Harrison Ford is joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe in next year’s “Captain America: Brave New World,” and it sounds like it wasn’t too much of an acting challenge for the 82-year-old legend. Ford stars in the film as U.S. president Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross (taking over the role from the late William Hurt), who happens to transform into the Red Hulk. Ford recently told Empire it was all “just another day at the office.”
“I tried to understand the ambition of the filmmakers, and to be useful to them,” Ford said. “I just didn’t sit home at night and say, ‘Oh, what do I want to do when I turn into the Hulk?’ It didn’t seem to me to be a terribly difficult acting proposition.”
“Captain America: Brave New World” director Julius Onah described Ford’s work in the movie as “mind-blowing,” even if the actor didn’t find it too challenging. He added: “All of us on set were like, ‘Holy fucking shit, he nailed it.’ It’s really great to get back to a Hulk that is just fucking breaking shit, and a rage monster.”
Speaking to Variety‘s Angelique Jackson on the Marvel press line at Comic-Con earlier this year, Ford wisecracked about the motion capture process required to turn him into the Red Hulk by saying: “What did it take? It took not caring. It took being an idiot for money, which I’ve done before.”
“I don’t mean to disparage it,” Ford added on a more serious note. “I’m just saying you have to do certain things that normally your mother would not want you to do — or your acting coach, if you had one. But it’s fun, and I enjoyed it. I had a great time, and I’m delighted at the response that we got with the trailer.”
Marvel let it slip that Ford’s character would be transforming into the Red Hulk in various trailers for the upcoming “Captain America: Brave New World,” but further plot twists are remaining under wraps. Anthony Mackie headlines the Marvel tentpole as Sam Wilson, who officially picked up the Captain America shield during the Marvel series “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.”
“Captain America: Brave New World” hits theaters next year on Feb. 14.
