Ford Tough Harrison Ford once proclaimed, "It's not the age. It's the mileage!" Indeed, at 63, the smart, self-effacing, media-shy superstar has decades of blockbusters to his credit and a worldwide audience that has shelled out a whopping $5.5 billion to see him in such lasting hits as the three Indiana Jones pictures, the original Star Wars trilogy, Witness, What Lies Beneath, The Fugitive, Blade Runner, Working Girl, Air Force One and a pair of films in which he portrayed CIA analyst Jack Ryan, Patriot Games and Clear and Present Danger. With his latest effort, the thriller Firewall, Ford plays Jack Stanfield, a computer security specialist who has developed a highly effective security system for a Seattle-based bank to protect its financial holdings from Internet hackers--effective enough, that is, until a mastermind thief (Paul Bettany) takes his family hostage and uses Jack to breach the system and steal $100 million. By Craig Modderno CRAIG MODDERNO: Why should people go see Firewall? In fact, I tried to see the film prior to our interview but the publicist said it wasn't available to be shown. HARRISON FORD: Who told you that? Tell me their name. That pisses me off. We had a screening last night in Hollywood that you could have attended. [Sighs irately] It's a good ride, a satisfying movie experience that's well crafted. I like the performances in it and what the director's done. It's less action than some of my fans might like. It's the story of two guys who have a battle of wits which becomes a physical confrontation at the end of the movie, but it's a thriller, not an action film. Q: Is it hard for you to find good scripts? A: It's always been difficult to find good material that you have confidence in. I've always had ambitions to pursue different genres. Hopefully the average age of the moviegoer is going up a little as younger kids find satisfaction elsewhere. I think I can still do a love story at 63 but I probably shouldn't do it with too young a costar. Q: Why is it difficult to find good material when you've been atop a short list of bankable male actors for almost 30 years now? A: It's a matter of taste, a matter of judgment. Maybe I'm being overly critical. I'm looking for something that engages me. Q: A fourth Indiana Jones movie is being talked up--the time hasn't passed to do that, then? A: I don't think so, because it's a movie about movies more than anything else. It's about the fun you can have in a movie. So I think that still works. It's looking very good to do another one. I haven't felt this positive about it happening in a long time. But if it doesn't happen in the next two years we should all forget it. Excerpted from the January/February 2006 issue of Hollywood Life.

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