Interview: Harrison Ford Goes to ‘Extraordinary Measures’ With Loner Scientist Role

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CHICAGO – A very subdued and scientific Harrison Ford recently spoke with HollywoodChicago.com and two other Chicago film critics on the subject of his new true-story film “Extraordinary Measures”. Ford stars in the film and served as its executive producer since inception.

At one point in our interview, the 67-year-old Chicago native calmly uttered a minor expletive and then reminded us that we have the choice about whether or not to print it. While the interview style of some actors can fall into the more eccentric bucket, the Ford experience on this day was decidedly professional, conservative and relatively serious.

Harrison Ford of Extraordinary Measures in Chicago on Jan. 12, 2010
Hollywood legend Harrison Ford poses for his hometown HollywoodChicago.com red-carpet portrait at
the premiere of “Extraordinary Measures” on Jan. 12, 2009 at the AMC River East movie theater in Chicago.
Photo credit: Joe Arce of Starstruck Foto for HollywoodChicago.com

In other words, Ford clearly wasn’t wearing his extreme adventurer hat from his 1980s days as Indiana Jones. For many reasons, he was mostly laser focused on discussing his current film. Ford often used words such as “righteous” and “fair” in our discussion about his latest project.

While “Extraordinary Measures” is a true story of an “orphan disease” (i.e. one that affects only a few hundred thousand people in the U.S.) called Pompe, Ford said he’s not a “crusader for righteous health care,” he didn’t “want to indict the pharmaceutical industry” and he didn’t simply want to “make a film about Pompe”. Rather, he wanted to “explore the issues of health care” and “explore the issue of living with disease”.

Harrison Ford has also starred in “Star Wars,” “Apocalypse Now,” “The Frisco Kid,” “Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back,” “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” “Blade Runner,” “Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi,” “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom,” “Witness” and “The Mosquito Coast”.

Ford also starred in “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade,” “Patriot Games,” “The Fugitive,” “Clear and Present Danger,” “The Devil’s Own,” “Air Force One,” “Six Days Seven Nights,” “Random Hearts,” “What Lies Beneath,” “K-19: The Widowmaker,” “Firewall” and “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull”. Our interview with Harrison Ford on “Extraordinary Measures” can be found below.

Question: This is the second film you’ve produced. Both have been inspired by real-life incidents. How do you balance between conveying the reality of the story and making it into an entertaining film?
Harrison Ford: That’s the first time I’ve ever thought about that the two times I’ve taken executive producer credit they’ve been true stories. It has to do with the amount of work that has to be done and how early on you have to be involved to take the credit in a righteous sense. I usually only want to take the credit when I’ve been involved before the director or since the inception of the material.

Very often in the past I’ve been involved in a collaborative level. I had enough success early on in my career that I [can get] story approval and casting director approval. I’ve always been interested in collaborating.

Harrison Ford (left) and Brendan Fraser in Extraordinary Measures
Harrison Ford (left) and Brendan Fraser in “Extraordinary Measures”.
Photo credit: CBS Films

But let’s just talk about this case. The Crowley story is true. We had a lot of rich material there. In order to manipulate and manage the time scale and the drama of the piece, we had to create a character who would represent a lot of the different scientists and researchers that John Crowley worked with. We had to make choices about how to present the science and create a character for myself. That was my true ambition in becoming involved in this development.

I did my research on the science so I understood the science. Then I did particular research on the University of Nebraska and other places to be informed of the reality of academic science and research. The character is invented to take advantage of the dramatic opportunity to have both ally and adversary in the same character. It’s a character who makes it both difficult and possible for Crowley.

His passion is similar, but he has a very different point of view and reality. He’s a guy who’s interested in the disease on an intellectual and cellular level. He probably has never met a patient with Pompe. He probably has no ambition to meet one.

He’s a guy who works alone or with a group of students who look up to him and is used to that. He’s a guy who fishes alone, lives alone and is the master of his own universe. But he’s watching his own universe shrink. His time is running out to make his life’s work into something that others will recognize. When he meets Crowley, he sees the opportunity of his lifetime. Crowley is reaching out desperately to someone with an equal passion to him.

Question: Why make a film about this orphan disease as opposed to any other?
Harrison Ford: Because it’s a real story and it’s the one I read about. There’s a lot of opportunity in the context of this story.

Question: Do you want people to be more aware of this disease?
Harrison Ford: Well, that’s a nice byproduct, but no. I wanted to make a movie whether or not people are interested in Pompe. I didn’t make this film because I’m a crusader for righteous health care or I wanted to indict the pharmaceutical industry or to make a film about Pompe.

Brendan Fraser (left) and Keri Russell in Extraordinary Measures
Brendan Fraser (left) and Keri Russell in “Extraordinary Measures”.
Photo credit: CBS Films

I wanted to make a film that explores the issues of health care and explores the issue of living with the disease. I wanted to be fair. But I also wanted to be entertaining and [give] an experience that is cinematic in nature.

[I wanted people] to go to the theater and exercise not their particular ire about the health care system but their common humanity. [I wanted them to] feel good about spending two hours in the theater and leave it without suffering simply a kinetic experience. [I wanted people to] have the opportunity to have an emotional experience.

That’s what I value in the theater. That’s what I want to sell. I’m not looking for a pulpit to tell people about Pompe. It’s a worthy part of our ambition that people have a fair understanding of the Crowleys, but this is not about Pompe. This is about human nature and perseverance and the qualities that it takes to get [things] done.

Question: Science and research are an intellectual process, but you also had to make this an entertaining film.
Harrison Ford: That’s the first thing we set out to do. We had to get science out of the head and into visual storytelling.

