ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1995, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, December 29, 1995 TAG: 9512290031
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: NEW YORK
SOURCE: RIC LEYVA ASSOCIATED PRESS
Take a look at Harrison Ford and he's just what you expect: a lanky, rawboned, big-handed, rough-skinned study in strength. Listen to him, and you'll find a surprise: His off-screen voice is soft, low, almost shy.
There's no booming bass, no bravado, no bluff. But he's not really bashful either.
``I don't feel any obligations, except to do good work,'' Ford says, speaking slowly, holding eye contact without a blink. ``What else can I do?''
He's reserved, maybe even a smidgen stiff - no trace of the tough-talking drag racer he played in ``American Graffiti,'' arrogant space jockey Han Solo from ``Star Wars'' or glib treasure hunter Indiana Jones.
He's gentle.
``I'm not so much into the big stuff,'' he says. ``It's the little details I'm looking for.''
Behind wire-rimmed glasses and a full silvery mustache, Ford is talking up his latest film, the romantic comedy remake of ``Sabrina,'' an update of the 1954 Billy Wilder classic starring Humphrey Bogart, William Holden and Audrey Hepburn.
Ford follows in Bogey's footsteps, playing a millionaire businessman smitten by the chauffeur's daughter, with Julia Ormond tackling the Hepburn role. Sydney Pollack directs.
``To take a '50s fairy tale story and bring it into a contemporary framework, it necessarily changed quite a lot of things,'' Ford says. ``But it didn't hamper our ability to steal a lot of good stuff from the original.''
Was it a tough sell to get studio support for such a feel-good frolic in an era more and more dominated by dark, violent films?
``Once the studio people reassure themselves that they have a director with an incredible track record and a couple of movie stars, they'll do just about anything, unfortunately,'' Ford says, wincing once the words are out of his mouth.
``I wish I hadn't said that,'' he adds sheepishly, hitting his forehead with an open palm.
Ford is the first to admit that the commanding sense of moral authority he brings to his work isn't all acting. Ego has to take a back seat. He's focused on the big picture.
``I'm not so much interested in performances as much as the overall story and making films that exercise our better emotions rather than our baser instincts,'' he says.
Gradually, personal details leak out. At 53, he is a proud father and grandfather. He has two grown sons from his first marriage, which ended in 1979, and two younger children, 5 and 8, with his second wife, screenwriter Melissa Mathison (``E.T. The Extraterrestrial,'' ``The Black Stallion,'' ``Indian in the Cupboard'').
Based in Wyoming but currently living in New York, Ford reveals that he's an amateur photographer who knows his stuff. He also likes to ride motorcycles and he's studying for his pilot's license. And he no longer does any carpentry, the trade that carried him through early, lean times in Hollywood.
``I have to pay for it like everybody else now. I've lost all my tool skills,'' he says, looking at his huge hands like traitors.
With a list of credits including ``Blade Runner,'' ``Witness,'' ``Working Girl,'' ``Patriot Games'' and ``The Fugitive,'' Ford knows he can do whatever kind of part he wants to, even a great supporting role, but he won't.
Carrying films has become second nature to him.
``I usually work only once a year, so it takes something to get me out of the house,'' he says. ``It's sort of like being a fireman. You get the call, rev up the engine, get everybody all dressed up. Then you don't want to go roaring out of there with your siren screaming to fight a fire in a wastebasket.
``If you're going to go to all that trouble, you might as well do the whole thing,'' he says with a modest shrug, his voice dropping even lower.
Up next for Ford is ``Devil's Own,'' in which he plays an Irish-American police sergeant in New York who unwittingly befriends an IRA terrorist played by Brad Pitt. To prepare, he's been riding along with real NYPD officers.
``I've already seen it all,'' he says, resigned to the reality of it. ``Robbings, stabbings, shootings, drugs, you name it.''
He says something else, but so lowly it can't be made out. Asked to repeat it, he only shakes his head.
Pressed, the quintessential straight arrow says, ``I'm not much interested in bad guys. I don't understand them. I don't want to.''
LENGTH: Medium: 85 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: Harrison Ford speaks softly, carries yet another movie.by CNBcolor.