Harrison Ford says Marvel role was “being an idiot for money”
The Marvel Cinematic Universe has received a lot of flack for its domination of the movie industry in recent years. Many actors and directors, including Martin Scorsese and Jamie Lee Curtis, have criticised the comic giant’s role in the artistic industry as a money-printing machine. Has Harrison Ford now joined the club?
The Star Wars and Indiana Jones star is confirmed as a member of the cast for Marvel’s anticipated movie Captain America: Brave New World. The movie is currently under production and is slated for cinematic release in 2025. The appearance, in which Ford portrays Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross, marks the 82-year-old actor’s Marvel debut
Thunderbolt, now the president of the United States, was previously portrayed by the late actor William Hurt. Footage from the Captain America: Brave New World trailer, which aired at this week’s Comic-Con, showed a first glimpse of Ford in the classic comic book role.
Although most comic book and MCU fans are elated to welcome Ford to the club, the actor seems somewhat underwhelmed by the role, suggesting that he was only in it for the money. In a call with Variety‘s Angelique Jackson on the Marvel press line at Comic-Con, Ford was asked what it took to transform into Thunderbolt. “What did it take? It took not caring. It took being an idiot for money, which I’ve done before,” the actor quipped in response.
After suggesting detachment from the project and potentially the MCU as an entity, Ford backtracked with a shade of severity. “I don’t mean to disparage it,” he added. “I’m just saying you have to do certain things that normally your mother would not want you to do — or your acting coach, if you had one. But it’s fun, and I enjoyed it. I had a great time, and I’m delighted at the response that we got with the trailer.”
Clearly, Ford doesn’t have such disparaging views as Scorsese when it comes to the MCU. Like Jamie Lee Curtis, he seems to accept the movies as a bit of “fun”. “It’s a whole different cut of cloth, isn’t it?” he told ScreenRant earlier in the year. “Free of some normal constraints to the imagination. It’s delightful to deal with and it’s fun. The people I worked with were fantastic. The director, Julius Onah, did a terrific job. Mr. [Anthony] Mackie is great fun to work with. We had a good time. I enjoyed it.”
Elsewhere during Comic-Con 2024, Curtis described the MCU as being in its “bad” phase during a quick fire questions session. In 2022, she launched a highly-publicised tirade against Marvel when her movie Everything Everywhere All at Once premiered around the same time as Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.
Captain America: Brave New World will arrive in cinemas on February 12th, 2024.
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