“Wait, what? Nerds are watching Star Wars? Goddammitall!”
Harrison Ford famously started in Hollywood as a carpenter before falling ass-backward into becoming the biggest movie star of all time, and frankly most of the time it seems like Ford would rather just be back nailing sets together.
The New York Times recently asked old man Ford some questions about Comic-Con and geek culture/movies and the Indiana Jones star was characteristically charming in his replies…
So, what would happen if Star Wars or Indiana Jones were first released today?
“Everyone would be ahead of it, and everybody would know what it was, and it would be no fun at all.”
Also, Star Wars and Indiana Jones wouldn’t work today, because you jackass kids don’t watch movies properly anymore!
“People used to go to movie theaters. It was a community experience, and that was part of the fun. Now people see a movie on their iPad, alone, with interruptions for snacks.”
But hey, come on, let’s be fair — kids are still engaging with movies! Just look at Comic-Con! Or don’t if you’re Harrison Ford.
“It’s another form of engagement. I think the success of Comic-Con is based on the partnership between the fans and the service providers, the entities — I won’t necessarily call them filmmakers — that supply the film product that supports their particular interest, whether it’s vampires or science-fiction fantasies or Transformers or whatever is going on.”
Really, the entire interview (link below) is worth reading as Ford manages to be astoundingly grumpy and condescending about everything from fat suits to the fate of his character from Witness. I just wish it were a video interview so we could watch Ford chase the interviewer from his lawn with his Indiana Jones prop whip at the end.