Not many an actor can walk among giants and hold his own. But Jared Harris was born to it, literally. The son of legendary Irish actor Richard Harris, Jared Harris is part of an extended family of actors, directors and assorted theatrical types. So one assumes he is used to the company of big talent (and big egos).
And yet it must be daunting. In the past five years alone, Harris has worked alongside Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (no one could forget his lively performance as the perennially drunk sea captain Mike), as well as chronic scene poacher Eddie Izzard in The Riches and the impossibly handsome, overtailored crew of Mad Men, plus, to top it off, an entire cast of megastars in Ocean's Twelve. Imagine the lunch-table conversations.
Harris's latest film, the inspirational medical drama Extraordinary Measures (think Lorenzo's Oil meets The Insider), squeezes the actor between two beloved action stars: Brendan Fraser and Harrison Ford. Fraser plays the distressed father of two very sick children and Ford plays the misanthropic scientist who may know how to cure them. Naturally, there's a lot of big acting going on.
Playing the snarling (but often correct) bureaucrat Dr. Webber, Harris adds a healthy dose of hard reality to the film's sometimes teary proceedings, and is an excellent foil for Fraser's innate bounciness. Perhaps that's his ultimate role in movies, to keep the stars on their toes?
This is a true story about a rare genetic disease and the controversial search for a cure. Did you need to understand the science in order to act the conflicts with confidence?
I think it helps if you seem like you know what you're talking about.
Which is distinct from actually knowing what you are talking about.
Exactly. The thing is, the more arcane the science - and you could spend 40 years studying it, trying to get your head around it - well, you can't get too worried about it, because you'll just go down a rabbit hole and never come back. I think you need to understand, or believe that you understand, what you're talking about within the context of the scene.
How much information were you given?
A basic brief about the various treatments, the devising of the various treatments, how they were different from the one that Harrison [Ford, playing Dr. Stonehill]devised. We had to understand what was revolutionary about his approach, and how it was difficult to figure out how to make it work, because there's so much regulation involved and oversight involved in bringing drugs to market, you have to present all of your casework to the FDA [the U.S. Food and Drug Administration]
I was intrigued by how your character is presented as the bad guy, but he's the only one actually following the rules of science.
Oh, I'm definitely the bad guy! I had that discussion a couple of times, because everything I said was true. But I think that's what makes it interesting, why that character [Brendan Fraser's John Crowley]is so interesting, because everybody wants to believe that they'd do the same thing he does, you know? They want to believe they'd do anything that they could to save their children. Even if it meant bending the rules and putting everybody and anybody else at risk. That's what makes it a fascinating story: He [Crowley]sails pretty close to the wind, against a decade's worth or research. In that sense, that character is part of the great literary tradition of heroic sacrifice.
Harrison Ford is the executive producer of Extraordinary Measures. Is it a challenge to work with an actor who is also signing the cheques?
Ah, I never thought of that, to tell you the truth. I mean, I was just thrilled to be in a movie with Harrison Ford, with Han Solo, with Indiana Jones, I was so excited.
Well, let's talk about that. Mr. Ford has a reputation for being a grump on set, and Mr. Fraser has the opposite reputation. True or false?
Oh, no, no. I got on fantastically with them both, I had a lovely time. Dinner and drinks a couple of times with Brendan, and with Harrison, well, I didn't have as many scenes with him, but by the time I did my scene with him he was friendly and chatty. But I'll tell you how you can tell the truth about Harrison, because that reputation's out there in the press - the crew loves him. He was familiar and chatty with the crew. And Brendan's very funny to be around. He has a comic gift that is quite extraordinary.
No names, but you have been in many movies with many world stars. Have you ever finished a film and thought, "Never, never again with that actor"?
Ah! Ha! Ha! You know, I'm not in a position to be able to do that. I have to work and get hired! You know, most of the big stars that you're probably thinking of, the reason they are big stars is because a) they're very good and b) they work bloody hard. The pissiest people I've come across weren't stars at all. Some of them weren't even actors. All of the big stars that I can think of, that you can think of, they just want to do the work, do the job and get home like anybody else.