Because I don't make any steady diet of any particular kind of film. I like to do all different kinds of movies, and much of what I've seen in the past, which has come my way, comedies, I didn't really care that much for.

Ron Shelton said you agreed to do this after seeing only forty pages of script, why'd you agree?

The character, I thought, was a great character. I could see the relationship between he and the character that Josh [Hartnett] plays. I thought that would produce some good, comic results, and I wanted to work with Ron. I've always loved his work, and I'd been planning a film which sort of fell through and so, I was ready to go to work and they were willing to push this project forward and Ron was very collaborative about it. We had a good time.

You and Josh had a good chemistry, was that from the beginning or as you go to know each other?

That's acting, that's acting. These characters had very clear differences between them and we had the opportunity to take advantage. We had a script that described the differences and we took advantage of the differences, generational differences, and different styles and taste and point of view, and all of that is great comic opportunity, and Josh is a very capable, personable young man and I enjoyed acting with him, torturing him.

How did you torture him?

It seemed almost enough just to show up.

How do you feel about the film's sort of critique of acting in that it compares your reaction with JOSH'S?

It's a joke. It's a joke, but it's a funny joke. I think that my character would of course think that acting was a stupid thing to do. So, I thought that it was a good joke.

Has your craft become easier or harder over the years?

Well, I think that it's like anything that you practice. It gets to be second nature, and then, you get to a case that you've never seen before and suddenly, you don't necessarily know how to work your way through it, but your experience and history helps guide you through it. Look, if acting wasn't easy and fun for me, I wouldn't be doing it. It's hard work and it's concentrated work. It takes a lot of focus and determination to get the best out of everything that you worked on if that's your goal and that certainly is mine, but it's certainly better than a real job.

What about people shouting your name when you're trying to shoot a scene on the street, is it easier now than it used to be?

There's a legal term for being out in the street in people's faces. It's called being an attractive nuisance and you expect people to be a nuisance, but the fact that you're out there is what motivates them. It's no big deal.

How is it shooting in the streets of LA?

It was great. We had a lot of cooperation from the Los Angeles film commission, the merchants along Hollywood Boulevard, we had very good cooperation from L.A.P.D. There were three or four movies shooting on Hollywood Boulevard while we were there. It was ridiculous. 'Charlie's Angels' and 'S.W.A.T' and I have no idea [who else].

I read that there was one day when three films were trying to use the same location?

I didn't notice that. I did go to the wrong trailer for the wrong movie.

When was the first time that you realized you were a public nuisance?

When I was I making the third of the 'Star Wars' films. I went to Morocco for a couple of weeks while I wasn't needed, and I rented a little car and driving across the desert and I went into Morocco and I came to Fez, one of the oldest cities in North Africa, and all the edge of town in Fez was a movie theatre that was playing two movies that I was in. That's when I thought that it was all over.

What have you thought of the latest two 'star wars' movies?

You know, they're different. They're very different in intention, and they're very different in nature than the ones that we made and the audience has changed. I think that George [Lucas] has made movies that he reckons to be more appropriate for the audience that's out there now. There was no such thing as a videogame. A videogame when we made 'Star Wars' was probably some ancient version of 'Pac Man' or 'Hollywood Squares', but the world has changed a lot and the films have changed because of that.

When you go on set, and see people who aren't working with the crew and being polite, does that upset you?

Yeah, as I would in any job. If I was still a carpenter, and there was someone behaving that way, I wouldn't be happy.

Have you ever spoken up about that sort of disrespect?

In the past, when I've come across directors that yell and that sort of thing, I've asked them to please not do that around me.

Can you talk about getting a star on the walk of fame? And there was someone with your name?

Yeah, it seems an unusual name, but there was a silent screen star in the twenties whose name was Harrison Ford and when I first came to Hollywood thirty five years ago, there was a star out in front of Franks with my name on it, but I never even thought about getting a star because I figured that most people figured for the last twenty years or so that that was my star. So, I wasn't all that worried about it. So, I was kind of surprised that they would do this, and happily, it's on the occasion of the opening of my latest film. So, that helps promote the film and I'm grateful for that opportunity.

