Emmy spotlight: Harrison Ford rules the range on ‘1923’

Jacob Sarkisian
·5 min read
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Harrison Ford is gearing up for a stellar year with not one but two major TV shows as well as the latest installment of his iconic “Indiana Jones” franchise. On the TV front, Ford features in the Apple TV+ comedy “Shrinking” and does what he does best in the Paramount+ drama series “1923:” gruff masculinity with a gun and a hat. But his role is so much more than that.

“1923” is the third show in Taylor Sheridan‘s Western trilogy. It serves as a prequel to the Kevin Costner‘s “Yellowstone” and as a sequel to Sam Elliott‘s “1883.” The story follows the Dutton family in the titular year, 1923, and focuses on their hardships during the Prohibition era. Ford stars as the patriarch of the Dutton family, Jacob Dutton. Jacob is the elder brother of James, who is played by Tim McGraw in “1883.” Ford acts as one part of a star-studded two-hander with Helen Mirren, who plays his wife Cara. In his first-ever major TV role, Ford excels. He uses his decades’ worth of acting experience to conjure up a gritty, tough leading man who means business. He growls every line and uses his star power to deliver an almighty presence on screen. His scenes with Mirren are what make the show sing, as critics have noted.

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Joshua Alston (Variety) wrote: “Mirren and Ford – both 80-ish, neither a stranger to action badassery – make for such a potent pairing, their chemistry alone is enough to make ‘1923’ feel like an elevated version of Sheridan’s neo-Western fare.

Daniel Fienberg (The Hollywood Reporter) explained: “Ford, easing comfortably into the character actor phase of his career that he’d probably have preferred began back in the ’80s, growls with portentous weight and gets somber value out of every inch of his craggy face.”

Adrian Horton (The Guardian) observed: The bulk of Ford’s screen time goes to this convincing-enough embodiment of moral authority in the not-as-wild west; his sandpaper gravitas is already more compelling than Costner’s… there are more reasons than not, especially if you root for Ford and Mirren as elder statesmen of the screen, to watch more.”

Currently, however, Ford doesn’t quite make our lineup of predicted nominees for Best Drama Actor: Jeff Bridges (“The Old Man”), Brian Cox (“Succession”), Pedro Pascal (“The Last of Us”), Kieran Culkin (“Succession”), Bob Odenkirk (“Better Call Saul”), and Jeremy Strong (“Succession”). But fear not, Ford fans, not all hope is lost as there are several reasons why this screen icon could still crack this list.

Firstly, Ford has never been nominated for an Emmy before. He was nominated for the Best Actor Oscar in 1986 for “Witness” (losing to William Hurt for “Kiss of the Spider Woman”) but has never felt the golden glow of Emmy love. This isn’t that shocking — “1923” is his first-ever major TV show. But, still, a large portion of Emmy voters are made up of actors who likely have all looked up to Han Solo/Indiana Jones since they were kids watching him in the 1970s and 1980s. They will want to reward this icon with a first-ever Emmy nomination at the first chance they get — and this is that chance.

Plus, Emmy voters love nominating veteran performers of Ford’s caliber. Cox earned two Best Drama Actor bids — in 2020 (losing to “Succession” co-star Strong) and 2022 (losing to Lee Jung-jae for “Squid Game”). Meanwhile, “Westworld” stars Ed Harris and Anthony Hopkins were both nominated for Best Drama Actor — Harris in 2018 (losing to Matthew Rhys for “The Americans”) and Hopkins in 2017 (losing to Sterling K. Brown for “This Is Us”) Ford would be yet another veteran actor Emmy nominee. But while Ford is a veteran, his star power hasn’t waned. He is still very much an A-list actor — and Emmy voters love that. Plenty of A-list actors have been nominated in the Best Drama Actor category, including Jonathan Majors in 2021 (“Lovecraft Country”), Kit Harington in 2019 (for “Game of Thrones”), the aforementioned Hopkins in 2017, and Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson in 2014 (both “True Detective”). Ford fits right into that pattern.

Ford also stars in the comedy series “Shrinking.” In fact, we predict that he will be nominated for Best Comedy Supporting Actor alongside Nick Mohammed (“Ted Lasso”), Ebon Moss-Bachrach (“The Bear”), Tony Shalhoub (“The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”), Anthony Carrigan (“Barry”), Henry Winkler (“Barry”), Brett Goldstein (“Ted Lasso”), and Tyler James Williams (“Abbott Elementary”). His contrasting performance in both these shows highlights his versatility, and Emmy voters appreciate that. In 2020, the aforementioned Brown was nominated for Best Drama Actor for “This Is Us” (losing to Strong for “Succession”) while he was also nominated for Best Comedy Supporting Actor for “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” (losing to Dan Levy for “Schitt’s Creek”). Ford could theoretically earn the same duo of nominations this year.

What also helps is the fact that “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny,” the long-awaited fifth installment of the beloved Indy franchise, is coming out in only a few weeks — just in time for Emmy voting. This means that voters will have Ford firmly in their minds thanks to that iconic movie as well as both of his contrasting TV shows. It just makes it all the more likely that they will want to recognize his work this year and put his name down on this ballot, giving our beloved Indy his first-ever Emmy bid. Here’s hoping.

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