Question: That scene in the bar with you and Brendan Fraser (as John Crowley) is good where you were walking him through the disease.
Harrison Ford: The bar scene represents one of our most challenging scenes. We had the basic time scale here. John Crowley (as Brendan Fraser) left work without telling his wife where he’s going. He traveled to Nebraska.

He’s reaching out desperately to a guy (Harrison Ford as Dr. Robert Stonehill) who he thinks hung up on him on the phone. [Stonehill’s] work is mentioned in a lot of research that he’s doing. [Stonehill] has a lot of focus on how to mitigate the disease. When [Crowley] says his kids have Pompe, [Stonehill] says: “Aw, Jesus. You should have called me before you came out here. I don’t see patients.”

So, what is it that attracts Crowley to [Stonehill]? How can we give the scene emotional context? How can we let the audience learn what’s special about Stonehill’s research and to find out why this guy might be the one to grab onto? It’s his passion. It’s his belief. That’s the right hook.

Question: What does this project mean to you personally?
Harrison Ford: I was looking for material to develop for myself and to work with the Shambergs (producers Carla Santos Shamberg and Michael Shamberg). I found a Wall Street Journal article [about Pompe]. There was no part in it for me at that point. The first notion was that I would play the father, but I said I was too old. So, I suggested something on the science side would be good for me. This material gave back. The good stuff always gives back. It supports your ambition and the depth of the well.

Brendan Fraser (left) and Harrison Ford in Extraordinary Measures
Brendan Fraser (left) and Harrison Ford in “Extraordinary Measures”.
Photo credit: CBS Films

Question: When you were developing this character, did you set out to create a character unlike any one you have played before?
Harrison Ford: No. I always think you make a character out of what helps to tell the story. What’s going to sustain the drama? What kind of personality would present obstacle and opportunity? That’s how you end up with a character. Once you’ve made those decisions, you give it depth and believable behavior.

The strongest position for an actor is to be an ally to the story. I’m not an actor who says “my character wouldn’t do that”. Then they’d just get someone else to do it. My character does whatever helps to tell the story. If I can’t make it real, then I’ll figure out why. But usually there’s a way to make it real.

Question: This character reminded me of your role in “Mosquito Coast” where you had tunnel vision and an obsession with doing one thing without seeing the bigger picture.
Harrison Ford: Sure. There’s something in that. That’s the last time I played a guy who was a bit of a prick.

Question: How do you keep a movie like this from being overly sentimental?
Harrison Ford: It’s a conscious choice not to do that. It’s a recognition that that’s not a virtue. Being sentimental and being in love with the opportunity to make people sad is not a fulsome movie experience. You have to be careful about that when you’re doing something like this.

Question: How do you make the film feel like it’s not exploitative?
Harrison Ford: You have to allow the audience to experience the characters in the story rather than feel like they’re being lectured, manipulated and managed. You have to let the audience learn by experiencing the emotional consistency with the characters.

Question: What about the scene where the kids can’t raise an arm and throw the ball?
Harrison Ford: You have to think about how to visually and emotionally present information rather than how to just tell the audience things.

Brendan Fraser (left) and Harrison Ford in Extraordinary Measures
Brendan Fraser (left) and Harrison Ford in “Extraordinary Measures”.
Photo credit: CBS Films

Question: What was it like to show the film to the Crowleys?
Harrison Ford: I wasn’t there, but their reaction was favorable. They felt positive about our efforts. But I’m not going to quote them. That feels self-serving.

Question: So, it felt authentic to the Crowleys even though decisions had to be made to change time lines and compress characters?
Harrison Ford: Yes. It did. That’s important because they were giving us permission to tell their story. We cared a lot about whether they felt they were served fairly.

Question: In your research and in meeting scientists, did you find several of them with these anger management issues?
Harrison Ford: No. I never did. I found very well-adjusted and nice people who like living in Nebraska and thought it was a good place to raise their kids. I didn’t find anyone like [my character]. But I can see [that the perfect storm of] circumstances could produce a guy like that.

In the film, one of the lines in the bar scene is that the football coach makes more money personally than the entire science budget for his department. Go figure. The administrator will tell you that football is what pleases the alumni. They contribute to the school in support of their old alma mater’s football team. They don’t [care] about the science that’s going to affect 400,000 people in the developed world.

The pharmaceutical companies are willing to do it because of the Orphan Drug Act of 1983. It’s a federal government program to give them tax subsidies and patent rights because there’s no expectation of a reasonable profit.

“Extraordinary Measures” stars Harrison Ford (as scientist Dr. Robert Stonehill), Brendan Fraser (as father John Crowley), Keri Russell (as mother Aileen Crowley), Meredith Droeger (as daughter Megan Crowley), Diego Velazquez (as son Patrick Crowley), Courtney B. Vance, Sam Hall, Jared Harris, Patrick Bauchau, Alan Ruck, David Clennon, Dee Wallace, Ayanna Berkshire, P.J. Byrne and Andrea White from director Tom Vaughan and writer Robert Nelson Jacobs.

The film is based on the book “The Cure: How a Father Raised $100 Million – And Bucked the Medical Establishment – in a Quest to Save His Children” by Geeta Anand. “Extraordinary Measures” opened on Jan. 22, 2010, has a run time of 105 minutes and is rated “PG” for thematic material, language and a mild suggestive moment.

HollywoodChicago.com editor-in-chief and publisher Adam Fendelman

By ADAM FENDELMAN
Editor-in-Chief/Publisher
HollywoodChicago.com
adam@hollywoodchicago.com

© 2010 Adam Fendelman, HollywoodChicago.com LLC

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