Have you seen the script for 'Indiana Jones IV' yet?

I haven't seen it. I've heard about it. We all got together and talked about it before they started writing, but I haven't seen a final print yet.

What input have you had into the story?

Oh, I'm not ready to talk about that.

Will the comment you made about wanting your leading ladies to be forty or older effect Indie?

I never said anything like that, but I think that that was, for instance, a good idea for this film, that I didn't have a young, ingénue girlfriend because we were talking about generational issues, old school, new school, new style, old style. I thought that it would be nice to have a lady of a certain maturity who's still sexy and funny, and attractive.

So, if you didn't say that, where did that come from?

Gee, I don't know [Laughs]. I guess that someone made something up. Surprise, surprise, but it's certainly fair enough interpretation, but I never said that. I had certain influence over the casting of my girlfriend and I made it known that I thought that this was the way we should go.

How was working with lena olin?

Great. She's a terrific, charming, sweet lady. A wonderful actress, and a lot of our love scenes were sort of semi improvised, and she's very quick to pick up the thread, and I enjoyed working with her. I had a good time.

At this point in your life, how do you feel about being the mature one in roles?

It doesn't bother me at all. I think that I clearly am not a contemporary of Josh Hartnett's but there are still a lot of roles available for people of my age as Sean Connery has absolutely demonstrated. You know, you can continue to work far beyond what my age is at the moment. So, I'm very happy, and I've never been an ageist, or concerned that much with age.

Do you think that it's harder to make it in hollywood today?

It's never been easy. It's always been a fight against the odds. I think that there are a lot of talented young actors these days. There's a lot more product now than there was when I was first coming up in the business. So maybe more of them will have a chance, but there was also, when I was first starting, a pretty limiting idea of what a leading man was, and a lot of that has changed as well now. They have a lot more variety in the types of people who are doing leading men roles, and so, I think that's a good thing. I think that it may well have been harder when I was coming up simply because studios were still bent on the idea of the old studio system of making stars, and then, owning them which is something that they got over a very few years after they met me, not because of me, but they just stopped doing that sort of thing.

Weren't you a reluctant star?

Well, my ambition was to make a living as an actor, and not to have to do something else, and so, I never thought that I would get leading man roles, and that was sort of accidental. I thought that I was going to be a character actor, and never really had any focused ambition beyond working regularly. So, I was as surprised as anyone when some of the films that I was involved in took off, and I had opportunities that I had never anticipated.

Has playing a real estate agent helped in your house hunting?

I'm not house hunting anymore, but I was always a pretty good judge of the value of housing.

Are you not looking because you found a place?

I have the same house that I've had here for twenty years.

Is there a perception that l.a. cops don't have other jobs, and are you worried about the realism aspect?

No, not at all. I think that it's well explained in the film, it comes up at an appropriate juncture, people get it, and I don't think that people are going to be too worried about the issue of realism in this film once they recognize that they're in an entertainment context here. It is based on reality. There was a scene, for instance, the murder investigation. Bob had written that they go to the refrigerator and pull out a couple of beers and I said, 'I think that's a wrong thing to do here. I think that's going to pull people out of the movie, and that people would then begin to judge these guys on a moral basis because of what they know of police,' and he said, 'Well, it really happened,' and I said, 'Well, it doesn't really matter whether it really happened. We're going to get to that place somewhere down the line, but lets not go there in the very first scene.' I mean, we had these kinds of collaborative discussions, and found the tone of the piece, I think, pretty easily.

Is there a screen role or a project that you have in mind?

No, I don't think that way. I love to look at each project that comes across my desk for its own particular virtues and whether or not it seems like a good idea at this time, and balance it with other things that I have on my plate, but I don't think that's in terms and in abstract of some role that I'd like to play.

No historic figure or something?

No.

Do you have an idea of how many films you like to do a year?

I've always done one film a year. Sometimes, there's been a little overlap and some scheduling issues, but normally, it's one film a year.

Have you ever been interested in directing?

Nah, it's too hard, it takes too long and it doesn't pay well enough.

