Harrison Ford showed his softer side while reflecting on his epic turn as Indiana Jones.
The 80-year-old actor’s last episode as the rope-slinging action hero will be “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny,” out June 30 — and got candid in a recent interview about that 40-plus years-long journey.
In a rare moment of vulnerability, Ford got teary-eyed while chatting with BBC Radio 1 about why the character is so important to fans.
“I think the thing that I most admire about them is the depth and subtlety of the emotion, and the importance of emotion in these films,” he told host Ali Plumb.
The “Star Wars” alum continued, “As this last one concerns age and frailty and changing nature of life, it was especially compelling to me because I am of that age and I wanted it to feel real for the audience.”
“I wanted them to see the complexity of that experience with someone they’ve spent 40 years with,” he added.
Plumb then told an emotional Ford, “Can I just say on behalf of all the fans, thank you. It’s been such an adventure. We love you so much. I don’t want to make you blush or anything, but you mean the world to us and thank you.”
Ford seemed taken aback by the kind words and shared his own message to fans. “And I must say to you thank you sincerely,” he said. “It means the world to me.”
The father of five first graced the silver screen as Indiana Jones in 1981’s “Raiders of the Lost Ark.” He later starred in three separate sequels that were released between 1984 and 2008.
“Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” is Ford and his dusty brown fedora’s final movie together. He announced to Total Film this past April that he would not be playing the role in any future installments.
“This is the final film in the series, and this is the last time I’ll play the character. I anticipate that it will be the last time that he appears in a film,” the screen legend stated.
The fifth sequel is the only one in the franchise that is not directed by Steven Spielberg and isn’t written by George Lucas. However, both signed on as executive producers.
Because the new movie takes place in the mid 1940s — and due to Ford’s normal progression of age — his character had to be de-aged for the flick.
Ford even defended the anti-aging technology at a Cannes press conference last month.
“I know that that is my face,” the licensed air pilot declared. “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],” he continued.