Yellowstone spin-off 1923 reunited Helen Mirren and Harrison Ford: Hollywood stars who'd previously portrayed a married couple in the 1986 film The Mosquito Coast. For a People cover story, Mirren opened up about how little Ford changed over the last 37 years and why she deeply admires him.
"In his essence, Harrison Ford is the same person he was when I first met him," Mirren said. "Impatient with the annoying sides of the great fame that had settled upon him, adult sycophancy, loss of privacy, etc., and yet immeasurably patient and kind to starstruck kids so excited to see their hero. His privacy was a profoundly protected place. His work was always beautifully designed and constructed, like the carpentry he was so well known for, and I was deeply impressed with his understanding and use of the techniques of film acting. He taught me a lot through my observations. He was professional, guarded and mysterious, and I was both fascinated and intimidated.
"Then 30 years of amazing life happened to both of us, and now we are reconnected, and I find a person not guarded, unafraid of feelings and expressing them; generous, funny, as professional as ever and still impatient with stardom," she continued.
Indeed, she finds him to be genuinely good person despite the pressures of global fame.
"I think the element that makes him the legend that he is and will be is that sense of being the kind of guy you would call when your car got stuck in a ditch and also completely understand why you were so upset about your cat dying and shed some tears with you," she explained. "He is a real god-given movie star, but also a chap, a geezer, a guy, a bloke and a mensch. And along with millions of others, I love him."
Ford feels similarly about his co-star.
"Helen is incredible," Ford said. "What a treat it is to work with her again."
