In 1994, The National Association of Theater Owners named Harrison Ford their "Star of the Century. "He has, after all, starred in six of Hollywood's all-time top moneymakers. There are precious few actors who can open a movie like Ford. His track record speaks for itself. It almost speaks for him, as well, because Harrison Ford hates to be interviewed. He seemed downright nervous, in fact, when we met in a New York hotel room to discuss his latest film, Sabnna. Sporting a mustache for his next movie (Devil's Own, in which he plays a New York City cop), he seemed dapper enough, but visibly uncomfortable. It didn't help matters when we launched into the obvious question of comparing his Sabnna with the 1954 version.

"I read a script clearly labeled Sabrina, and I had never seen the original film, so I had nothing to compare it with, " Ford said cautiously. Once he got serious about the project however, dealing with the comparison was as inevitable for him as it will be for many moviegoers. "I realized I was a bit disadvantaged by not having seen the original film," he admitted. "So I looked at it. I enjoyed it. But I thought for a modern audience certain areas would have to be developed differently."

It is, indeed, a different take on the Sabrina story. As Ford says, "It's a lot lighter than the original but it also has much stronger emotional values. It's tough, also. Linus Larrabee [Ford's character, played by Humphrey Bogart in the original] is not a nice person on many occasions and being able to get inside that person's head and learn to like him, which I hope is what happens, is an important part of the effect of the film."

More often than not, the director is the one who chooses his stars. But when you're Harrison Ford you can choose your director. Or at least you can pursue the director you want most. So Ford pursued Sydney Pollack. "This film needed strong emotional values and needed good comedy chops. Sydney was the one who came to mind for me. I've been ambitious to work with him for some period of time." Ford exudes such a naturalness on film that it suggests he might be occasionally improvising his dialogue. "I don't do that," he said. "I don't think improvisation is a really good technique for film. In some kinds of movies you can get away with making stuff up, but this is all knit together so carefully. Comedy is really tough, precision work, especially when you work with Sydney. He's a tough taskmaster and he knows exactly where he wants to go." So, too, does Harrison Ford. Like his character in the film who "just knows" how to make a bundle in business, this longtime star seems to have an uncanny knack for picking roles in box office winners. "I think I do 'just know' [what movies I should take]. This is my luck, is that somehow I have a sense of what the audience enjovs. That's also what motivates me. I'm not looking for an opportunity to perform. I don't think movies are that much about performance; they're about storytelling and the combined efforts of a lot of people helping to tell a story. So what I look for and what I react to are those things that I think will give pleasure to an audience." Obviously, he and the public often think alike.

Yet the public perception is that Harrison Ford is an action star. Certainly the Indiana Jones movies and Star Wars sagas fall broadly into that category, but Ford is hardly in the Stallone/Schwarzenegger mold. He, himself, objects to the action tag. "You know, someday I'm going to sit down and write down the number of films I've done that are actually action films and the other films and see if I've done too many action films. But I don't think I have. I think from the very beginning I've gone from one genre to another, purposefully, so that I didn't get stuck in one area."

Regardless of the genre of movie he appears in, the only area Ford is "stuck in" is that of superstar. But he has a very modest conception of his appeal to film fans. Ford does not believe he commands a rabid following who will follow him from movie to movie. Rather, he says, "I think that my audience follows me, not because of me but because I have been in good movies. " In other words, if he's in it, it must be good. It's the Harrison Ford Seal of Quality. You can bank on it. Hollywood certainly does.

Scott and Barbara Siegel
Drama-Logue
1995