When movie stars are sitting for dozens of interviews in rapid succession, getting a genuinely fun interview out of them is hard. When those stars are the notoriously press-shy Harrison Ford and Ryan Gosling, now promoting Blade Runner 2049, getting a genuinely fun interview is theoretically impossible. And yet British talk show host Alison Hammond managed to do just that in spectacular fashion, making the two laugh so hard that the morning show segment they were filming become a series of slapstick outtakes instead of a collection of the usual soundbites.
Watch: Harrison Ford and Ryan Gosling lose their chill for a fantastically unhinged interview
The famously guarded stars forget to promote Blade Runner, laugh too hard to breathe.
Caroline Framke wrote about culture, which usually means television. Also seen @ The A.V. Club, The Atlantic, Complex, Flavorwire, NPR, the fridge to get more seltzer.
To help us understand exactly how this interview went so far off the rails that it ended with Gosling clutching a glass of whiskey while crying laughing, ITV has generously uploaded a clip that was shot before the interview had technically begun, as Hammond presented Ford and Gosling with a pair of drinking glasses like those from the original Blade Runner set.
“That’s so cool that you did that,” Gosling says. “Are you a fan of the original?”
“Never seen it,” Hammond shrugs.
From that moment on, Gosling and (especially) Ford are delighted putty in her hands. By the one-minute mark, Ford is grinning and giving Hammond shit for their introduction, and Gosling is emptying a minibar-sized whiskey into the Blade Runner prop glass.
But even when the three do manage to hold it together long enough to trade questions and answers, they’re still hilarious. When Hammond asks Ford, “When you got that call [that said], ‘Listen, we’re making another Blade Runner and we want you to be in it,’ what was your reaction?” Ford doesn’t hesitate before replying, “‘So what?’”
Hammond and Ford hit it off so well, in fact, that at one point Hammond blinks and goes, “Should we talk to Ryan?” as if she forgot he was even there. (In her defense, Gosling spends most of the interview with his head in his hands, shaking from laughter; at one point, he even tries to tap out by volunteering to help the camera crew instead.)
It’s no surprise that this interview has garnered more widespread attention than most. For one thing, it’s rare to see actors and interviewers have this much fun. For another, it’s incredible to see it happen with Gosling and Ford in particular, especially during a press blitz that has mostly revolved around Gosling revealing that, while filming Blade Runner 2049, Ford accidentally punched him on the set and shrugged it off with a conciliatory glass of whiskey (but not the bottle, never the bottle). Both actors have also always demonstrated more obvious wariness toward the press than most. Gosling is charming, but more so polite. Ford, meanwhile, has gained a reputation over decades for being one of Hollywood’s crankiest stars.
What these reputations forget, however, is that when they have the chance, Gosling and Ford can both be really funny, so kudos to Hammond for finding a way to let them show it. Who needs bland quotes about how thrilling it is to be a part of the Blade Runner family or whatever when you can get Harrison Ford to let loose and cackle like a gleeful sea witch?
