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Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
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From WHYY in Philadelphia, this is Fresh Air Weekend. I'm Sam Brigger. Today, Harrison Ford. The star of Star Wars and Indiana Jones is now in his 80s and starring in the series Shrinking as a therapist who has Parkinson's. So far, the show's writers haven't shared with him the progression of his character's disease.
So like a true Parkinson's patient, I don't really know what's coming.
Also, we'll hear from British novelist Francis Spufford. His new novel follows a young woman in World War II London, trying to survive the Blitz, navigate romance, and fight time-travelling fascists.
I knew that I wanted to write a fantasy which very deliberately had as its protagonist somebody who was really strongly in favour of nylons, lipsticks, and invitations.
And David Bianculli reviews the new film Peaky Blinders, which is a follow-up to the hit British TV show of the same name. that's coming up on Fresh Air Weekend
If you're a super fan of Fresh Air with Terry Gross, we have exciting news. WHYY has launched a Fresh Air Society, a leadership group dedicated to ensuring Fresh Air's legacy. For over 50 years, this program has brought you fascinating interviews with favorite authors, artists, actors, and more. As a member of the Fresh Air Society, you'll receive special benefits and recognition.
Learn more at whyy.org slash Fresh Air Society.
This is Fresh Air Weekend.
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Chapter 2: What role does Harrison Ford play in the series 'Shrinking'?
I'm Sam Brigger. Terry has today's first interview.
Is there anyone who doesn't know who Harrison Ford is? Probably not. Not after starring in the original and the sequels of Star Wars, the Indiana Jones movies, and Blade Runner. He's in his 80s, but in the last three years, you might have seen him in the final Indiana Jones film, The Dial of Destiny, the prequel to Yellowstone called 1923, and his current series, Shrinking.
Three seasons of Shrinking are streaming on Apple TV, and it's been renewed for a fourth. He plays a therapist, Paul, who heads a practice that includes two other therapists, Jimmy, played by Jason Segel, and Gabby, played by Jessica Williams. Paul is at an age where most people have retired, but he doesn't want to. At the same time, he thinks maybe he needs to. He has Parkinson's disease.
At first, the symptoms were relatively minor, but they've progressed. His hands shake so much it's difficult to put the toothpaste onto the toothbrush. Even more problematic because it affects his work, his shaky hands are making it difficult to take notes when he's talking with patients.
Michael J. Fox is in a couple of episodes playing a man who has a more advanced case of Parkinson's and is very depressed. They first meet at a doctor's office where they're both patients. Paul is a gifted therapist, but it's hard for him to express emotion, and he has a dark and cynical sense of humor.
In this scene from the current season, season three, Paul has returned to work after taking some time off because a UTI was causing hallucinations. So this scene is from his first day back at work. He's telling Jimmy he thinks it might be time to retire. In the past, Paul had asked Jimmy to tell him when he thought it was time.
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Chapter 3: How does Harrison Ford relate to his character's experience with Parkinson's disease?
Now Jason Segel's character Jimmy speaks first. Hey, how was your first day back?
Really great. I think it's time for me to stop being a therapist.
Chapter 4: What themes are explored in Francis Spufford's new novel 'Nonesuch'?
Do you, Paul? I'm not going to fall for that one twice. No, I'm serious. It took going away and coming back to see it, but it's time, Jimmy.
I'm supposed to tell you that it's time. Well, you can do that if you want. It's time for you to retire, Paul. Okay. Not the way I saw this going in my head.
Chapter 5: What challenges does the protagonist face during WWII in 'Nonesuch'?
I'm going to miss you. You mean so, so much to me. I've always wanted to tell you this one thing, and I'm going to say it now.
Oh, Jesus, Jimmy, please. I'm not leaving now. I've got patients to notify. I've got referrals to make. It'll take months to wind down this practice. You only get to say goodbye once, and it's not today. Come on, I want pizza on the way home. Let's go. Go!
Harrison Ford, welcome to Fresh Air. It's such an honor to speak with you. Thank you for being here.
Oh, how kind of you. Thank you for having me.
Some people are surprised that you're continuing to act in your 80s. And Paul says, after his Parkinson's has gotten worse, and he's thinking of retiring, he says, I love my job more than anything, and I don't know who I am without it. Do you relate to that, or do you know who you are without your work?
Yeah, I guess I do. But without my work, I really wouldn't know what to do with myself, really.
With your time?
Well, I suppose I could fill my time but I don't know what else I might do that would give me the kind of satisfaction and the kind of challenge that the work I'm doing does give me. I really do love the work.
I don't blame you. It seems like it would be so fulfilling.
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Chapter 6: How does Harrison Ford reflect on his career and acting at an older age?
But they're going to kill her.
Better her than me.
She's rich.
Rich. Rich. Powerful. Listen, if you were the rescuer, the reward would be... One. Well, more wealth than you can imagine. I don't know. I can imagine quite a bit. You'll get it.
All right. So what's your reaction to hearing that?
It seems like a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.
Right. Did the script make sense to you without being able to visualize Chewbacca or R2-D2 or C-3PO or the special effects? You just got what's called the sides, like your part. And you didn't have a larger context, so it was probably hard to actually have an idea of what the film was like. But when you saw the film for the first time with the special effects and with the androids,
And with the, you know, like stirring music behind it. What did you think?
I was blown away. I mean, I was really shocked by the power of the film when I saw it. You know, we shot in England, and our English crew were not used to something like Star Wars. And so they were pretty sure that it was going to be a disaster. And we weren't far from that opinion ourselves, the actors. But it, you know, it did well. Yeah, it did okay. Yeah.
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Chapter 7: What insights does Harrison Ford provide about the writing process for his character?
Thank you for having me.
So I'm clearly not British, but I understand to some degree the foundational importance of the Blitz on modern British identity. But can you illuminate just how important that history is, especially for Londoners?
It's the epic moment in the history of London as a city. It comes in a heavily mythicised form with politicians invoking something called the blitz spirit over the decades since, which is a kind of rather misleading image of total social consensus and kind of spontaneous mass virtue, which of course is very flattering if you're British. It's nice to think that
Amidst the complications and bits of shame and horror in our history, especially the imperial side of it, there should be one moment where we did the right thing.
You've professed your love for the C.S. Lewis Narnia books. And in those books, the children discover the land of Narnia because they're sent out of London in the country for safety during the war. Iris, your hero, will discover Nonsuch, this fantasy land, because of the war too. Did you think of your book Nonsuch as in conversation with the Narnia books?
Exactly that. I was wanting to have a conversation with Lewis and with the other members of the Inklings, his writing circle, who through the period of the war were writing these cosmic thrillers
motivated by, I think, a very similar sense that there was something unearthly about the ruined city, a way in which it seemed quite natural for people to be pushed to the familiar edges of their experience and then beyond it into something unearthly or magical. But also I had a specific... Loving argument I wanted to have with C.S. Lewis because I am a devotee of the Narnia books.
I have been since I was a child. But because I love him, I'm allowed to be annoyed with him as well. And I wanted to pick up specifically the notoriously unfair bit at the end of the last Narnia book in which the character Susan is not allowed to join in with the happy ending because, as it says, she's interested in nothing nowadays but nylons, lipsticks and invitations. Yeah.
And ever since, people have been trying to find a kind of spiritual meaning for what Lewis had done there. And maybe there is one. But there's also, I think, very clearly a kind of bachelor incomprehension or even distaste for the lives of young women. So I knew that I wanted to write a fantasy set then which very deliberately had –
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