Firewall - Harrison Ford interview
Compiled by Jack Foley
Harrison Ford discusses his role in Firewall, in which he plays a computer security expert forced to hack into his own firewalls in order to save his family from bank robbers.
Q. How much do you actually know about computers? Are you comfortable sitting in front of a keyboard?
A*. Yeah. I have the basics of it down. I’ve been using computers for years for basic tasks and doing research, my educational programs for flight training and so forth. I’m fairly comfortable with it. What was necessary in the period of time that we were working on the script was to prove our theory of how this robbery might be accomplished through the computer system, and then trying to test that. We spoke to many banking professionals and computer professionals and had a lot of very well qualified advice.
Q. There is also that issue of identity theft. Do the scenarios presented in the film make you change the way you do things?
A. I’m perhaps less fearful than some. I think it’s unlikely that my identity would be as useful as some anonymous person’s might be.
Q. How comfortable were you with the stunt demands of this movie?
A. I had no problem with it. It was fun. I enjoyed it.
Q. What was it actually like shooting that final fight scene?
A. It was a big choreographed dance. It was simply a matter of making decisions about where the camera would be, and how we would accomplish each element of the fight, and then doing it.
Q. When you are getting into the area of casting, do you keep a list in the back of your mind of actors you’d like to work with? How does that work?
A. It’s always a question of who is available, who is interested, who is appropriate? I don’t keep a running tab. I’m aware of the work of a lot of actors and admire the work of a lot of actors. There are casting professionals and they come up with lists of people and you sit and look at the list, and you discuss amongst the filmmaking group what the best decision might be.
Q. You’ve done such good work in your career – dramas, comedy; have you ever wanted to go behind the camera and direct?
A. No, not really. It’s a different job. I enjoy the job I have. And also, I’ve spent years acquiring a certain skill set which allows me to do a certain job. I haven’t spent the time developing some of the other skills that I would want to have to direct, which doesn’t mean that if I made the choice that it wouldn’t be easy enough to learn them. It’s just simply not my job.
Q. Do you ever look for smaller films to do?
A. I don’t have much of a hook into that part of the film world. If a script were to come along that was attractive to me, I’d be willing to do it. Show me the script.
Q. You are a licensed pilot. Are you flying bigger planes these days?
A. More sophisticated airplanes, perhaps. I fly all kinds of planes. I’m constantly working on those skills. I’m involved in recurrent training and so on and so forth. I think it’s a profession – in the broader sense of the definition of the word profession – that requires a lot of attention. You need to continually work on refining your skills and your attitudes about flying.
Q. I read somewhere that you’re also involved with airplane programs involving children.
A. That’s right.
Q: Are you involved in actually getting kids behind the stick for the first time?
A. No, it’s not about teaching them to fly. It’s about getting general aviation airplane pilots to volunteer their time and the use of their aircraft to take kids up into the air who have never been in a general aviation aircraft. And to invest them with the notion that this is something that they might be able to do; to give them experience with something that they may feel is outside of their potential, or impossible for them; and to encourage them to think about it because it affords them a way of assuming responsibility for themselves. It gives them a sense of self-esteem. And it allows them an opportunity to participate in what we, the volunteer pilots, feel is a beautiful experience.
Q. When you’re doing a film based on historical events such as your current film (based on the Lincoln assassination), do you delve into the history, and does that help you create your character?
A. Yeah. One reads the research material; you look at pictures from the time – whatever is available to help you create a character of that time is important. The decision about how historically accurate a film will be is a group decision that’s made. There is no absolute standard. I mean, we’re not making a documentary. We’re making theatrical film. Yes, historical understanding and accuracy is important, but it’s just a movie.
Q. Is there a theme to the films that you develop?
A. Yeah, it’s movies I think I might want to be in; that’s about it. There’s no genre restriction or type of role, or type of character that I want to play. It’s just looking for a good ride.
Q. Is there something you haven’t played yet that, that you’d really like to sink your teeth into?
A. I just don’t think that way. I’m not trying to make an inventory of what I’ve done, and what I haven’t done, and then try and say: “Well, I’ve done this; I’ve got to do that.” It just doesn’t occur to me. I am developing several things in which I will play a supporting role. But normally I’m like a fireman – when you roll out on a fire, you don’t want to go to a fire in a dumpster; you want to go and meet the beast.