"What Am I Going To Do With A Fucking Whip?" - Harrison Ford Hilariously Questioned Indiana Jones' Logic When He First Signed On
You gotta love Harrison Ford. Star Wars mastermind George Lucas created the character of Indiana Jones, and to Mr. Ford, some aspects of Indy were just as ridiculous as Han Solo running around with a 7-foot tall dog-looking Wookie sidekick in a galaxy far, far away.
In this excellent reflection piece from GQ, Ford recounts what it was like when he was initially pitched Raiders of the Lost Ark and how ridiculous some aspects of Indiana Jones' character seemed at the time. In particular, the iconic whip and the sick getup he rocks throughout the movie franchise:
"[The outfit] was presented to me as an aspect of character in the first film. My questions about it were many. 'Why am I wearing a leather jacket in the jungle? Isn’t it hot here? Why am I carrying a whip? What am I going to do with a fucking whip? I’m going to whip people?'"
He's not wrong!
I'll never not be in awe of George Lucas' audacity, genius and singular creative vision. The man has been space-pun-intended light years ahead of his time and constantly gave the middle finger to the studio system. Lucas, along with four-time Indy flick director Steven Spielberg, revolutionized the industry and pioneered the modern blockbuster.
That Ford was so integral in both of Lucas' greatest stories is so mind-blowing. He was the perfect actor for Han Solo and Indy. That whole carpentry background and years of grinding before catching his big break gave him a very grounded, practical and tactile approach to the craft of acting. Of course he's going to have questions about story logic. Ford exaggerated that cynical edge to get into Han's skin but had the undercurrent of gravitas and humanity to make a round, interesting character who stood the test of time. And in Indy, it was Ford's shot to top the call sheet of another iconic franchise, and all the big choices he made along the way to build Indiana Jones into the legend we know today were pitch-perfect.
So first of all, respect to Harrison Ford for being a badass. Secondly, time to go on a rant about the final entry in this beloved series that's on course to be a financial flop.
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny was way better than I expected after such a lukewarm reception from the stuck-up cinephile critics at the Cannes Film Festival (kidding mostly about that). It seems like those initial mixed reviews and the surface-level analysis of people saying, "Why the fuck would I want to watch an Indiana Jones movie about an 80-year-old dude" that totally misses the point of the film in the first place were big reasons why it's bombing at the box office.
In fact, Ford has gone on at length about how age and time were aspects of Dial of Destiny's story that he wanted to embrace instead of ignore (h/t New York Post for saving me time with transcription):
"I wanted to make a film about the end of his life. I wanted to see all of the development of his personality that we’ve seen. And then I wanted to see him after the passage of the 15 years that actually exists between the last film that we did and this one."
There aren't many septuagenarian protagonist-driven stories in cinema, never mind octogenarian-led narratives (Ford turns 81 years young on Thursday). An indie gem you may or may not know about in this vein — albeit much less action-adventure-y — is I'll See You In My Dreams starring Blythe Danner.
Sure, Disney/Lucasfilm should've found a way not to, you know, balloon Dial of Destiny's budget to $300 million. Ford's quote is pretty sizable, but there's no way the film should've cost that much to make. Good luck making a profit off any project where the spread sheet is that deep into nine figures. But I digress.
Dial of Destiny is a fucking dope movie. For recent comparison's sake of big-budget tentpoles, it's miles better than The Flash.
I inevitably read some of the negative Cannes Dial reaction and maybe had my expectations lowered a bit. Strangely, the major critiques about James Mangold not directing the action sequences well enough and the latest kid sidekick not making the grade were unfounded, in my opinion. I thought most of the humor that worked best in the entire movie involved Ethann Isidore's Teddy Kumar. Some of the other jokes fell flat to me, at least in the screening I was at. Whatever.
I get that there's franchise fatigue abound, that people are going to movie theaters less and less and that Indiana Jones is old as hell now. But like…I promise there's a lot more to Dial of Destiny than washed Indy making elder statesman quips. There's a ton of substance and thought put into the MacGuffin of the story, Ford and Phoebe Waller-Bridge have excellent chemistry to carry the film, and there are inevitable surprises — along with the franchise's traditional final-act big swing — that, all told, work very well.
But yeah…out of respect for Harrison Ford and his care for Indiana Jones, go see Dial of Destiny. You will not have a bad time. Also, the man is really making the rounds on this press tour and giving it his all. My favorite was his recent appearance on Conan's podcast. There may not be a more dry-funny veteran thesp than Ford. May this writers' [possibly actors'] strike end soon so that Shrinking Season 2 gets here faster.