July 2002 An Interview with Harrison Ford

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Interviewed by Wilson Morales An Interview with Harrison Ford Harrison Ford is one the greatest Hollywood actors of all-time. He has more films in the top grossing category than any other actor. After playing so many parts, he finally has his first film using an accent. In a recent conversation with blackfilm.com, Mr. Ford discusses his latest role in "K-19: The Widowmaker." WM: Is this your first accent? HF: I believe it is. I know it is WM: How hard is it walking around doing an accent? HF: It's not that hard. We have a very capable dialogue coach who helped enormously. I thought it was an important element in the storytelling. It reminded people consistently that this was a Russian story about Russians, so I thought it was useful dramatic device. WM: How did you look into the role in terms of research? HF: We all did our research; there was a lot of research developed over 5 years spent gathering and developing the project. And I went to Moscow, St. Petersburg and met with survivors of the actual accident and I read and saw a film about the, historical film. So I did the usual amount of research. WM: You are an executive producer on this film. What did that entail? HF: Quite a lot actually. There were a lot of issues that had not been settled when I signed on. That's why I assumed that the role of executive producer. There was a lot left to be done so I wanted to have an influence over them and not have it come from a movie star, but from a person involved in the project. WM: What kind of response are you getting from actual Russians? HF: I haven't actually heard about any response yet. I know that some members of the orchestra who played on the recording sessions for the film score were impressed by it but I don't know whether they saw the whole thing. I think they just saw pieces of it. So, I haven't really heard about a response to the finished film. WM: What's the name of the film you have coming out in next January? HF: It's called "Walk Among Tombstones." WM: So does being in the position, the sort of actor when you sign on to a project how it's going to be made, do you feel a certain responsibility to bring out directors who are just starting out on projects that just otherwise might be ignored? HF: No, I feel a responsibility to just do the best job that I can with a project. I'm always interested in new directors, new talents, but I don't feel an obligation. I really can't take that obligation, but I am always happy to work with new people, fresh points of view.