McGregor and Tom Cruise…

Is it a good time for Harrison Ford?

I’m working! I’m enjoying what I’m doing. I’m making movies that I’m happy with and that’s good enough for me.

Do you have any dream movie projects?

Nope. I’m a practical kind of person – I don’t dream about stuff.

You’re very passionate about environmental issues (Ford has worked for 15 years on the board of directors of Conservation International whose mission is to conserve the earth’s living natural heritage). Have you ever considered putting these themes and passions into a film?

I don’t think you can impose this on a movie. Very often movies that address real life problems unfortunately end - because they are movies – with a movie solution, which is not the real life solution. So people think they’ve addressed the issue and got it off their chest but it’s not real.

Syriana successfully addressed a wide range of issues regarding the oil trade.

It’s just not my choice of how to deal with it. You need to do it in school and in the economic workplace. People are aware of the problem and the issues.

An actor like Nic Cage seems to move easily from big action fare like National Treasure to something quirkier like Adaptation. Have you ever thought about mixing things up like that?

I’m ambitious for quality work and I appreciate what other people do, but I don’t want to do what other people do. I can’t base my decisions on what Nic decides to do with his life; I admire some of the stuff that he’s done but not everything. I feed opportunistically: I cannot eat for a long time – like a crocodile – but I feed on what I think would be good for me.

You like to get into fights, carry a gun…

I like physical acting and I like it because it’s interesting for me. I’ve spent a lot of time doing it over the years but it’s all smoke and mirrors. You design things to be safe and within your capacity to do it.

You need to keep in pretty good shape for this…

You need to know where to put the pads. And how to trick your body to land on the pads.

How are you looking forward to throwing yourself back onto the pads for Indiana Jones 4?

Well, it looms… it looms. I love to do those films – they’re great fun.

We heard that the script is ready…

The script is ready??? I think that was a different script… it looms.

Are you ready to take on the physical challenge?

There’s nothing more that I do in an Indiana Jones film than what I did in Firewall.

What do you do to keep in shape?

Play tennis… and do fight scenes in movies on a regular basis.

You’re obviously OK about revisiting the Indiana Jones character, but couldn’t be persuaded to re-visit Hans Solo?

Well I was never presented with a fourth Star Wars movie in which Hans Solo appeared and I did think the character itself was relatively thin. I would have liked to see some complication for the character if there’d been a fourth. The only complication I argued for that I didn’t get was to die at the end of the third one. I thought that would have given the whole film a bottom, but I couldn’t talk George into that.

What did you think of the second trilogy?

Well they were very different from the earlier films: different in concept, different in execution… there was a very youthful exuberance to the first three that wasn’t so much there in the second three. They were made for a very different audience with very different tools.

Do you ever flick on your old movies of an evening?

No. There are a lot of films I’ve done that Calista hasn’t seen and if we’re flicking through the channels we may stop and watch them for a few minutes, but I wouldn’t watch the whole thing.

Does it make you uncomfortable?

It just doesn’t matter – I know how it ends.

Not even curious to just to see how you look?

I can do that in the mirror.

But some of them are classics….

I don’t do them for myself. It’s like carpentry – you make something for somebody else to use then you go and make something else.

But even a carpenter will keep some of his own work and admire it occasionally.

Yeah… sure… but I think I like a nice hard wall between my work life and my private life. It’s compartmentalisation. And also it’s not a pleasure for me to see myself fuck up in a movie when I can’t fix it. So yes I can celebrate the work but I’m more likely to be fixated and affected by what doesn’t work. Sometimes it’s painful.

Have you any favourites from the back catalogue?

I don’t have a favourite. Mosquito Coast is a film I admire and it was fun to make it.

What about a seminal movie like Blade Runner?

What I remember more than anything else when I see Bladerunner is not the 50 nights of shooting in made rain, but the voiceover, which I was compelled by my contract to have to record six different versions of when Ridley had already been thrown off the picture by Warner Brothers because he’d run over budget. I was still obliged to work for these clowns that came in writing one bad voiceover after another. From the very beginning when we sat around my kitchen table working on the script I said ‘I play a detective that does no detecting, let’s put some of this stuff that’s in the voiceover on screen in activity’.

