arrison Ford and Michelle Pfeiffer share the screen for the first time ever in Bob Zemeckis' Hitchcockian supernatural thriller, What Lies Beneath, which opened July 21. Ford, best known for his Star Wars and Indiana Jones movies, takes on an unusual role as a workaholic geneticist who may have a secret that's come back to haunt him.
But it's movie veteran Pfeiffer who owns Beneath. She plays a wife and mom whose apparently perfect life begins to unravel with the unwanted arrival of a spectral presence. The role presented several challenges for Pfeiffer, including learning to overcome her natural aversion to submersion. The two stars took time to speak with Science Fiction Weekly about their scary movie and future projects.
Harrison Ford, without giving too much away about the film, this character is a bit of a departure for you. How did you envision the character?
Ford: Well, I mean, it's always a matter of helping tell the story through the character: his behaviors, his relationships. So the character is made up of those things that help tell the story. This is an unusual story. A scary story.
Were you able to relate to the character?
Ford: Yeah. If you break it down piece by piece, you can understand all of the character's motivations and why he does the things he does, even though those things are somewhat different from what you hope you might do yourself. One understands that, and that's what I call good writing.
Given the enormous popularity of your other characters, did it concern you that this role might be risky for you?
Ford: No, it never does. I think the reason that I'm lucky enough to have had whatever success I've had is because I've provided a service. It's a service profession. And the films I've made have given pleasure to the audience. And that's because of the people I've had the good luck to work with. So I don't ... know that I take personal credit for anything.
How did the role come to you?
Ford: I got a script that I knew was a Bob Zemeckis project, and I read it. And I was immediately attracted to the project and to the character and the opportunity to work with it.
Was part of that the opportunity to work with Bob Zemeckis?
Ford: Well, very much so. I've always admired his work and had never been able to find anything to do with him. So I was excited about that opportunity, and the opportunity to work with Michelle.
Do you believe in ghosts yourself?
Ford: No. ... I personally do not believe in ghosts. I believe in movies. And that's what's important here. ... You're not required to believe in ghosts to derive pleasure from the movie. It's a dramatic construction. There's a lot of surprises and scares and pleasure.
To change the subject a little, can you tell us about Indiana Jones IV and where it's at?
Ford: I'm looking forward to the opportunity to make another film. There are some efforts underway to come up with a story. When we all three--[George] Lucas and [Steven] Spielberg and I--all ... have a film that we all have confidence in, we'll do it.
Have you talked with M. Night Shyamalan [writer and director of The Sixth Sense] about it? [Shyamalan is reportedly writing a draft of Indy IV.]
Ford: A little bit.
Is he the guy writing the script?
Ford: Can't really tell you that at the moment.
But you have talked with him.
Ford: Yep.
Would Sean Connery [who played Dr. Henry Jones in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade] figure in this movie?
Ford: Actually, I don't know. I hope so.
There are reports that you or Mel Gibson are under
consideration to star in an SF movie called Gemini, about
a hit man who is cloned and sent to assassinate himself. What can
you tell us about that?
Ford: I don’t know about the project. ... A cloning movie.
Well, I haven’t done a cloning movie yet. I’ve never heard of it.
You've said you want to do an action film next?
Ford: Did I? ... I don't know. ... I have no particular ambition for a genre. I just look for the best thing I can find and work with the best people.
Michelle Pfeiffer, how do you feel about your character in What Lies Beneath?
Pfeiffer: I see her as a woman who ... has ... given up a lot to raise her daughter and to create an idyllic life with her husband and, I think, she believes, for herself. ... [She] is desperately trying to keep the façade going, and it begins to unravel. And everything that she thought was real is not. And she sort of goes through kind of a real metamorphosis in a way.
The role was pretty physical. You spend a lot of time underwater. Was that difficult?
Pfeiffer: It was pretty uncomfortable. I don't like the water. I'm actually a bit phobic of the water. ... It's a claustrophobia kind of thing. And I had to take some scuba diving lessons to get over my fear of being under. ... I had to breathe with a tank to get into position and stay there until they would roll, and they would take that away from me, and then I'd have to do my action ... and yeah, it was kind of scary. And ... I was in the bathtub for a long time, too, which was really unpleasant.
Would you compare the bathtub scene to the shower scene in Psycho?
Pfeiffer: It's pretty creepy. ... It ... was really unpleasant to do. I have to be honest [laughs]. It was one of the more unpleasant things I've had to do in my career.
You've said you're thinking of taking a break from films?
Pfeiffer: I am taking my break. I'm sort of taking a break from my break to do this [press interviews]. But I've been really on hiatus since December. ... It's great. I'm having a good time.
