Interview: Harrison Ford

The star of Morning Glory on acting, journalism and Dick Cheney’s socks.

Harrison Ford may be an actor, but he doesn’t tolerate having words put in his mouth if they don’t appeal to him. And, much like his cantankerous news anchor in Roger Michell’s Morning Glory, Ford happens to practice what his character preaches, off camera too. Notorious for saying his lines and doing things his way in movies like Star Wars and Raiders Of The Lost Ark, the defiantly opinionated celeb spouted that same attitude during this interview for Morning Glory. He touched on everything from media motor mouths like Rush Limbaugh to the nitwit norm in news programs today, but not without his laid back telltale wit kicking in as well, which has led to Ford claiming fame as the third largest grossing movie star ever.

You’re not so scary in a movie without a gun.  Geez, thanks for such a daunting start!

So, why Morning Glory? You know, you don’t make a meal out of one ingredient. It’s balance and working together. So, every time you show up and they start rolling a film, it’s an important moment, in movies made up of tiny little bits and pieces.

Is it more fun playing a hero without the action? Yes. No. No, it’s fun telling stories and working with really talented people and trying to make something that’s both funny and emotional—and that engages the audience in an emotional experience. And it’s also fun to run, jump, and fall down and….getting paid!

Do you feel you have star power like your character does? Do I feel powerful? Well, no. I was just pretending.

There seemed to be in your performance a little Peter Jennings. And Dick Cheney. Wow. Do you think it was my socks that made you think of Dick Cheney or the bad aim? But, I didn’t want to imitate anyone else. I wanted to figure out who Mike Pomeroy was and I wanted to be Mike Pomeroy. So, I didn’t pattern my character after any particular newsman.

You looked like you were really getting into mocking those TV news anchors out there. We weren’t mocking the good ones! I think we’re talking specifically about the lowest rated morning talk show in the history of television.

Do you ever watch those shows? I turn on the news first thing in the morning, because I’m the first person up and I’m alone. And I turn on the news just to find out if there’s been a big accident overnight, but that’s about as much news as you get first thing in the morning. And my real news, in depth, comes from reading newspapers, and I listen to the radio a lot. I also enjoy listening to BBC News and the CBC news people have some very interesting things to say. But I can’t bear that cheerful morning stuff. I don’t want people that I have to know by their first names that early in the morning.

Are you anything like your character, Mike Pomeroy? No, I’m nothing like that in person! That’s acting.

Mike really hates the dumbing down of news into infotainment. How do you feel about that? It’s worse than that, actually. And what I’m about to say, doesn’t apply to people who do responsible news gathering and real journalism, and those people are out there. What I’m fearful of is the kind of political opinion disguised as news, where people can go to have their prejudices confirmed. And there’s a whole branch of what passes for news that does that. Whatever your political persuasion or your preconceptions are, there’s a show that’s going to come right down your pipeline and tell you that you’re right and that everybody else who doesn’t think that way is wrong, and that’s not news, that’s religion. And it makes me crazy, but that’s my personal opinion, and if you don’t like what they’re saying, go somewhere else. But I don’t think it’s a question of Rush Limbaugh, or any particular personality. It’s coming from us, it’s coming from the public. We are less interested in a depth of understanding of the issues that face us in common. We’re less active in terms of trying to create a national consciousness, as we are in defending and describing what’s singular about us. There’s not a sense of community that was and is the power of any nation. And so we are exploiting divisiveness. And I’m not a nationalist per se, I’m not talking as a patriot. I’m talking as somebody who wants to see the problems of our society addressed. And I think that depends on appropriate information, delivered in depth.

What do you feel can be done about the way news has blurred with entertainment and lost sight of the issues, to keep debate on a serious level? Just don’t buy whatever kind of soap they’re selling!