What are you looking forward to about playing Indie again?

The opportunity to work with Steven [Spielberg] and playing that character, and bring that kind of film to the audience that I know has eagerly anticipated it, and I want us to do a good job and make a film at least as good as the ones we've made before.

Why is he so special a character to you?

He's not so special to me. Like I said, it pleases me to play a character that audiences want to see.

Were you involved in with Frank Darabont or was that just George and Steven?

The way that the process works is that George and Frank work together and then, Steven gets the script and then, I get the script and we all work together.

Is Sean Connery going to be in the next one?

I don't know. As I said, I haven't gotten the script yet. So, I don't know. I would like that he would be. I know that it brought a lot of comic opportunity.

Do you plan to work with Calista [Flockhart] in a movie?

No plan. I have a little reservation about mixing business and pleasure, about working with someone that you live with and I'm not so sure how that would work out.

Any wedding plans?

I'm sorry?

How difficult is all the media attention on the relationship?

It doesn't make the relationship anymore difficult.

But what about going out?

It's ludicrous. It's invasive. It's very annoying, but I don't think that it affects our relationship.

If you could turn back the clock, would you do anything differently or Do you just feel like 'this is where i am'?

I think that the latter. You can't really anticipate this kind of life experience and it's been a pretty good ride, I'll tell you. It's been a very engaging experience so far. There are still a lot of things that I'd like to do and I hope that I'd have time enough to do some of them.

Such As?

Travel a bit more, and a lot of things, little personal things that I want to do.

What's your weirdest encounter with a fan?

I don't know. I mean, I don't really think of them as fans, they're customers. So you know, really, the only difficulty of it is when there are a lot of people and the energy gets a little out of control, but normally, I'm happy enough to say hello to someone.

Did you ever get mobbed?

Yeah, sure. I mean, it becomes very intrusive in your private life when you're out with your kids and stuff and people begin to ask to take pictures and want you to sign a little piece of paper or something, but you do the best you can.

What about people who want you to read a script?

That certainly has happened, but usually, I explain that, 'I can't do that. I can't take their script, thank you very much.'

Two hundred million dollar thing for Calista to be in a magazine with you or not?

They're still getting back to me on that one.

What did she think about the comment you made about the whip?

I doubt that she reads online interviews.

Do you think that josh has the qualities of a younger harrison ford?

No, I think that he's a very different kind of beast. Ron is sure that we're from different planets, and I don't know what planet that Josh is from, but he's a very different guy. He grew up in a very different world than I did, but he's serious about his work. Maybe that's something that we have in common. He cares, and I think that he does very well and has already very well.

What drives you?

I like to work and I like to do a good job on whatever I'm working on, that's what drives me.

Do you still do carpentry?

Not very much anymore. I've just lost it. I was a finish carpenter, cabinet maker and I sort of lost the skills. That's something that you have to practice and keep up.

Does it bother you that your salary is public record?

It has been for twenty years. It's not a good deal.

Did you do any research for this, spend any time at L.A.P.D.?

I spent a little time because there was information that I needed. I wanted to know about a couple of things, especially the Internal Affairs investigation and how that all worked and I wanted to play cops five or six times, and I wanted to sort of, for myself, discover what was singular and distinctive about L.A.P.D. as opposed to departments in other places that I've been to.

What did you find?

That they have a real sense of themselves as a very professional police department. They're very concerned about their image. They have rules about whether or not you can open your collar and pull your tie down and you're supposed to keep a jacket on at all times, and that sort of thing. They're very professional. They look real sharp, and there are obvious differences between a New York street cop and an L.A.P.D. policemen and it's purposeful.

Were there a lot of cops that you talked to that wanted to be actors?

There was someone who wasn't just a wannabe, but did actually act from time to time. I met a woman who introduced herself as the singing detective.

Did you base the character on anyone that you met there?

No, not really.

This character has a latin last name, what country would you like his Family to be from?

I always thought of him as having a mother who was Peruvian Indian, that helped me a lot.

If you were a cop, would you be good cop or bad cop?

Oh, I'm always a good guy.