Harrison Ford, who is making a comeback with the sci-fi Ender’s Game, believes that characters are more important than genres
Were you reluctant to return to the sci-fi genre after the Star Wars filmsIJ It seems like you’dbecome known as an iconic sci-fi guy and then didn’t do any more for a while.
No. Genre doesn’t mean anything to me. It’s like a wallpaper. What I’m looking for is a character to identify with and a human, emotional story. It doesn’t make any difference whether it takes place in space or someone’s drawing room or the back of a horse. What’s interesting about Ender’s Game is that it’s a family film. I found it pretty relevant to the current atmosphere in terms of international relations and war. There’s a good dialogue towards the end of the film, ‘It’s the way you win that matters.’
Did you view Ender’s Game as a post-9/11 allegory of sortsIJ
I think that, emotionally, we register this, but we need to make ourselves responsible for understanding that this is not about nations fighting other nations, cultures fighting other cultures, religions at war with another religion, a war fought over economic control of oil resources or anything like that. This is an alien invasion, and the film proposes that there’s a world government and an international fleet.
But there were some parallels as far as the lack of diplomacy goes. The international fleet refuses to even broach the idea of diplomacy with the aliens, which is something that really rubs Ender the wrong way.
Yeah. I see that as well. Although it’s proposed that the earth has suffered devastating losses from the invasion of this life form before, in this particular case, they’re taking the conflict to them. The imminent threat has been “politically managed” to create the fear of an imminent threat, when it in fact is a pre-emptive military move. That has a lot of reference to our lives. And the drone warfare aspect of it has a lot of reference to our lives.
What’s your take on drone warfareIJ
It’s incredibly complicated. What’s interesting to me is that these guys sitting in an air-conditioned trailer in the Mojave who can go home for lunch and are still getting a feedback through the joystick that’s causing them to suffer post-traumatic stress. Even though they’re not there and can’t smell the gunpowder and see the blood and have to walk past the collateral damage, they’re still affected by it. I think we’ve got to breed out the taste for the lust of warfare at some point.
Ender is under the impression that he’s playing a simulator, like a video game. There’s a lack of intimacy there, as far as killing goes.
look at what’s happened to him, though. He’s gone from a shy, young boy, to a grand orchestra conductor — the master of war. And it’s only when he sees the shocking result of it that he feels corrupted, and abused, and makes himself responsible for a redemption, to some extent. But you know, there’s another interesting metaphor that I see here. It’s in the DNA of every life form to find the potential for reproduction and the continuation of the species, and that’s what this alien life form is looking for — not for conquest but for water. I see that metaphor as being important and useful in our lives right now. The preservation of potential for life on earth is a threat.
You’re not in the Newt Gingrich camp of pro moon colonisation, are youIJ
(laughs) Not so much! I won’t go there. I think we’ve got to make it work here, and we have to, for our young people.
Did you model your International Fleet honcho on anyoneIJ I saw him as a cross betweenStormin’ Norman Schwarzkopf and John McCain.
(laughs) Yeah! Well, he’s charged with a responsibility. I don’t judge the characters I play in terms of the morality of that character. I try to understand what his utility is in the telling of the story, try to place him in a context, emotionally, that I can understand, and I try and look at his relationships with the other characters. This character is both mentor and manipulator, which makes him complicated and interesting. But it’s not up to me to decide if he’s a good guy or a bad guy. I wouldn’t want to send my kids to a school where he was the head trainer.
One of the first major motion pictures you appeared in was Apocalypse Now. And as far as theVietnam War goes, I read that you were a conscientious objector.
Yeah. I never got the status but I did apply for it. My thought at the time was that it was a managed conflict — a created conflict. I never really was a strong believer in the Cold War, and the threat of an economic theory wiping out our potential to prosper, and enjoy our own political system. I thought it was all a managed conflict, myself, and I didn’t feel morally comfortable with being part of it at the time.
Around the time Air Force One came out, there was this funny poll conducted that said people inthis country actually wanted you to run for President.
Well, I think more than that it was a president who had a kind of clarity and the situation was so simple. This was a president that wasn’t concerned about his next term in office. The complications of leadership were romanticised to the extent that people could have that concept. We’re over that now, I think.
Is Indiana Jones 5 happeningIJ
Um…not yet! But if it did, I’d be happy to be involved.