Harrison Ford is a world-class actor starring in some of the most iconic films of all time. At 81, he has had a successful career as an actor for over 50 years. He has played characters that have been embedded in pop culture history and will always be remembered and celebrated. Star Wars and Indiana Jones made Ford an icon and a global star. Han Solo and Indiana Jones became two of his most beloved characters and he reprised these characters for many films.
Many people have associated Ford with these roles to the point that no one could have played these roles other than him. While Ford is humbled and grateful for all the love and support for these characters, he does not want to limit himself to these two roles and not let them be the only good things he has ever done in his life. He flexed his acting chops in many other genres and was successful in many of them.
Harrison Ford Is Much More Than Han Solo and Indiana Jones
An article by The LA Times wrote about how Harrison Ford has been venturing into projects other than Star Wars and Indiana Jones to not get typecast in those roles. The article focused on his role in Presumed Innocent (1990), a legal mystery thriller where he plays a prosecutor named Rusty Sabich, who is accused of killing his colleague Carolyn Polhemus. Ford puts up an impressive dramatic and convincing performance as a conflicted man torn between his infidelity and the crime that has taken place. The LA Times wrote,
“Harrison Ford has been trying not so much to make people forget his triumphs as Han Solo in the “Star Wars” trilogy or as Indiana Jones in that trilogy as to remind us all that he can act very well without a laser gun or a bullwhip in hand”
The director of Presumed Innocent Alan J. Pakula also talked about why Ford was his first choice for the film,
“Harrison was my first choice. I wanted someone who had an Everyman quality. He had to be someone who could be the man down the block. There also had to be a terrific ambiguity. He had to be a deep and passionate moralist; that was his life in the law. But there also be the dark passages, capable of obsession, capable of the murder he’s accused of”
Ford is a wonderful dramatic actor and his range and capabilities are seen when he does serious and character-driven roles like this film. Broadening one’s filmography is a way for actors to sustain their excitement and desire for acting, which is why Ford also wanted to challenge himself and do various projects as an actor.
Harrison Ford also Talked About Wanting to Explore as an Actor
In the same interview, Harrison Ford also talked about wanting to do various genres and projects and not wanting to get typecast in a particular role.
“I was lucky to be the age I was when I had my first success. The slow times had lent perspective to the sudden pressures of stardom. The audience has grown at the same time I have. They’re willing to accept more sophisticated material, and me in it. I was desperate to find something very different from Han Solo”
Ford has broadened his range as an actor starring in many successful projects such as Witness (1985), Presumed Innocent, Blade Runner (1982), The Fugitive (1993), Air Force One (1997), 42 (2013), The Age of Adaline (2015), 1923 (2022) and Shrinking (2023).
What is Harrison Ford Working on Now?
Despite Harrison Ford’s sincere last hurrah as the character, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (2023) underperformed at the box office, resulting in a huge loss for Disney. Ford is next set to return in the second season of both his shows 1923 and Shrinking which were applauded by both critics and audiences.
He will also be debuting in the Marvel Cinematic Universe with the film Captain America: Brave New World alongside Anthony Mackie. The film is scheduled to release in theaters on July 26, 2024. He will also make an appearance in the team-up film Thunderbolts starring Florence Pugh, Sebastian Stan, David Harbour, Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Wyatt Russell.
Source: The LA Times
