Ford in Kramer's immigration flick

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Harrison Ford has long shown a kind of avoidance mentality (some would say a chickenshit attitude) when it came to starring in realistic docu-dramas. He famously declined to star in Steven Soderbergh's Traffic (a movie about drugs), and then bowed out of a starring role in Stephen Gaghan's Syriana, which was about the geopolitics of big oil. ("I didn't feel strongly enough about the truth of the material ,and I think I made a mistake," Ford allegedly said). He also sidestepped a shot at starring in A History of Violence.

Now, weeks before he starts work on the fourth Indiana Jones film, Ford has had a change of heart. Starting on Wednesday he'll be playing some kind of lead role in a Mexican immigration film for the Weinstein Co. called Crossing Over. Costarring Sean Penn and Ray Liotta, it reportedly "focuses on the gut-wrenching drama of people caught up in the nation's immigration morass," blah, blah.

The consensus seems to be that it's going to be Crash-like. This would normally be a concern, but the fact that Wayne Kramer (Running Scared, The Cooler) has written the script and is also directing is reason for hope. The film is tentatively set for a fall '07 release. What is that, three or four months in post?

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Posted by Jeffrey Wells on April 7, 2007 at 5:13 PM

comment #1

Thrudvangar says ...

I can't picture Indy in any of those films. I guess he's gotten too old in my eyes.

Posted by Thrudvangar at April 7, 2007 6:04 PM

comment #2

Geoff says ...

I can easily see this as ammunition for those who think Harrison Ford can't act. You know, the argument that he's basically the same in every performance he's given. He never wants takes juicy roles.

Posted by Geoff at April 7, 2007 6:24 PM

comment #3

americanrat says ...

"focuses on the gut-wrenching drama of people caught up in the nation's immigration morass"

Like Bob Clark and his son?

Posted by americanrat at April 7, 2007 6:31 PM

comment #4

jbf81 says ...

Wow, i didn't know he still gets so many offers.

Posted by jbf81 at April 7, 2007 6:31 PM

comment #5

gruver1 says ...

Wells to juligen: Who, Bob Clark?

Posted by gruver1 at April 7, 2007 6:33 PM

comment #6

actionman says ...

big fan of Wayne Kramer. Loved both of his movies. And he's a cool guy to boot. Already excited about the possibilities with this new one.

Posted by actionman at April 7, 2007 7:18 PM

comment #7

jbf81 says ...

NO, I am talking about Ford. To be honest I miss him, in fact I miss the time that movie stars actually mattered, or at least were more important. Those days any one is called movie star. Lindsay Lohan, Orlando Bloom, Ashton Kutsher, ugh

Posted by jbf81 at April 7, 2007 7:41 PM

comment #8

Stephe96 says ...

"Traffic" was vastly overrated and "Syriana" is virtually unwatchable. Ford was wise to turn these flicks down.

Posted by Stephe96 at April 7, 2007 7:41 PM

comment #9

D.Z. says ...

In Ford's defense, Syriana was a disappointment which had ambivalent reviews, while A History of Violence was an American beauty knock-off which had nothing to do with the original graphic novel, and which was only marginally profitable. Finally, Douglas hasn't done shit since Traffic, while Soderbergh can only crank out Ocean's 11 sequels. Plus Ford's already done enough serious roles like Blade Runner and the Jack Ryan films.

Posted by D.Z. at April 7, 2007 8:54 PM

comment #10

Josh Massey says ...

I hope Adrienne Shelly can appear in the film. Oh wait, she already got caught up in the nation's immigration morass.

Posted by Josh Massey at April 7, 2007 8:59 PM

comment #11

LYTrules says ...

Wayne Kramer is reason for hope? I thought both his movies so far were pretty bad...except for the explicit sex scenes, and seeing Paul Walker getting his face smashed in with hockey pucks.

Seems to me that what Kramer does is like Guy Ritchie without the sense of humor, and with even less-developed characters. But then he throws in a naked female crotch, and apparently all is forgiven for such a bold gesture.

Posted by LYTrules at April 7, 2007 9:34 PM

comment #12

Hallick says ...

"Finally, Douglas hasn't done shit since Traffic, while Soderbergh can only crank out Ocean's 11 sequels."

And Full Frontal.

And Solaris.

And the HBO series K Street.

And a segment of Eros.

And Bubble.

And The Good German.

