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Harrison Ford’s newest movie Crossing Over opens this weekend may never open ever (see comments below — Ed.) and it looks like a mashup of Babel and Crash. In the trailer, Ford seems to be going through the motions of a role we’ve become used to seeing him in: the gruff older man who gets angry about something and decides to take matters into his own hands. It’s most reminiscent of his Jack Ryan character in Clear and Present Danger, right down to shots that look pretty darn close to each other.
It’s more of a reminder that so many of Harrison Ford’s films in these past few years have fallen flat on their face both with audiences and at the box office. He tried to do comedy with Anne Heche in Six Days, Seven Nights, and again with Josh Hartnett in Hollywood Homicide. Neither one of them worked. He also missed with the romantic drama Random Hearts and the drama/actioner K19: The Widowmaker. There was brief respite from his lackluster roles with What Lies Beneath, but then he turned to mediocrity with Firewall. Then came the new Indy, which granted, wasn’t his fault. He was great it in, but the writing was just too bad to get past.
Crossing Over doesn’t look like it’ll bust Ford out of the boring movie mold he’s encased in, so here are some suggestions for him to turn things around. Despite the fact that this guy could retire tomorrow and live off of his earnings forever, he seems intent on continuing to act. Let’s hope he pays attention.
Consider Doing Real Comedy
But ONLY if the script is good. Both Six Days and Seven Nights and Hollywood Homicide were terribly written. Why not get Woody Allen to stick you in a movie? Or maybe you could cozy up to Judd Apatow? There are plenty of comic moments in Star Wars and Indiana Jones that showed how funny you can be, but it doesn’t seem like you’ve found the right material to be a comic actor. We’re not expecting you to be Steve Carrell, but a befuddled Harrison Ford as a rookie crossing guard? Think about it.
Produce Your Own Material
It worked for George Clooney, who made the leap from fair enough television actor to fantastic movie actor pretty seamlessly. Part of the reason is that he’s taken an extremely active role in developing projects tailored to his interests and his talents. You love to fly helicopters, and even used one of your own to rescue a lost hiker. Why not develop an action flick about Search and Rescue? You’re passionate about the rainforest…enough so that you waxed your chest in a commercial (and please, don’t do that again — it was really creepy). Why not work on a movie about that?
Stop Playing The Same Role Over and Over
You know what we mean. The loner with a sense of justice, the beleaguered family man who gets in over his head, the grumpy guy with a big heart who has a wife who is about to be kidnapped. We’ve seen it all way too much, especially with the Jack Ryan movies. I know you’ve been hinting that you’d like to return to the Jack Ryan role. Don’t do it. As Ryan is written in the books, you’re way past that spot in age. Let the role go to someone else and focus on something completely new. You made Indiana Jones and Han Solo so unique, why not create another role that’s all your own? You don’t need Alec Baldwin and Ben Affleck’s scraps anyhow.
Try Science Fiction Again
Look how good it’s been to you! Three Star Wars movies and Blade Runner, all of which have become classics in that genre. Why not give it a whirl again? Maybe you can even work with Ridley Scott one more time and create something amazing. That’ll help us to forgive the sci fi schlock in Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, and even the Star Wars Christmas Special. You haven’t tried anything like that since your early acting days, except when you experimented with horror with Robert Zemeckis for What Lies Beneath, and look how well that did.
Start Shaking Hands
You’re known for being a recluse up in Wyoming, but why don’t you start schmoozing a bit with some of the directors you haven’t worked with? Danny Boyle is getting a lot of attention as of late for Slumdog Millionaire, Paul Thomas Anderson can’t seem to do anything wrong, and the Coen Brothers don’t need me to explain how great they are. Why not work with some of them? You’re in need of one of those Quentin Tarantino-style shock paddle treatments to the chest of your career. Don’t wait until it’s too late to try reinventing yourself, but also do it with a bit of moderation. Lenny Bruce once said, “There’s nothing sadder than an old hipster.” Don’t prove him right.
