Indiana Jones for President? The man of action on his political aspirations--and his new earring
by Bob Strauss
Harrison Ford has carved out one of the most successful acting careers in movie history by avoiding the easy way of doing things. For years a Hollywood bit player, the Chicago-born Ford supported himself doing the carpentry work he loves while waiting on rare offers for decent films.
The first was from George Lucas, who gave Ford a small but memorable part in American Graffiti. That was quickly followed by a juicy bit in Francis Ford Coppola's critically acclaimed The Conversation. And when Lucas was looking for a guy to play space buccaneer Han Solo in Star Wars and essay adventurer Indiana Jones, he cast Ford in six of the most profitable movies of all time.
But Ford was never content just to play cartoon heroes, no matter how lucrative. His best-received movies--Blade Runner, Witness, The Fugitive--have all involved action. Still, he keeps trying to branch into comedy (Working Girl), drama (Presumed Innocent) and psychological studies (Regarding Henry), with varying degrees of success.
This year, Ford has had his share of highs, lows and in-betweens. The reissued Star Wars trilogy was a phenomenal hit, while The Devil's Own was a troubled disappointment. And although the cast and crew of Air Force One called Ford's latest release "Air Force Fun," it resulted in a torn rotator cuff, among other bumps and bruises, for the star.
In the movie, directed by In the Line of Fire's Wolfgang Petersen, Ford plays a tough-talking chief executive whose no-negotiation rhetoric is put to the test when Russians hijack the presidential plane with his wife, daughter and half his staff on board.
Right now, Ford is shooting romantic comedy Six Days, Seven Nights with the much-talked-about Anne Heche. Not necessarily the easiest way to run a superstar career. But at $20 mil per flick, Ford considers it quite unheroic to complain.
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