And the screenplay for Criminal.

And producer credits on Insomnia, Far From Heaven, Keane, Syriana and A Scanner Darkly among others.

Steven Soderburgh - Underachiever Extraordinaire

Posted by Hallick at April 7, 2007 10:00 PM

comment #13

christian says ...

now you're all gettin' nasty.

Posted by christian at April 7, 2007 10:00 PM

comment #14

Chris Willman says ...

Maybe the line should have been "while Soderbergh can only crank out Ocean's 11 sequels when he's of a mind to do something that somebody might actually enjoy."

Posted by Chris Willman at April 7, 2007 10:08 PM

comment #15

D.Z. says ...

"Steven Soderburgh - Underachiever Extraordinaire"

Yep. And?

Posted by D.Z. at April 7, 2007 10:14 PM

comment #16

Gnome de Guerre says ...

D.Z.: "Plus Ford's already done enough serious roles like Blade Runner and the Jack Ryan films."

So what would you recommend then? Non-serious roles like in Hollywood Homicide? Crap roles like in Firewall?

BTW I'm curious about your comparison of A History of Violence to American Beauty. What similarities do you see between them?

Posted by Gnome de Guerre at April 7, 2007 11:15 PM

comment #17

tholl-yung says ...

The computer ate my post, let me try again. Harvey co-acquired La Misma Luna at Sundance and got in the mood to go-picuture this one, cool. La Misma is summer or fall, apparently. On another timing matter, can Ford really do back to back shooting? If he starts Indiana Jones weeks from now, could Crossing Over be three six-day weeks, or four, or what? Anyway, fall '07 sounds like Factory Girl speak.

Posted by tholl-yung at April 7, 2007 11:20 PM

comment #18

D.Z. says ...

Gnome: "BTW I'm curious about your comparison of A History of Violence to American Beauty. What similarities do you see between them?"

A psycho dad with something to hide, bullshit social commentary against the suburbs, etc.

Posted by D.Z. at April 7, 2007 11:29 PM

comment #19

lawnorder says ...

If you want to know more about the project, there's an LA Times article by Robert Welkos that's just gone up online about CROSSING OVER. It goes into quite a bit of depth about the storylines and the director's vision for the movie. It's about time Ford decided to take on something with substance.
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-et-crossing9apr09,0,1610028.story?coll=la-home-entertainment

Posted by lawnorder at April 7, 2007 11:37 PM

comment #20

Dan Revill says ...

Good for Ford. Maybe he'll go on a creative resurgence tear now! As long as Indy isn't a mis-step that is. And while I could have pictured him in Traffic, I'm not sure about Syriana...

Posted by Dan Revill at April 8, 2007 12:22 AM

comment #21

hiviper says ...

And Full Frontal. (oh, the hand-held Julia Roberts-home-made-piece-of-shit?)

And Solaris. (still groggy from it)

And the HBO series K Street. (whatever)

And a segment of Eros. (ditto)

And Bubble. (home-made piece of shit part deux)

And The Good German. (40's flick, technically ok, but try a script next time. Ok, I admit I've never seen it and I don't want to)

And the screenplay for Criminal.(? - I'll look into it)

And producer credits on Insomnia, Far From Heaven, Keane, Syriana and A Scanner Darkly among others. (except for Keane, not overwhelming)

Steven Soderburgh - Underachiever Extraordinaire

Posted by hiviper at April 8, 2007 12:55 AM

comment #22

MovieBob says ...

D.Z.
"A psycho dad with something to hide, bullshit social commentary against the suburbs, etc."

It's not set in the suburbs, it's set in a small rural town. You have to be a small upper-middle class residential area connected to a commercial/industrial URBAN area to qualify as a SUB-URBAN area, this was just a small farming town out on the sticks. And there wasn't really any commentary "against" the location, in fact the film heavily suggests that small-town Americana and traditional family life was, to a degree, capable of "saving" Mortensen.. though it also offers the question of whether or not he DESERVES saving in the first place.

Posted by MovieBob at April 8, 2007 2:02 AM

comment #23

EOTW says ...

History of Violence was great and the most entertaining thing Cronenberg has done in years.

Deny it all you like, but Solaris was and still is a great film and has one of the best Clooney performances ever.

Traffic was a really good film (especially the Del Toro stuff) but I kinda dig the original more.

