HHL: You were originally offered the role of Jack Ryan for "The Hunt For Red October" but passed. What made you decide to take it this time?

HF: I thought that in "The Hunt For Red October" the best role was Ramius' part. I said, "If you want me to play something in this movie, I'll play the Russian submarine captain." And they said, "Uh...um...okay." And then I thought about it. I thought "It's a submarine movie. Nobody goes to submarine movies." I was obviously wrong. People do go to submarine movies. And when the part came up again it was in another context. I think Alec did a wonderful job in "Red October"; he added a great deal of success to that film. In "Patriot Games" Jack Ryan has a different utility. This is a character driven story and Jack Ryan's got a lot more to do with what happens. To me it was a more interesting role.

HHL: Do you think audiences will have difficulty relating to a different actor playing the same character?

HF: We'll find out very soon. I don't think there'll be a problem.

HHL: You've signed to play Jack Ryan in the next two films based on Clancy's work...

HF: The "signed" part is what I want to straighten out. We have an agreement, Paramount and I, that if we're able to develop scripts that both of us are satisfied with; that if we're able to attract directors to those scripts that we can both agree on, then we will make two more.

HHL: Is there something about the familiarity of the character that draws you to films that spawn sequels?

HF: No. I think this character has enough complexity to make him worthy of being explored a couple of times. When we run into a dry well, I promise you, I'll stop.

HHL: Do you enjoy playing heroes?

HF: I don't ever play a hero. I mean, I play a lecturer in Naval history who wanders into a situation and then goes back to the C.I.A. to help fight the threat to his family and behaves in a way which you may nominate as heroic - I see it simply as a guy trying to save his butt and to save his family. But I want to make that distinction because you cannot, as an actor, set out to play a hero. You have to play a person, a human being, and then, whatever the script requires you to do, you do that and let the reference to heroism come from somebody else.

HHL: Most of your roles seem very physical. What do you do to stay in shape?

HF: I don't stay in shape. I love to play tennis, I cross-country ski, I work a little bit, I ride a little bit. I was in shape when I did Indiana Jones because that was what we agreed upon for the character.

HHL: What did you do back then?

HF: Oh, weight-lifting. All that muscle-building kind of stuff. But I didn't think Jack Ryan, as a history professor, ought to be bulked up, so I didn't do anything at all. I didn't want to take off my shirt and look, uh, muscular.

HHL: Did you get a chance to see the "Indiana Jones Chronicles" television series?

HF: I saw quite a few of them. I thought they were great. Wonderful production values; the kids were great; the work was terrific.

HHL: Was the early '70s, when you turned to a part-time carpentry business to support your acting, particularly tough?

HF: I went to carpentry so I could have an alternate income to feed my family and begin to have some control over my career. Until I had an alternate income, I had to take every acting job that came along and I wasn't able to make creative choices. And I wasn't able to begin to establish an attitude about what it was that I wanted to do or didn't want to do. I really wanted to do movies...films...and I was doing episodic television and doing the same thing over and over. I never lost my ambition to be an actor. I never quit. I did about three or four movies during the time that I was actively being a carpenter but they were always better parts with better billing and more money. And whenever any of those of those three were missing from the equation, I went back to carpentry.

HHL: Is there any truth to reports that the ending of "Patriot Games" was re-shot to make it less ambiguous?

HF: No, no. What we did was we shot a little part of the final fight scene underwater...and we made a mistake. Anything you do underwater is rendered balletic by the resistance of the water. And also you can't see people's eyes. So it was really hard to work the underwater resolution to give it the kind of definition that we really wanted to have. So we just took the same thing and took it out of the water and put it on the boats. And then we had the stuff on the boat to work with and it began to become a little bit more interesting.

HHL: You met plenty of real C.I.A. people there. Did they meet any pre- conceptions you might have had?

HF: No, I didn't have any pre-conceptions. The one thing my research has always led me to understand, whether I was researching doctors or lawyers or policemen or anything else, is that you finally discover that they are just like we are, only they do a different job. What's interesting is to pick up what it is about their job that gives them some distinction.

HHL: Are you one of those actors who insists on doing his own stunts?

HF: No, no. Listen, I promise you, as I promise my mother, that I don't do anything dangerous when I go out to play. I'm careful and it would be very foolish to jeopardize a big production doing something that might be dangerous. The stunt people are there to do stunts. I'm there to do acting. I can do a lot of the physical stuff, and I'm very happy to do a lot of the physical stuff, because I think there are opportunities there for character expression. There's opportunities for putting emotion in those scenes that wouldn't be there if you were at the back of somebody's head, as it would have to be if it were a stuntman. But I don't do dangerous things.

HHL: You seem to have a knack for choosing both commercially and critically successful pictures.

HF: No, no, no. Not every picture has made a lot of money. But I've been consistently lucky. I think that what the calculation I make about the success of a film, whether it's a commercial success or artistic success, is informed by the experience I've had. And I put myself in a position to be lucky. Working with really good people helps preserve the potential to be lucky. Working on material that you have some faith in helps you preserve the potential to be lucky. But finally, it's out of my control. Anything can happen.

HHL: At least a few famous scenes were invented by you on the spot. The swordfighter scene in "Raiders of The Lost Ark" for example, and a number of scenes in "Witness". Are any of the scenes in "Patriot Games" Ford improvisations?

HF: I honestly don't remember. Those were sort of extreme situations, easy to remember. Ideas come from everywhere on a movie set. They come from the propman, from actors, from technicians. You may get an idea because it'll take ten minutes to move a light and if you move over here you don't have to move the light and that may give rise to a situation that is totally different. There's all kinds of things that happen that lead you through the process of discovery. I enjoy thinking about storytelling and so I involve myself in thinking about things that may not fall within the absolute range of my responsibilities as an actor. But I don't remember anything specific on this movie.

HHL: Is it understood when you take on a role that you will have certain responsibilities in addition to acting?

HF: Yeah. I have script approval and various other approvals of elements of the production. I am very involved.

HHL: Have you ever considered producing?

HF: No, I don't want to do nothin' except what I'm doing.

HHL: Have you decided on your next project?

HF: I'm reading scripts now. I haven't decided what it is I'm going to do next. As I say, I only work once a year so I still have a little while to make up my mind.

HHL: Some time to relax?

HF: Well, it's not relax time. I mean, I have some time to relax but I also have to seriously start thinking about that's next.

Excerpt from a Hollywood Hotline Interview:
1992