80-year-old movie icon Harrison Ford let the world know he does not care what people think about him in a bold and unfiltered interview with The Hollywood Reporter.
Ford is unmistakably recognizable as Han Solo, Indiana Jones, and a host of other iconic big screen legends. If his latest project suggests anything, he doesn’t seem keen on slowing down any time soon, either. Ford currently stars alongside Oscar-winner Helen Mirren in the Kevin Costner hit series Yellowstone’ spin-off titled ‘1923.’
The subject came up as Ford was discussing his connection to his on-screen portrayal of a therapist in the smash-hit streaming show.
“My opinion is not of the profession, it’s of the practitioner. There are all kinds of therapy. I’m sure many of them are useful to many people. I’m not anti-therapy for anybody — except for myself. I know who the f— I am at this point,” the Hollywood legend said.
Despite his decades in the industry, this is Ford’s first go-round with a television comedy series. When asked if he had learned anything new, he jokingly responded, “Would it be arrogant to say that I didn’t learn anything?”
“I really didn’t learn anything,” he then laughed. “It’s about being in the room where it happens and being appropriate to the circumstances and welcoming the opportunity to generate something with a little spontaneity and a measure of truth.”
As open as he was about not really caring about what people thought about him and how he was grounded in who he was, Ford did decline at one point to elaborate on a comment he made about feeling connected to the character in ‘1923.’
“I’m not sure I want to talk to you about that,” he admitted. “There are family issues that were relatable to me, OK? I’ve got five kids. This guy’s got a daughter he doesn’t see very often and an ex-wife. There are issues with his family — which are not the same issues I have with my family. But there are things we worked our way through, so I found an emotional reality to attend to.”
The interview then proceeded to force Harrison to confront the idea that he is averse to social gatherings.
“S—. That sounds like something a psychiatrist would say, not a casual observer. No. I don’t have a social anxiety disorder. I have an abhorrence of boring situations. I was shy when I first went onstage — I wasn’t shy, I was f—ing terrified,” Ford said. “My knees would shake so badly, you could see it from the back of the theater. But that’s not social anxiety. That’s being unfamiliar with the territory. I was able to talk myself through that and then enjoy the experience of being onstage and telling a story with collaborators.”
It may come as a surprise to learn that Ford, in spite of his huge impact on modern film culture and audiences, has never won an Academy Award. Asked if that bothered him, the actor just shook his head dismissively.
“If I did a movie that had Oscar ambition, that was an Oscar-type movie, then yeah, I’d want the film to be recognized for its quality. If I were given an Oscar, I would be grateful and appropriate. I’m trying to artfully skirt this — I don’t want to campaign for it,” he said.
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