Indiana Jones star Ford praises freedom fighter Sean Connery

Apr 27 2008 By Toby Mcdonald

Star Ford's Praise For Freedom Fighter Sean

HARRISON FORD has said he loves acting with Indiana Jones co-star Sean Connery - but will not join him in his fight for an independent Scotland when he retires.

But the actor, gearing up for the launch of the fourth film starring the intrepid archaeologist, says he has no plans to hang up his boots just yet.

Ford, 65, said: "Kick back and work for Scotland's freedom? I don't think I'll make that same choice.

"I might decide to do other things but I think it's way down the line.

"I'm still having as much fun, taking as much pleasure and am as intellectually stimulated by the process as I ever was.

"It'smy job. I think it's the best job in the world. Where else can you go to play with such big toys and have fun every day?"

Ford loved playing Connery's son in the last Indiana film when they went in search of the Holy Grail but admits turning back the clock was tough.

He said: "Sean's only 12 years older than I am. In Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade, I had to play the character so much younger than I actually was in order to make it work. To be honest, it was really a strain." Connery, who will be 78 this August, turned down a multi-millionpound deal to appear in the new movie, Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull, because he wanted to play golf at his luxury home in the Cayman Islands.

Ford said: "I missed Sean because he is fun, he is a hoot - great comic chops.

But it's a different movie."

John Hurt takes Connery's place as Indiana's mentor, while Oscar winner Cate Blanchett plays an evil Russian interrogator, Agent Irina Spalko. Ray Winstone and Shia LaBeouf also star.

The latest instalment in the series, which began more than 20 years ago, will be premiered next month at the Cannes Festival.

The new film is set in the late 1950s at the height of the Cold War.

During a race to find a crystal skull, the Soviets try to blackmail Jones by threatening to kill his former lover and mother of his son Marion Ravenwood, played again by Karen Allen.

Ford says despite a gap of two decades, getting back into the character of Indiana was surprisingly easy.

He said: "It's as though you put on that hat, the leather jacket, the bag, the whip, the gun or even the schoolteacher's suit and it comes back to you.

"He's a guy who is pretty clear from the beginning. He has not changed so much between films.

"But we've learned more about him through various plot devices such as the introduction of his father."

Ford may also consider doing a fifth instalment of Indiana Jones - and hopes it will not take another 20 years to pull together.

But there is little chance of getting Connery back in the cast.

As one of the world's most bankable stars, he could have expected to make up to £10million even for a cameo role in the new movie - and a share of the box-office gross.

But after making The Extraordinary League Of Gentlemen, Connery said it would take a Mafia hitman to get him back in front of the film cameras again.

He blames Hollywood and the executives who run the studios.

He said: "I'm fed-up with the idiots... the ever-widening gap between people who know how to make movies and the people who green-light the movies.

"I don't say they're all idiots. I'mjust saying there are a lot of them who are not very good at it. It would almost need a Mafia-like offer I couldn't refuse to make me do another movie."

But OAP Ford insists he wants to make many more films and has no plans to let age get in the way of making another Indiana Jones.

He said: "It's an interesting element to take advantage of.

Clearly, it's another challenge."

Ford is looking forward to watching the Indiana Jones films with his seven-year-old son Liam - with partner Ally McBeal star Calista Flockhart - when he is old enough.

The Star Wars legend said: "The pleasure of making something is sharing it, especially with people who are close to you." He has four other grown-up children from his two marriages that ended in divorce and he has grandchildren, aged 14 and seven.

Do they think he is a star?

"They know me as grandpa first," Ford said. "They grew up understanding that it's the job I do. They know the reality of the business I'm in. Even from a very young age, they knew Chewbacca was fiction."

Next up for Ford is a role in the ensemble film Crossing Over as an immigration agent who tries to help a woman who has crossed the border illegally be reunited with her child.

But dabbling in low-budget, art-house films is an experiment for him.

He said: "I wanted to do a film where I didn't take responsibility for the screenplay, where I didn't take responsibility for the film, and just played a role."

The first Indiana film, Raiders Of The Lost Ark, was released in 1981 and its success spawned the sequels Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Doom and Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade.

The series has earned more than £700million at the box office.

But Ford said he's no Indiana in real life.

He added: "I stay away from fist fights. Anytime I've been in one, I've broken a bone in my hand or finger."

'Kick back and help Sean fight for Scots freedom.. I don't think so' Indiana star Harrison Ford

SUNDAY EMAIL

reporters@sundaymail.co.uk