Working On Shrinking Showed Jason Segel That Harrison Ford Is A 'Comedy Savant'
Everyone knows Harrison Ford is a megastar, and by now everyone also knows he's a pretty grumpy guy. He famously doesn't care about his role in "Star Wars," he's not above complaining about one of his undisputed classics, "Blade Runner," and there was that time he told David Blaine to "get the f*** out of [his] house" (jokingly... probably). Esquire even charted a "grumpy timeline" of the esteemed star's descent into crabbiness. None of which seems to have hurt Ford's appeal as he continues to show up in all manner of new projects.
And even his character in the latest Apple TV+ streaming effort, "Shrinking," plays on his famously crotchety demeanor. In the darkly comedic series, Ford's Dr. Paul Rhodes is generally unimpressed with Jason Segel's therapist Jimmy Laird, who embraces radical honesty with his clients while struggling with the grief of losing his wife. All of which makes for some delightful father-son style chemistry between the two leads.
Segel, who shares a writing and co-creating credit with Brett Goldstein and Bill Lawrence of "Ted Lasso" fame, is already garnering praise for his portrayal of Laird. Meanwhile, Ford's performance, while drenched in the kind of grumpiness for which the star has become known, suggests he's actually enjoying himself. So much so, it's prompted Richard Roeper to comment that, "one gets the feeling Ford is having one hell of a great time on this show." And if you ask the co-creators of "Shrinking," a lot of that has to do with the Hollywood vet getting to be funny for once.
Excited to be funny
In a promo featurette for "Shrinking," Segel said that when Ford signed on, he, "thought it was a practical joke, it seemed unreal." That was likely many people's reaction, as Ford isn't necessarily who you'd expect to appear alongside the star of "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" or "I Love You, Man." But as his recent performance in HBO's "Winning Time" proves, Segel is perfectly capable of delivering the drama. And as it turns out, the curmudgeonly Ford is perfectly capable of delivering the laughs.
Talking to Moviefone, Segel said he and his co-creators, "underestimated how funny Harrison Ford was" and that while they planned to write him as "the gruff straight man" he actually proved pretty quickly how funny he could be:
"Harrison Ford is funny! He's like a comedy savant [...] It just goes to show you how we all are limited by our own imaginations, but this guy knew what he was capable of doing and wanted to show it off."
That sentiment was echoed by Goldstein, who told The Hollywood Reporter that Ford was "f****** excited to be funny" with Lawrence adding:
"Initially, your thought is, 'OK, you're gonna write Harrison Ford gruff and everyone will do comedy around him, and he will respond, gruffly, to people being funny.' A couple of episodes in, you're like, 'Oh, he's doing moves.' Like, Harrison Ford's here to make comedy, not to react to comedy."
Ford and Segel's chemistry
As "Shrinking" progresses, its main hook — a therapist being radically honest with his patients — seems increasingly to take a back seat as the cast are allowed to, as /Film's Josh Spiegel put it, "bounce off each other in unexpected pairings and groupings, allowing the humor to naturally flourish." Which basically seems to be how the show naturally developed behind the scenes, with the writers realizing how best to use Ford once they saw his comedic chops on full display.
And while in the history of Harrison Ford projects "Shrinking" might seem like a bit of an anomaly, it's clearly where Ford wants to be at this stage in his career. He's pretty much perfectly cast in a role that allows him to play off his reputation as a grouch while providing ample room to subvert that perception by "doing moves" and being funny. A lot of that seems to stem from his and Segel's real-life relationship, which Ford highlighted in the Apple promo, saying: "The relationship comes from the writers but there also is a personal relationship that fuels me."
He and Segel certainly have a comfortable rapport, which likely went a long way to helping the old boy relax and turn on the humor. And as Segel said in his THR interview, "I think all of us have parts of ourselves that we think are unseen and we'd like to have known." In Ford's case, it's reassuring to know the once effortlessly roguish star still has some of that easy charm beneath the harsher layers that have built up over the years, and even nicer to know he wants us to see it.