Harrison Ford’s Thoughts On Playing Han Solo Once Again

Disclosure: Disney sponsored my travel, accommodations and activities during my stay in Los Angeles. 

THE Harrison Ford. Han Solo.

I couldn’t believe that our small group of 25 bloggers was getting the chance to sit in a room with Harrison to chat about STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS during the press junket last Sunday. The idea seemed surreal. How was this even real life?

My first thought after receiving the news was You never know what to expect with Harrison Ford. Sometimes he’s serious and soft-spoken, sometimes downright onry, and a lot of the time he’s just plain silly. Which Harrison would we get?

Turns out that he was the gentle, soft-spoken Harrison Ford, which made me love him all the more. I hope you enjoy this recap of the interview while I pick myself off of the floor.

What was it like to come back into the legacy thirty years later?

“It was familiar. Same thing only different. I was there in service of a script that I thought was very good. A road map for the character that I thought was worth coming back to, with a director whose work I admired.

It was an all-together attractive prospect. If I dyed my hair and pretended that 30 years had not gone by, I would be much less comfortable. But this acknowledges the reality of the passage of time. It deals with the question of what happened while I was off stage for 30 years.

It deals with it in a really smart way. If it were not for the fact that these films have been passed on by parents to their children at an appropriate juncture in their lives and that generations have thus been introduced to me, I probably would have a much different career.”

Do you have a favorite Star Wars moment from that time?

“No. I don’t have much of a memory at all. I could make something up but I’m not generally disposed to do that. 

It’s great to be back with Mark and Carrie. I spent a little time with them and Peter Mayhew and a lot of the crew. Some of the older members of the crew had worked on the earlier films. But more often there were sons and daughters of the people who worked on the original film that was still in the same craft business.

And I was back in England. I haven’t made a Film in England since the last Indiana Jones movie which we tended to do there as well. It was fun to be back in England. The food has gotten a lot better.”

In your opinion, what is the most appealing thing to Star Wars Fans?

“The breadth of the imagination that’s involved in these films, the strength and worthiness of the mythology that underpins them, the questions that it generates in our minds about our own responsibilities and behaviors, all of that plus whiz and bang and flash and music and good stuff.

When you read the first Star Wars script, um, did you have any concept of the Legacy that it would become?

“No. You’d be locked up if you came to that conclusion. But in the context of making that first film, I did recognize both the utility of my character to the telling of the story and there might be somewhere in this meshugas some really strong elements that people would relate to.

I didn’t know much about science fiction – I didn’t care much about science fiction at that time and probably still don’t although I find it often a chance to explore places and things that we haven’t seen before and that’s cool. What I recognized was that there is a kind of fairy tale structure in the characters and in the story.”

Was it hard to get back into the mindset of Han Solo after so many years or was it second nature?

“No, you put on those clothes, turn around and see that guy in the Chewbacca suit. You know what the drill is. I have walked more than a mile in those shoes and it was a familiar path. I was happy to be back.”

What was the most challenging part of the process for this movie?

“There wasn’t any. I’ve been doing this for a long time and I love doing it. I had a wonderful director. The hardest process is when you and the people you’re working with don’t see eye to eye. We see eye to eye. It was a luxury.”

As if I was excited enough to see STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS next week, this interview and time with Harrison Ford just added even more anticipation.

STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS arrives in theaters everywhere on December 18th!

Disclosure: Disney sponsored my travel, accommodations, and activities during my stay in Los Angeles. 

Amy @ Mom Spark

For 16 years, I have been the creator & full-time blogger of Mom Spark. I’ve also created content for numerous outlets such as Good Housekeeping, Better Homes & Gardens, & Huff Post.