As for this immigration film, who cares? Weren't we all supposed to care about this very same subject in the Mex part of Babel, which is one of the most overrated films of recent years? Who cares about being symethetic towards criminals (illegal aliens)?

I'd have to back to The Fugitive to remember a Ford film I thoguht he kicked ass in, although, I thought he was pretty good in ACAPD.

Posted by EOTW at April 8, 2007 2:58 AM

comment #24

OddDuck says ...

D.Z., American Beauty and History of Violence have just about nothing to do with each other in terms of setting, story, theme - nothing. What in the world could you be thinking of when you try to equate these two movies?

And to all above, I'm somewhat curious about all the Syriana hate. Was it the politics? The treatment of suicide-bomber as victim? Or did you guys find it too muddled? Also, I am very glad we got Clooney instead of Ford in the film. Whether you love or hate the movie, it's hard to knock Clooney's performance in it, and equally difficult, for me at least, to imagine Ford doing something as interesting and subtle - he would have brought his Jack Ryan persona to the movie, to disastrous effect.

Posted by OddDuck at April 8, 2007 7:28 AM

comment #25

Dixon Steele says ...

DZ's comparison of American Beauty to A History of Violence perfectly illustrates how his comments continue to be worthless.

Posted by Dixon Steele at April 8, 2007 8:11 AM

comment #26

The Movie Man says ...

Well, D.Z. to look on the bright side, I guess you've finally found something other than Tarantino to be short-sighted, annoying and just plain moronic about. My hats off sir.

To people who are capable of actual discussion: I hadn't heard the thing about Ford being offered HISTORY OF VIOLENCE, I think that would have been very interesting. I still think Ford is in on some kind of joke with his superstar buddies, proving to them that he's such a badass that he can do more or less nothing but dreck since THE FUGITIVE and still retain cred. Not too many stars can pull that off.

I always thought it was interesting how Zemeckis used Ford's bad acting as a redherring in WHAT LIES BENEATH, I read this somewhere too, I'm not trying to claim it as my own, but it was interesting, and a much more effective red herring than the bitchy neighbors.

Posted by The Movie Man at April 8, 2007 8:16 AM

comment #27

jeffmcm says ...

DZ's comparison of History of Violence to American beauty is the second stupidest thing I've read today:
After the two comments saying that the new reason to be xenophobic of Mexicans is because they're all murderers (of Adrienne Shelley and Bob Clark). Come on guys. There are plenty of home-grown American murderers too.

Posted by jeffmcm at April 8, 2007 11:20 AM

comment #28

RoyBatty says ...

Jeffmcm - would the first stupiest thing be the fact that Wells actually called HISTORY OF VIOLENCE a DOCU-DRAMA? That gets my vote at least.

And having actually read the graphic novel, the film is a vast improvement. The wife character in the novel is written pretty much how you might expect she would be by guys with too much of their knowledge gleamed from other comic books.

On the other hand, I still think that rest of the movie fails to match the first 20 minutes and the ending is beyond pulp, Hurt seems to be a different film altogether.

Posted by RoyBatty at April 8, 2007 11:45 AM

comment #29

D.Z. says ...

Moviebob: "And there wasn't really any commentary "against" the location,"

The fact that the kid becomes a bully himself was a bullshit jab at Columbine.

OddDuck: "American Beauty and History of Violence have just about nothing to do with each other in terms of setting, story, theme - nothing. What in the world could you be thinking of when you try to equate these two movies?"

They're both types of propaganda posing as entertainment. Yeah, I know the American Dream's a failure, but I don't know how slowing the pacing or turning the characters into retards is going to make it any more enlightening.

Posted by D.Z. at April 8, 2007 11:49 AM

comment #30

RoyBatty says ...

"..retards..."

Retards? Seriously, bro - retards??? Please tell us you are like 18, 20 to be still using a word like "retard"

Posted by RoyBatty at April 8, 2007 1:43 PM

comment #31

D.Z. says ...

Roy: Ok, dumbasses. Or is rube a better term?

Posted by D.Z. at April 8, 2007 2:04 PM

comment #32

OddDuck says ...

Does anyone here understand what D.Z. is trying to say about American Beauty and History of Violence? I know I don't.

Posted by OddDuck at April 8, 2007 2:22 PM

comment #33

Josh Massey says ...

"After the two comments saying that the new reason to be xenophobic of Mexicans is because they're all murderers (of Adrienne Shelley and Bob Clark). Come on guys. There are plenty of home-grown American murderers too."