What’s your life like today: is it possible to lead a normal one?

You learn to avoid those situations which have the potential to develop into something that’s uncomfortable, like being in a place in public for a period of time looking like you might be available for casual conversation.

Does that happen a lot?

Sure… anybody in this business is familiar with it. It’s a service occupation and I do appreciate people that say they are pleased with the service. It’s not a terrible thing and often people are very kind, very appropriate and very sincere. But you do like to have a reality of your own and that’s the issue. They say acting is like living above the store: you’re there all the time. But there’s somebody living inside this face that you recognise that has shit of his own to do.

Jack Black recently told us that his trick when accosted by fans is to answer politely and slowly walk away, making sure to make no sudden moves.

I find it’s very useful to proceed purposely any time you’re in public: do not linger. You have something to do, go fucking do it. Don’t lurk about.

We spotted you in a valet car line recently when you and Calista were waiting a ridiculously long time for your car. You looked like you wanted the floor to open up and swallow you whole.

I think we ended up taking ourselves out of the line and to another place and waited. It can be pretty uncomfortable.

You seem pretty uncomfortable generally with your celebrity.

Celebrity is a complete pain in the ass. I think the loss of anonymity is the greatest trade that you make. There’s no way to imagine what the loss of anonymity will do to your life until you suffer it.

But the money is good compensation, right?

I don’t care about money. I like to earn it but I don’t like the rest of it. I’m not completely ignorant about it but it’s not a hobby of mine. Money’s only important when you haven’t got any.

What motivates you now?

Money. (Laughs). Oh sorry – I was just on the subject. The same thing that’s always motivated me – an ambition to work. I like work. This is my work.

You have a reputation for being a tad grumpy when you work – is it justified?

I’m unaware of the fact that I’m grumpy.

Unaware of the reputation?

Yes.

Then let me tell you: you have a reputation for being grumpy. Different people have differing opinions as to why: (Firewall director) Richard Loncraine said it’s an act.

Then don’t go back and tell him that I said that I really am grumpy. (Laughs). You know what it is? I’m purposeful when I’m on the set and I don’t like to be distracted. And I like to get results, so until I do I may be a little grumpy. But it’s just one of the many tools. I think I can also be quite charming.

Josh Hartnett wouldn’t say so. You worked with him on Hollywood Homicide and he told us, and I quote, “Harrison gave me a lot of crap” during the shoot. Is that true?

Ah… yeah. There were things that I thought I needed to say.

And you said them.

Right, I said them. There are times you have to say something that you think is important. Did he tell you specifically what I said to him?

No, though he did say that ultimately he enjoyed it.

Well that’s good.

What do you think of some of the up-and-coming movie stars?

I think they’re fantastic by and large. There are a fantastic group of actors and actresses working right now and I have no idea how they got to be that good.

Any favourites?

No – I’m not sure I see enough movies to know them well enough.

Any directors you’d like to work with?

There are numerous people that I’d like to work with. I just saw Clooney’s movie Good Night, and Good Luck so I’d like to work with him as a director. I saw a bit of Steve Gaghan’s movie that you mentioned - Syriana - and I wish I’d have played the part that was offered to me.

Which part?

George’s part.

Why didn’t you do it?

I didn’t feel strongly enough about the truth of the material, and I think I probably made a mistake. I think it underwent some changes and I think a lot of it is very truthful: the things that I thought weren’t were obviated after I left the table.

Are there any actors you’re keen to work with?

Anybody that’s good; I don’t have these kind of ambitions in isolation. It’s always a combination of what I’m doing at the time and what I think I need at the time.

Richard said you were very hands-on about picking your screen wife in Firewall (Virginia Madsen) and that you never want to use a screen wife you’ve used before.

It’s all about the role. I don’t think about ”chemistry”. I think that’s a bizarre idea..

There’s no such thing as on-screen chemistry?

No. I think there are good fits and bad fits but there’s no chemical thing. That’s just the movies.