Harrison Ford knows his Shrinking character’s Parkinson’s diagnosis is no joking matter.
When asked how seriously he takes portraying the character Dr. Paul Rhodes’ Parkinson’s journey at PaleyLive’s An Evening with Shrinking on Dec. 12, the 82-year-old told PEOPLE, “Can I say deadly f—ing seriously?”
Ford noted that he feels the weight of taking viewers along on the journey of Paul’s diagnosis, which was first revealed at the end of the Apple TV+ series’ first season.
“There’s no intention to make it into a joke,” he explained. “But there are people that absorb these kinds of experiences with grace and courage and a little bit of wisdom. And that is not to say that some people do not.”
“It’s just to say that this is a person particularly equipped to communicate what it is that it’s like, and that is something that I feel that is worth sharing with our audience,” he added.
The show’s co-creator and writer Brett Goldstein opened up about inspiration for the character during an appearance on Late Night with Seth Meyers last month, admitting that he did not initially plan to reveal that Ford’s character was based on his father.
“So my dad has Parkinson’s, and it wasn’t something we weren’t going to talk about publicly when we were talking about the show,” he explained. “And then [writer] Bill Lawrence let it slip by accident, and I called my dad, and I was like, ‘Listen, Dad, Bill said about you having Parkinson’s. I hope that’s not a problem.’”
He continued: “And my dad said, ‘Are you telling everyone that I’m Harrison Ford?’ And I said, ‘Yeah,’ and he went, ‘F—ing cool. Go for it. Please, go for it.’”
In October, Ford opened up in an interview with Vanity Fair about his work in the hit comedy series and why he has kept acting at 82 years old.
“Oh man, I get out of it essential human contact,” Ford said when asked what he gets out of continuing to act. “I get to imagine with people that have great skill and experience…. It’s fun to work with these people.”
“I always enjoyed humor. I loved jokes. I loved the construction of jokes,” he added. “My father was a joke teller. The wordsmithing and the ideas that lay behind a joke have always interested me. When I was thinking about becoming an actor, I was ambitious for both kinds of work — serious drama and comedy. I found myself doing both and not really distinguishing much between them.”
“I think I think with the same actor’s head about a joke as I do about a serious or emotional scene,” he concluded.
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Shrinking season 2 can be streamed on AppleTV+.
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