At what point did I insinuate that all Mexicans are murderers? My only point is that if our government would enforce its immigration laws, Adrienne Shelly - among others - would still be alive today. Do you disagree?

Posted by Josh Massey at April 8, 2007 3:28 PM

comment #34

D.Z. says ...

OddDuck: What I'm saying is that both films are indictments against the nuclear family, although
American Beauty relies on cliches, while History of Violence relies on current events. And since both films rely on two-dimensional stereotypes, rather than complex characters, we get two-dimensional reactions to conflicts. Hence the reason I refer to the characters as "retards".

Josh: I'd like our country to enforce energy effiency laws, so that SUVs would be scrapped in favor of hybrids, because more people die in accidents involving them than convertables, but even blue-state yuppies who voted for Kerry don't seem to care.

Posted by D.Z. at April 8, 2007 4:21 PM

comment #35

Craig Kennedy says ...

DZ...History of Violence is no such thing. It's an indictment of violence. Setting it in a peaceful, rural environment isn't a commentary on peaceful, rural environments, it's meant to highten the impact of the violence through counterpoint. It's not a commentary on the nuclear family either, it's about what violence does to the nuclear family.

Posted by Craig Kennedy at April 8, 2007 4:32 PM

comment #36

frankbooth says ...

Columbine? Of course! Why didn't I see that?

I figured the kid becoming a badass implied that the apple hasn't fallen far from the tree. But I'm a retard dumbass.

My big problem with the movie was there were NO fight scenes. Viggo just ran at people and plucked their eyes out.

Posted by frankbooth at April 8, 2007 5:53 PM

comment #37

pdinalis says ...

though I tend to read as opposed to write on the comments section, i do have to point out that "DZ" is starting to sound as a synonym to "clueless". That is just an opinion of course. And as it is well known, opinions are like @#%holes. Everybody has one.

Posted by pdinalis at April 8, 2007 7:57 PM

comment #38

D.Z. says ...

cj: "Setting it in a peaceful, rural environment isn't a commentary on peaceful, rural environments,"

Yes, and Deliverance was just a movie about sodomy.

Posted by D.Z. at April 8, 2007 8:16 PM

comment #39

Craig Kennedy says ...

Retard.

Kidding, really I was just busting RoyBatty's balls because I happen to cherish that particular insult. That it sounds like it's coming from a 14 year old is the whole point.

Posted by Craig Kennedy at April 8, 2007 11:46 PM

comment #40

tholl-yung says ...

Thanks lawnorder. A 50 day shooot, the link says. That's looking like shooting until early-mid June on a six day work week. I wonder if Ford will be splitting his time initially on this and Indiana Jones or it's boarded so he's only doing one at a time. Still, for an older, spoiled geezer who nods off in his car while his signif other works, that's a hefty schedule.

Posted by tholl-yung at April 9, 2007 8:22 AM

comment #41

christian says ...

uh, you guys do know that lucas will be CGI'ing ford all the way through INDY 4?

so it'll be basically a voice over gig.

Posted by christian at April 9, 2007 11:18 AM

comment #42

tholl-yung says ...

Christian. CGI does not equal animation. Clear up what you're saying.

Posted by tholl-yung at April 9, 2007 12:19 PM

comment #43

christian says ...

it's a joke tholly.

or i'll rephrase: lucas will digitally insert a computer generated harrison ford into indy 4 so now ford just has to do the vocal work.

Posted by christian at April 9, 2007 12:40 PM

comment #44

Josh Massey says ...

"There are plenty of home-grown American murderers too."

I just re-read this. What an asinine argument. "We have murderers here, so what's wrong with letting some more in?"

Posted by Josh Massey at April 9, 2007 12:53 PM

comment #45

tholl-yung says ...

I didn't "hear" the joke in the joke. I expected better from you -- that's a complement, in case you think I'm slamming you for nothing.

Posted by tholl-yung at April 9, 2007 12:54 PM

comment #46

tholl-yung says ...

"My only point is that if our government would enforce its immigration laws, Adrienne Shelly - among others - would still be alive today. Do you disagree?"

We're so past this Josh. Documenting would do more to keep people, like Shelly, alive than chasing your vestigal tail the way you do.

Posted by tholl-yung at April 9, 2007 1:00 PM

comment #47