To sum up: pretty much just stop doing what you’ve been doing, get a new agent, lose that ridiculous earring, and turn things around. After all, your single Academy Award nomination was for Witness, which was one of your most vulnerable and best roles. Do you want to be remembered as the guy who went searching for a chunk of glass shaped like an alien head forever?
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We’ve had a bit of trouble getting this episode to go through the iTunes feed, so we hope this re-post will fix the problem. The original post, with episode description and embedded player, is here.
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Didn’t this get delayed until 09 as with the rest of the weinstein films?
Harrison Ford decided to kill his own late career when he turned down Michael Douglas’s role in Traffic because it wasn’t a big enough paycheck. He needs to follow his cinematic father, Sean Connery, into retirement.
Just wanted to let you know, Crossing Over has been pushed back AGAIN and will not be released until Jan or Feb 2009. This change was announced a few weeks ago by Weinstein Co and their website now says the movie is “Coming Soon.” Weinstein was interviewed by Variety and said that he pushed back C.O. to give it a chance at better box office and to release it during Sundance. This is the 4th or 5th time the movie’s release date has changed. FG
I think Harrison should play some historical person. “Frost/Nixon” with Harrison Ford would have been very interesting. I am glad Ron Howard stuck with the stage cast of Frank Langella and Michael Sheen but something of that quality and genre is something Harrison should look into.
So an image of Ford showing his I.D. through a doorway is supposed to be a rip-off of Jack Ryan? Give me a break. I’ve seen Crossing Over - albeit when Sean Penn was still in it (at an L.A. preview) - and it’s a terrific film that has one of the best Ford performances in years. The real problem is Harvey Weinstein - he should have released this film BEFORE the election when the immigration issue was timely - and I guess that was the filmmaker’s original intent. It’s still a great film, but I think losing the Sean Penn performance will probably hurt it a bit.
No, it’s just that he’s dressed almost exactly the same, wearing similar sunglasses, and talking to someone through a door. Those shots are pretty identical. I’m not saying it’s a ripoff, but it just underscores the fact that his roles have all become way too similar.
Ford is often “damned if he does/ damned if he doesn’t” When he tries something different like Mosquito Coast or a quirky comedy like Hollywood Homicide, people say he’s a failure because the movie doesn’t do huge box-office… and that he should stick to his strengths and play the ‘everyman hero’. Then when he does that usual ‘hero’ role, people complain that he doesn’t take chances.
Your criticism of his role in Crossing Over is particularily unfair… especially considering it hasn’t been released yet. I’ve heard from a few people that saw an early screening that Ford gives a really good performance… possibly his best since Witness. I think this is exactly the kind of movie he should be doing right now, and it reminds me of the role he turned down in Traffic.
My concern I do have about the movie, however, is there seems to be some problems brewing between Weinstein and Kramer… which is why the film keeps getting pushed back. Personally, I think it would be a shame for Ford, if his performance good, that he not get recognized because the film gets buried.
“Brief respite”? WTF? What Lies Beneath is terrible.
Can we also tell him to get rid of that stupid gay earring he’s been wearing for the past few years?
He looks so stupid with it that it threatens his manliness to the people who still think of him as Indy and Han Solo.
See, I thought WHAT LIES BENEATH was lackluster, and HOLLYWOOD HOMICIDE, though routine as an action movie, was actually pretty funny as a comedy.
What exactly does wearing an earring in his private life have to do with anything? Who cares. He doesn’t wear it in his films… unless somehow I missed that scene in Crystal Skull.
Compare Ford’s early career to that of Clooney’s and i know which i’d choose. Ford was the biggest box office star of the 80s and early 90s. Clooney doesn’t come close either in terms of box office or quality of films, depsite developing his own projects. So he grew a abeard and got fat for Syriana. So what? The fact that people like the OP still talk about Ford is indicative of, and testament to, his longevity and people’s fondness for him. Crossing Over looks promising and he is meant to play against type, from what I’ve heard. Why not wait and see rather than slag it based on a trailer and a photo of him in some sunglasses?
