Well it appears that Harrison Ford’s self imposed hiatus following the travesty that was Hollywood Homicide (Look at me! I’m Harrison Ford and I’m made of wood! And no, I didn’t go see it. The trailer was scarring enough.) he’s back with a couple new projects coming down the pipe … Project one is a drama coming through Warner Brothers titled The Wrong Element. An appropriate enough title for a Ford starring-vehicle considering he has been precisely that wrong element in pretty much every film he’s appeared in over the past decade. The one that caught my eye, though, is Godspeed, a sci fi thriller set on an international space station being produced by James Cameron and written by Ryne Douglas Pearson. Pearson is also the man behind Knowing – widely touted as Richard “Donnie Darko” Kelly’s next directing project – and is doing the adaptation of the Pang Brothers’ stellar ghost story flick The Eye.
There was a time when Ford was money in the bank but that time ended oh, so very abruptly with Air Force One, since which time he has been absolutely wretched in everything he’s appeared in (What Lies Beneath being a possible exception) and looking like he’s just mailing in “performances” for the sake of a paycheck. I’m hoping that this has just been an extended dry spell for him and, if so, this looks to be the kind of project that could pull him out of the slump. First, he’s good in sci-fi. Second, it’s got an interesting writer attached. And third, if there’s one thing you can say about James Cameron it’s that he’s not about to let anybody slack off on the job for any reason. This is the man who once made Arnold Schwarzenegger piss himself rather than give him a bathroom break and set the shot up again. So we know there will be a bit of whip cracking and name calling going on if Ford is giving anything less than his best. There’s still no director attached but I’m willing to say that if Ford doesn’t pull his socks up on this one and turn in something at least passable it’s because he simply doesn’t have it in him any more …
