The Movie Filter

Tips for Harrison Ford

October 17, 2007
By Jeff Roedel

In theaters Friday: 30 Days of Night, Rendition, Reservation Road, Things We Lost in the Fire New on DVD: The Hoax, A Mighty Heart, Planet Terror, Transformers

Let's face it, Harrison Ford's career hasn't exactly been gangbusters since Air Force One back in 1997. He's too old now for hit action films -- except for Indiana Jones, of course -- and he was in Six Days Seven Nights with Anne Heche which for anyone else would have been a career killer, but Ford being Ford, that dud just sort of hobbled him a bit. So with Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Krystal Skull due to be one of the biggest hits of next year when it is released in May, I've been thinking about what he should do to capitalize on that sure-to-be success for a late career revival. He's got one other solid film in the pipeline, Crossing Over (sweet!) and here is a new rumored romantic comedy (oof!), but this is where I think Ford should go from here:

Remember you owe Steven Soderbergh one. Harrison, you passed on a starring role in the Oscar-winning Traffic, and therefore lost a SAG award that instead went to Michael Douglas. Have your people call Soderbergh's people. Do lunch and get a role in one of his upcoming projects. He's got about a dozen of them. Saddle up. Your rugged good looks are, well, a little more rugged than good these days, which makes it the perfect time to play a cowboy. Buy the rights to a Cormac McCarthy novel and produce one yourself. Get your Fugitive buddy Tommy Lee Jones to co-star and Justin Chatwin to play your son. The kid looks more like you than Shia LaBeouf.

Ham it up one more time. Comedy is not really your thing. But delivering comedic one-liners in action movies is. Hook up with Quentin Tarantino and play a mob boss or some other scalawag … Oh, and bring in Ringo Starr, who Tarantino said he'd love to work with, and your Blade Runner co-star Sean Young. QT is a sucker for resurrecting careers.

Stop trying to be an action figure. Ford, you can only save your family so many times. You need to star in a movie that has a complete lack of punching and kicking. Alexander Payne, writer/director of Election, About Schmidt and Sideways would be a good match for you. Take a supporting role in one of his dramas. Play your age. Play the grandfather. Jack Nicholson already did it. It's OK.

Show more passion. Many of your roles in the last decade have been too deadpan and lifeless … .and none of them were even Wes Anderson movies! You love flying your little prop planes, don't you? Work that hobby into a role so your passion comes across on screen.

Make up with your ex. Dude, remember that mega hit E.T.? Dude, remember when your ex-wife totally wrote the screenplay for that? Mend the fence and encourage her to pen another family-friendly sci-fi masterpiece, or write one with her. I don't care. Direct it yourself or star in it. Just make it happen.

These projects should last you a good decade by which time you'll be ready to retire. Just make sure that zany Tarantino romp isn't your last picture. Go out with the cowboy movie and ride off into the sunset.

Finally, the Jumper trailer is here. Doug Liman's thriller about teleporting humans on the run from hunters of said teleporting humans, looks pretty cool, and Jamie Bell and AnnaSophia Robb are two incredible young actors. Jumper lands Feb. 15.

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