Harrison Ford Still Acting for the ‘Essential Human Contact’

At 82 years old, Harrison Ford glad he’s continued to keep acting, since it brings him “essential human contact.”

“I get to imagine with people that have great skill and experience…. It’s fun to work with these people,” Ford said in a recent interview with Vanity Fair when asked about what drew him to appear in “Shrinking.”

Ford, who is known for his roles as Han Solo and Indiana Jones in the in the “Star Wars” franchise and “Indiana Jones” franchises, stars alongside Jason Segel and Jessica Williams in the Apple TV+ series.

Ford plays Dr. Paul Rhoades, a senior therapist who is also a colleague to Jimmy (Segel) at the Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Center. 

He also talked about his approach to playing Han Solo. “He was a character that was committed to his ignorance,” Ford said. “Deeply committed to his ignorance. But if he had been lacking in a sense of humor, it would not have been fun for the audience. I saw that [run] as physical acting that got character information across. I always felt that he was barely containing his physical impulses.”

In the interview, Ford said that despite his roles in high-intensity action thrillers, he considers much of the work he’s done as an actor over the course of his career to be rather comedic in nature and tone. 

“I’m a silly person,” Ford told Anthony Breznican. “As far as I’m concerned, everything I’ve ever done is comedy.”

“I think with the same actor’s head about a joke as I do about a serious or emotional scene,” Ford said.

“Shrinking” co-creator Bill Lawrence said in the interview that Ford’s willingness to wholeheartedly commit to the bit was key to the role.

“I’ll give you an example,” Lawrence said to Vanity. Fair. “The joke in the show is that Harrison’s character didn’t know what the word ‘raw-dogging’ meant. And Harrison was, justifiably, initially like, ‘Uh, is that going to be funny? Or is it just going to make me the picture of some old guy that’s out of touch?’ [He was] still cool enough to let us try it, and it got such a laugh with the crew that his character continually used it the wrong way.”

“Shrinking” will return to Apple TV+ for its second season on Wednesday.