He also listened to tapes of Rickey to capture his gruff voice. “I often find that when I’m walking down the street and talking to someone, people will recognize my voice as much as my face,” says Ford. “So I felt strongly I had to do a voice characterization for the part.”
“42,” which was released in April, kicked off a busy year for the actor, who also appeared in “Paranoia,” “Ender’s Game” and can currently be seen as a seasoned newsman in “Anchorman 2.” All roles could be qualified as character parts, which is largely why he was drawn to them. “I enjoy character parts because I don’t feel such a burden to wear the film on my face—I don’t need to take the blame if the movie doesn’t do well.”
Ford is considered one of the most bankable stars in film history, but he dismisses such talk with a wave of the hand. “They just make that kind of shit up. We have no idea if it’s even true. And it doesn’t matter,” he says. “And at the end of the day, you can’t really give a shit.”