close
close

And now Harrison Ford's comedy stylings…

And now Harrison Ford's comedy stylings…

Harrison Ford thinks you've taken him far too seriously over the years. Somehow he developed this reputation for serious intensity, but he's not sure how or why that happened. “For me, all I’ve ever done is comedy,” he says Vanity Fair.

Maybe he's pointed the finger too often, or maybe his extremely deadpan delivery has just been too convincing over the years. Consider the inherent absurdity of his most memorable roles: an archaeologist who conducts most of his scientific research with a bullwhip? A boastful starship captain whose co-pilot is a giant space monkey? A police officer going undercover to protect an Amish woman and her young son after the son witnesses a murder? Okay, maybe the latter is the exception that proves the rule.

But Ford even claims that Witness has a sense of humor. “In a way, yes, because the jokes are really the surprise in everything, in a serious film or in a streaming comedy,” he says. “Finding humor in the moment is what keeps us alive most of the time. I like to give the characters I play their own personal sense of humor. I think everyone has one, even if it’s not funny.”

It took the comedy series Apple TV+ Shrinkage, in which Ford plays a gruff senior therapist at a clinic across the street Jason Segel And Jessica Williams, to highlight that the actor everyone thought was the thinking man's action hero was really a comedian at heart. “I’m a stupid person,” says Ford – as seriously as possible. (Maybe he pointed the finger. We spoke on the phone.)

shrinkage returns for season two on October 16, so Ford fans will soon see him poking even more holes in his staid exterior with his index finger. “It’s always so interesting how the narrative emerges, isn’t it? Because it's out of your control. And the narrative on that show was, “Who knew Harrison Ford could do a comedy?” he says shrinkage co-creator Bill Lawrence, whose other credits include Ted Lasso And Peels. “It's crazy. He’s a comedic actor.”

Lawrence insists Naturally he and his colleagues shrinkage Creator sails and Brett Goldstein knew that the now 82-year-old actor had the necessary absurdity in him. “When we wrote the script, we wrote a 'Harrison Ford' type because I've been around long enough to have seen him in it Working girl. If Indiana Jones If there wasn't comedic confidence, the film wouldn't have worked. If star Wars “If this character hadn't been given the comedic cockiness in such a serious film, it wouldn't have worked,” says Lawrence. “So I knew Harrison Ford was funny, man. I’ve seen him funny countless times.”

They didn't know how far Ford would go. Lawrence and his co-creators assumed, “What's going to be funny is that Harrison is gruff and cranky, and that's going to be his comedic wheelhouse.” But then when he got there, we were like, Oh shit, he's got a lot more Tools.” Ford's Dr. Not only is Paul Rhoades a fatherly figure who tells the truth to Segel's widowed therapist Jimmy Laird, but his toughness also demonstrably hides a vulnerability within him that is both comic and emotional. Ford was willing to sing a pop song at the top of his lungs to silence a younger colleague, to perform a Cheech & Chong-style one-man act after Dr. Ruf in undignified situations.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *