Harrison Ford: Off the Beaten Path
Q: How about if you could live inside of one painting?
A: There are paintings that intrigue me about the world they describe, but I wouldn't necessarily want to live there. I don't think I'd like to live in Hopper's world, but I'm intrigued by his understanding of space and light and human emotions.
Q: What about Georges Seurat's A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grand Jatte, which was turned into the play Sunday in the Park with George?
A: I'm not terribly fond of that picture, and I'm not terribly fond of that world.
Q: And you wouldn't want to speak French?
A: Not to have to.
Q: If you could play one musical instrument, which would you choose?
A: The piano. Also the cello--it's an instrument that I really love the sound of.
Q: Is there any piece of music you would like to have composed?
A: No. I would like to have been Hoagy Carmichael. I like the freedom of his mind. "Baltimore Oriole"--you know the words to that song?
Q: Hum a few bars.
A: I won't put you through that. But these were intensely original descriptions of love-like moments couched in really bizarre word pictures. I'm not too good at this.
Q: You're doing fine. If you were to be successful with another profession ...?
A: Architecture.
Q: You know about carpentry and building. Tell me, why does the hot water in my upstairs bathtub turn cold after a few minutes, when it doesn't happen in the downstairs tub?
A: I don't know, man, might be your karma.
Q: But it also happens when my wife goes to take a bath.
A: You might be your wife's karma.
Q: If you had to choose the single biggest mistake you've made, what would it be?
A: Is this still for Movieline? [Laughs] Or somehow did I get into the long-form Playboy interview that I've been running away from all my life? I don't object, but I'll tell you very quickly when I don't have an answer so we can get on with this. Single biggest mistake? Now I have to run through my life and try and find where I made my biggest mistake. [Thinks] Don't know.
Q: You probably know but don't want to say.
A: No. I don't know. I would be led to know the mistake by a regret that I carry around with me. I have no regrets. I could give you something general, like I regret that I wasn't as good a father to my older sons when they were growing up. There you go. Happy?
Q: If you could have any writer in history write your biography, who would you choose?
A: I don't want anybody writing my biography.
Q: Assume somebody might. If you could choose the writer...
A: [Thinks a long time]
Q: How many writers have you mentally crossed out already?
A: None. I haven't crossed anybody out, I just haven't settled on anybody.
Q: There's a pretty wide range to choose from--you could go with a master of the internal like Dostoyevsky, or one of the external like James Michener.
A: If it's between Dostoyevsky and Michener, then let me think of someone practical. That won't hurt as much and would entertain people. Elmore Leonard.
Q: If Leonard weren't available, think you might write your own memoirs?
A: No. Maybe after I'm dead.
Q: That would be a neat trick.
A: It would be a lot easier to do it after I was dead.
Q: What concerns would you publicly support?
A: I do it all the time and I always regret it. I just came back from Brazil, where I was in board meetings with a group that I work with called Conservation International. At their urging I said I would be interviewed by Brazilian television, and once again I saw a series of old movie clips interspersed with very short and unexplored comments about conservation. I didn't feel that it was appropriate for me to take the time on that occasion. I never make myself available to the press unless I've got something to sell. I don't believe that a complex issue should be decided on the basis of what celebrity is endorsing it. Yes, you can help bring attention to issues, but the quality of the argument often suffers.
Q: Have you ever been near death in real life?
A: I've had a couple of car wrecks, that's about it.
Q: Have you ever been robbed?
A: I've had houses robbed, but I never had anybody stick a gun in my gut and ask me for my wallet. Never used to have a lock on our door when we lived up here [in the Hollywood Hills]. One day a lady who lived across the street came screaming in. She was hysterical. I was unable to get any information about what her problem was until either her boyfriend or her husband burst in the door behind her. And in a moment of nonthinking I threw him out of the house, never recognizing until I got him outside and got some distance between us that he had a knife in his hand. But I was on him so quick, screaming so loud, that I undid him. It's a moment I think of.
Q: Had you seen his knife do you think you would have reacted the same way?
A: No. I would have tried to reason with him.
Q: If you could choose the way you would die, what would you choose?
A: An instantaneous brain aneurysm. Drop like a rock.
Q: Assuming there is a God and you could ask God one question, what would it be?
A: Is there anything we can do, or is it all in Your hands?
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Lawrence Grobel interviewed Kim Basinger for the April issue of Movieline.
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