Joel Edgerton on Directing Harrison Ford in New Glenmorangie Whisky Ad Campaign, Getting Him to Wear a Kilt and Embrace Being an ‘Older Dude’: ‘Let’s Not Try and Hide It’ (EXCLUSIVE)
Joel Edgerton has directed two feature films, “The Gift” and “Boy Erased,” but he is now making his advertising directorial debut with Glenmorangie Scotch Whisky’s new ad campaign starring Harrison Ford.
The legendary actor plays himself as he travels to Andross Castle in Scotland to film the campaign. After insisting on not doing any sort of action movie-like stunts, Ford is seen meditating, riding a bike and sipping whisky in front of a cozy fire. At one point, he even slips into a kilt.
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The campaign, titled “Once Upon a Time in Scotland” and consisting of several video spots, plays into Ford’s reputation of being a bit of a curmudgeon. “I’d watched a lot of his interviews, and I realized that true or false, there’s a persona of Harrison’s that is quite gruff and, you know, grumpy, but he’s a bit like an avocado,” Edgerton tells me. “He’s rock solid on the outside but he’s very soft in the middle. He has an emotional softness and a sensitivity and a humanity that he then covers with this sort of prickly outside.”
This Q&A with Edgerton has been edited for length and clarity.
What’s your favorite Harrison Ford movie?
That’s very hard. If you ask 12-year-old Joel, it would be “Indiana Jones.” But as I grew up, I think “The Fugitive” is one of the most excellent thrillers made of all time. He does the empathetic every man. Weirdly, my other obsession in the ’80s were Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger. But you never thought those guys wouldn’t get through the mess. You always assume there’s no way they’re going to lose but I love that Harrison made us feel like he didn’t know the answer. He had to work it out, and I think that’s why we all connected with him. I will say Harrison definitely is one of my heroes. There is a photo that exists somewhere of me with a brown, sort of fedora on my head and a brown sort of plastic leather jacket that I found somewhere. And I rubbed dirt on my face to look like stubble. I am aware that you got to be careful about meeting your heroes. I did wonder, “Is Harrison best left as a hero in my mind?” There’s a certain actor in Hollywood who said, “Never meet your heroes unless they’re Harrison Ford” and he was fucking right, man. He was such a legend in person as much as he lives as a legend in my mind.
What was it like meeting him for the first time?
We had lunch. I was with this gang when he got there. While he was shaking my hand, he said, “I heard they want me to ride a horse and fly a plane, and I’m not doing any of that.” I felt good because that’s exactly what the first spot was going to be about — him going, “I don’t want to do what they want me to do.” We hit it off and by the end of the meeting, he was like, “I’ll do whatever you want me to do.”
What was it like telling Harrison Ford to do another take on something?
He was awesome. We shot a lot in three days. We shot a lot of material, like 20 to 30 minutes of him doing things. But I was terrified because most campaigns you shoot are a 60-second spot in two days. We were doing four separate stories each day. I thought I was going to have a heart attack before I even got there. But he was often ready before the camera was ready. He would change in a cupboard if he needed to.
How many kilts did he try on before you found the right one?
We had a beautiful kilt made. When I was younger, I never thought I’d ever have lunch with Harrison so I certainly could never have imagined that one day I’d be working with Harrison Ford and that these words were going to come out of my mouth, “Harrison, can I get you to wear a kilt?”
He seems to have bed head throughout the campaign. Was that on purpose?
One of the great things for me is I didn’t come from a world of advertising and I’ve never worked in that world before, I only know about being the receiver of so many ads throughout my entire life. Campaigns are usually about beautification and wish fulfillment, and we often then get actors or celebrities, and we try and age them down or we make them more beautiful. There’s an aspect to this campaign that is super subtle, which I think is about embracing who you are and acknowledging your fears, whether you’re scared you’re not cool enough or you’re an older person now and you just want to avoid certain things. I was like, “Harrison is an older dude. Let’s not try and hide it.” And by the way, we didn’t have enough time to spend on all that crap. But, yeah, be who you are. We should love everybody for who they are, whatever their age, shape, whether their hair is tussled or not.
How much whisky was being consumed while you were shooting?
It is important to know your product. We had a couple of amazing tastings with Dr. Bill Lumsden, who creates the whisky. We had a tasting of the full gamut, but we didn’t let it get too much in the way of shooting. It is important to relax at the end of the day, and what a great way to do it. They gifted Harrison, myself and all the crew and team special bottles of whisky. I think Harrison got one of the oldest bottles ever — from the year I was born.
I have to ask you about voicing Policeman on “Bluey.” How did that come about?
“Bluey” has been in my life since my niece became obsessed with it, and then, because I’m an actor and I’m Australian, and those guys operate out here, they asked me to do a voice. Now my kids are “Bluey”-obsessed so it gives me a lot of credibility. But also they hear your voice but they can’t quite put it together. I walk around bragging it’s me, but they’re like, “No, it’s not.”
Watch the 60-second Glenmorangie spot below.
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