{"id":3308,"date":"2015-12-17T09:00:24","date_gmt":"2015-12-17T17:00:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spijue.wpengine.com\/news\/ford-promises-older-wiser-solo-in-force-awakens\/"},"modified":"2015-12-17T09:00:24","modified_gmt":"2015-12-17T17:00:24","slug":"ford-promises-older-wiser-solo-in-force-awakens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/news\/ford-promises-older-wiser-solo-in-force-awakens\/","title":{"rendered":"Ford promises older, wiser Solo in ‘Force Awakens’"},"content":{"rendered":"

LOS ANGELES <\/strong>\u2014 When speaking about \u201cStar Wars,\u201d there are few topics that inspire a twinkle in Harrison Ford\u2019s eyes.<\/p>\n

The 73-year-old actor is matter-of-fact about almost everything involving the sci-fi series\u2019 latest episode \u2014 from his reunion with Carrie Fisher (\u201cIt was no big deal.\u201d) to the franchise\u2019s unwavering popularity (\u201cFor me, it\u2019s old news.\u201d).<\/p>\n

However, when Ford brings up his new co-stars, he lights up like the Millennium Falcon charging through hyperspace.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe new, young actors Daisy Ridley and John Boyaga were well cast, well directed and are huge talents,\u201d he said, his gritty voice lifting, during a recent interview. \u201cThey come off really well in the movie. They carry the movie.\u201d<\/p>\n

After more than 30 years, Ford is reprising his role as smart-aleck smuggler Han Solo in director J.J. Abrams\u2019 \u201cStar Wars: The Force Awakens,\u201d out Dec. 18.<\/p>\n

The iconic character, who hasn\u2019t been seen on screen since celebrating the fall of the Galactic Empire in 1983\u2019s \u201cReturn of the Jedi,\u201d serves as an unlikely mentor to scavenger Rey (Daisy Ridley), defector Finn (John Boyega) and pilot Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac) as they team up to take on masked adversary Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) and his minions.<\/p>\n

While the film has been cloaked in an unparalleled level of secrecy, Ford guaranteed that fans can expect the same Solo they fell in love with from the original \u201cStar Wars\u201d trilogy.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe shorthand is that he\u2019s older and wiser, but his bones are the same,\u201d Ford said. \u201cHe\u2019s not selling real estate now. He\u2019s the same guy \u2014 only with the passage of 30 years. While we do not sit down and describe what he\u2019s been doing for those years, we do discover in the context of the story what the complications have been in his life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ford, who infamously wanted George Lucas to kill off Solo in \u201cReturn of the Jedi,\u201d had a \u201cwhy not?\u201d attitude about suiting back up as Solo. He wasn\u2019t surprised by Disney\u2019s Death Star-sized plan to revive the franchise after acquiring Lucasfilm in 2012 for more than $4 billion. The studio is planning to release a stand-alone film about a young Solo in 2018.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you make a huge investment in a product and it pays off, there\u2019s wisdom in seeing whether the well has run dry,\u201d Ford said. \u201cIf the well has run dry, (expletive) admit it and go on to something else. This well has not dried, especially when you introduce new discoveries, which Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac and Adam Driver represent.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite embodying the intergalactic scoundrel in three films, the \u201cIndiana Jones\u201d star didn\u2019t feel the need to provide \u201cForce Awakens\u201d filmmakers with much insight into Solo, who is back alongside shaggy sidekick Chewbacca (Peter Mayhew).<\/p>\n

\u201cThey wanted to know if I didn\u2019t like something, and we would talk about ways to fix it,\u201d Ford said. \u201cThat\u2019s what we do. It\u2019s a collaborative process. There wasn\u2019t much. (Lawrence) Kasdan was back. He was one of the writers from the original films. He has a keen understanding on how the beast works, so I think they produced a script that \u2014 in my mind \u2014 was very easy to work with.\u201d<\/p>\n

Once he was back in a galaxy far, far away, Ford\u2019s reprisal was stopped short on the second day of production last year when a door on the Millennium Falcon set outside London fell on him. He broke his left leg and was grounded for months. The unexpected time off proved more frustrating than fruitful.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had been ready,\u201d he said. \u201cI didn\u2019t have much to think about. I think it gave J.J. some more time to think about some of the scenes.\u201d<\/p>\n

After his work on the postponed production eventually wrapped up, Ford endured another mishap involving a flying machine. The aeronautical aficionado suffered several injuries when his vintage plane\u2019s engine failed and crashed in Santa Monica, Calif.<\/p>\n

The accidents haven\u2019t stopped Ford from returning to the sky.<\/p>\n

\u201cOh, (expletive) no, I fly all the time,\u201d said Ford, with his eyes glowing again. \u201cI want to spend more time flying. That\u2019s what I want to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Online:<\/p>\n

\n

http:\/\/www.starwars.com<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Follow AP Entertainment Writer Derrik J. Lang on Twitter at http:\/\/www.twitter.com\/derrikjlang .<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

LOS ANGELES \u2014 When speaking about \u201cStar Wars,\u201d there are few topics that inspire a twinkle in Harrison Ford\u2019s eyes. The 73-year-old actor is matter-of-fact about almost everything involving the sci-fi series\u2019 latest episode \u2014 from his reunion with Carrie Fisher (\u201cIt was no big deal.\u201d) to the franchise\u2019s unwavering popularity (\u201cFor me, it\u2019s old […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":107,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_stopmodifiedupdate":false,"_modified_date":"","wds_primary_category":4,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-3308","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3308","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/107"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3308"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3308\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3308"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3308"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3308"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=3308"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}