CANNES, France (AP) – As the Cannes Film Festival audience cheered enthusiastically, a visibly moved Harrison Ford took to the stage trying to control his emotions.
Ford was shaken by the warmth of the crowd and a clip that had just played.
“They say when you’re about to die, you see your life flash before your eyes,” he said. “And I just saw my life flash before my eyes — a big part of my life, but not all of my life.”
While last year’s Cannes was defined in part by the tribute to Top Gun Maverick star Tom Cruise, this year belonged to Ford. This time it was far more poignant. Ford, 80, is retiring as Indiana Jones and saying goodbye to the legendary swashbuckling archaeologist more than 40 years after his first debut, with fedora, whip and a slight phobia of snakes.
It was a moving farewell tour – especially for Ford, who often had tears in his eyes along the way. Speaking to reporters on Friday, Ford was asked: Why give up Indy now?
“Isn’t it obvious?” he replied with a typically sheepish grin. “I need to sit down and rest a bit. i love to work And I love this character. And I love what it has brought to my life. That’s all I can say.”
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, the fifth Indiana Jones film, premiered Thursday night in Cannes and provides a poignant coda for the franchise that began with 1981’s Raiders of the Lost Ark. While this film and the next three were all directed by Steven Spielberg from a story by George Lucas, Ford’s final chapter was directed and co-written by Ford vs. Ferrari filmmaker James Mangold.
The gala, one of the most coveted tickets at Cannes that year, also included an honorary Palme d’Or for Ford. The next day, Ford was still struggling to articulate the experience as he unveiled his final role as Indiana Jones.
“It was indescribable. I can’t even tell you,” Ford said. “It’s just extraordinary to see some kind of relic of your life go by.”
After the disappointment of 2008’s little-loved Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull, the possibilities for a fifth film lingered for years and went through many iterations. Ford said he wanted to see a different, less youthful version of Jones. Set in the 1960s, “Dial of Destiny” sees Indiana as a retired professor whose long-ago exploits don’t seem so special in the age of space exploration.
“I wanted to see how heavy life weighs on him. I wanted to see that he needed reinvention and support. And I wanted him to have a relationship that wasn’t a flirtatious movie relationship,” said Ford, who stars alongside Phoebe Waller-Bridge. “I wanted an equal relationship.”
Ford is obviously very happy with the film. He gave particular praise to his comrades and Mangold, who he said had done more than “follow in the footsteps Steven left for us.”
“Everyone got together to support me in my old age,” said Ford with a wry grin.
The film begins with a lengthy sequence set in the final days of World War II. In these scenes, Ford was aged to appear much younger. Lucasfilm boss Kathleen Kennedy was quick to declare that the company would no longer use AI-made Fords. Ford described the use of an aged version of him as “skillful and diligent” – and did not make him jealous.
“I’m not looking back and saying I wish I was that guy. I’m really happy with my age,” Ford said. Then he added, with a swear word, that it could be worse. “I could be dead.”
Ford is not retiring from acting. He has two ongoing television shows (“Shrinking,” “1923”) and said he’s staying true to his work.
“I’ve been fortunate to work with incredibly talented people and to be able to work my way into this band of geniuses without getting fired for it,” said Ford. “And I obviously still have a chance to work, and I want to. I need that in my life, this challenge.”
Ford, like Indiana, doesn’t leave without a hat. He kept one, Ford said, but valued the filmmaking experience more. “The stuff is great, but it’s not about the stuff.”
And Ford can still turn heads. A reporter said the 80-year-old is “still hot” and asked Ford – who briefly appears shirtless in the film – how he keeps fit. After a few giggles and a mention of his passion for cycling, Ford responded with mock pomposity.
“I am blessed with this body,” he replied. “Thanks for noticing.”
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Follow AP film writer Jake Coyle on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/jakecoyleAP
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For more information on this year’s Cannes Film Festival, visit: https://apnews.com/hub/cannes-film-festival