In Cannes, Harrison Ford bids adieu to Indiana Jones
CTV
As the Cannes Film Festival crowd stood in rapturous applause, a visibly moved Harrison Ford stood on the stage, trying to keep his emotions in check.
As the Cannes Film Festival crowd stood in rapturous applause, a visibly moved Harrison Ford stood on the stage, trying to keep his emotions in check.
The warmth of the audience and a clip reel that had just played had left Ford shaken.
"They say that 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 great part of my life, but not all of my life."
If last year's Cannes was partially defined by its tribute to "Top Gun Maverick" star Tom Cruise, this year's has belonged to Ford. This time, it's been far more poignant. Ford, 80, is retiring Indiana Jones, saying goodbye to the iconic swashbuckling archeologist more than 40 years after he first debuted, with fedora, whip and a modest snake phobia.
It's been a moving farewell tour -- most of all for Ford, who has teared up frequently along the way. Speaking to reporters Friday, Ford was asked: Why give up Indy now?
"Is it not evident?" he replied with a characteristically sheepish grin. "I need to sit down and rest a little bit. I love to work. And I love this character. And I love what it brought into 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, bringing an affecting coda to the franchise begun with 1981's "Raiders of the Lost Ark." While that film and the next three were all directed by Steven Spielberg from a story by George Lucas, Ford's final chapter is directed and co-written by James Mangold, the "Ford vs. Ferrari" filmmaker.
