It’s not the years, it’s the mileage! Harrison Ford defended the de-aging technology used on him during a flashback sequence in his new film, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny.
“I know that that is my face,” Ford, 80, said in a press conference after a screening of the action flick at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival earlier this weekend. “It’s not a kind of Photoshop magic — that’s what I looked like 35 years ago. Because Lucasfilm has every frame of film that we’ve made together over all of these years. And this process, this scientific mining of this library, this was put to good [use].”
While some have criticized the use of de-aging technology over hiring younger actors for flashback scenes, the Shrinking star explained that the decision sometimes makes sense — especially when it helps audiences emotionally resonate with a character.
“It’s just a trick unless it’s supported by a story, and it sticks out like a sore thumb if it’s not honest, it’s not real,” he continued. “I mean, emotionally real. And so I think it was used very skillfully.”
Ford has portrayed the titular character of Indiana Jones since Raiders of the Lost Ark in 1981. He returned for 1984’s Temple of Doom, 1989’s Last Crusade and 2008’s Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Dials of Destiny marks his fifth time in the role — and what he plans to be his last.
“Is it not evident?” Ford joked when asked if this will be his last time putting on the legendary fedora. “I need to sit down and rest a little bit. I love to work, and I love this character, and I love what it brought into my life, and that’s all I can say.”
The Witness star previously got candid about saying goodbye to the character during an interview with Total Film in April.
“This is the final film in the series, and this is the last time I’ll play the character,” he shared at the time. “I anticipate that it will be the last time that he appears in a film … I have been ambitious to do this film for 10 years, and there finally came a time when we all committed to that. It was a joyous moment for me. I think it’s a rare situation that I find myself in it.”
While the Star Wars actor — who also bid farewell to Hans Solo after reprising the role for 2015’s Star Wars: The Force Awakens — said he’s “happy” with how the de-aging sequence in Dial of Destiny turned out, the idea of actually rewinding time isn’t something he’d be interested in pursuing.
“I don’t look back and say, ‘I wish I was that guy again,’ because I don’t,” he explained after the film’s premiere. “I’m real happy with age. I love being older. It was great to be young, but s—tfire I could be dead, and I’m still working.”
Ford has been busy in recent years. In addition to bidding farewell to Jones and Solo, he returned for the 2017 Blade reboot and has starred in multiple critically acclaimed TV series including Yellowstone prequel 1923 and AppleTV+’s Shrinking, which was recently picked up for a second season.
Off screen, Ford has also balanced being a dedicated husband, father and stepdad in his personal life. He tied the knot with wife Calista Flockhart in June 2010 after seven years of dating and later adopted Flockhart’s son, Liam, who was born in 2001. The Firewall actor also shares sons Benjamin, 56, and Willard, 54, with his first wife, Mary Marquardt, and is dad to son Malcolm, 35, and daughter Georgia, 32, whom he shares with second wife Melissa Mathison.
In June 2003, Ford opened up about his relationship with the 58-year-old Ally McBeal alum — who is 22 years his junior — saying that sparks can fly between two people at any age.
“I’m in love,” he gushed to Hello! magazine at the time. “Romantic love is one of the most exciting and fulfilling kinds of love, and I think there is a potential for it at any stage of your life. I was not surprised that I was able to fall in love, and I wasn’t surprised that I did.”