I LOVE YOU HARRISON FORD!! YOU’RE MY HERO AND ALWAYS WILL BE. DON’T LET ANY OF THESE JERKS SAY ANYTHING BAD ABOUT YOU THAT JUST DON’T KNOW TALENT WHEN THEY SEE IT!!!!
I am a big Ford fan. I enjoyed Six Days and Seven Nights and I like Hollywood Homicide. They aren’t great movies–but fun and funny. I haven’t seen What Lies Beneath so I can’t comment on it. The latest Indie film was a big disappointment and like you said not because of Harrison’s performance but the rest of it. K-19 simply was horrible. It is Ford’s worst performance I have seen. True, Ford doesn’t have to do movie roles for $ anymore. He could afford to take any risks now and it would be great to see him do so. Back when he did take risks though–they flopped at the box office ironically enough. Mosquito Coast, Witness, Regarding Henry and The Fugitive are some of his best performances and he deserved at least one oscar. He has played challenging roles and pulled them off. I like his comic humor. I do get tired of seeing him placed with women half his age. Don’t care about the earring–he wears a diamond stud in Random Hearts. Don’t care if he tries to look younger…growing old can be challenging. He is in amazing shape for pushing 70! I would like to see him in a really GOOD movie. There are some fine ones coming out for older actors. The Bucket List for example. I think Lucas and Spielberg are stuck in a rut for sure…would be good to see Harrison move into new areas. I would however go see him in another Indie film if it was a well written script and the story goes in a refreshing new direction!
Why all this Ford bashing? He’s had a career that most other actors can only dream of, including the Hollywood “elite” and George Clooney. Personally I can not think of another actor that has been major a character in two astronomical movie franchises that are so ingrained our consciousness that we can not perceive of anyone else in that roll. (Han Solo and Indiana Jones just in case anyone has been off this planet for the past thirty years.)
Maybe it’s because of this that people has such high expectations, and judge Harrison unfairly because so much more is expected. But that is not being realistic is it? Every single film can not be a major box office success. One shouldn’t go into every “Harrison Ford” film expecting high thrills, action or whatever, but to go without having any expectation and to just enjoy it, (or not as the case may be) on the films own merit. Some of his so-called box office failures I have really enjoyed, “Six Days, Seven Nights” is rarely out of my DVD player (the absence of a shirt in most scenes being the main reason, but hey I’m only female).
In my opinion Ford is one of the most underrated actors of our time, unfortunately it appears some times that his own super stardom eclipses his talent and he is not given the recognition he so deserves. And now people are so hung up on his age, he’s 66 get over it! But saying that he can still deliver the goods, in Indiana Jones 4, OK not such a great story, but no one can say that Harrison didn’t live up to his end of the bargain. Actors half his age couldn’t have done the kind of action that he did, most would have been calling on their stunt team and relaxed in their trailer or whatever.
So, “what now” for Harrison Ford? Let’s hope that “Crossing Over” is finally released and proves his critics wrong, possibly another Indie 5, as long as it is a better story this time, then fantastic. It would be great to see Harrison in more character driven rolls, but we have to live up to our end of the bargain don’t we? We can bitch and moan all we like that he doesn’t stretch himself enough as an actor and sticks to the same old format, but when he does i.e. Mosquito Coast (one of his best performances) Regarding Henry, Hollywood Homicide and the like rather than knock him for trying something different, we should applaud him and not scorn. Like a former poster has said, “damned if he does, damned if he doesn’t”.
I am sure Ford still has some surprises in store for us, he wouldn’t had stuck around so long if he was intelligent enough as well as talented to know how to handle his own career and not have amateurs like us telling him what to do.
By the way, I quite like the earing, show’s he really doesn’t give a ***** what others think he most do, or how he must behave. That is what I like most about Harrison, he’s real, not some tinsel town turkey like most Hollywood stars.