Michele Manelis talks to the stars of a romcom set in a breakfast television show
Morning Glory is a romantic comedy starring Rachel McAdams, who seems to be channelling the careers of Meg Ryan or Julia Roberts from the 90s, playing an impossibly perky executive producer of a morning television programme.
Harrison Ford plays opposite her, as the "reluctant" anchorman who specialises in looking uncomfortable (and who's doing the same "grumpy" shtick we've seen in most of his movies of late).
It also stars the always-likeable Diane Keaton as Ford's madcap anchorwoman. Basically, they all play versions of their previous roles in this behind-the-camera glimpse of the inner workings of a low-rating television show.
Admits Keaton, "I was trying to emulate Diane Sawyer, who I think is fantastic."
McAdams, who carries the movie, says, "I did a lot of research to play this role and I shadowed a lot of executive producers and visited the control rooms of Good Morning America and The Today Show.
"There were only a handful of women who do this job. I think it says something about the hours they work, which are basically 24/7. I realised it was actually easier to be an actress than to be a producer of a television show."
Ford, who as always gives the impression he'd rather be undergoing root canal surgery than talking to a room full of journalists, says: "I wasn't imitating anyone. I wanted to be the guy I was playing. I didn't pattern my character after any particular newsman. I was just pretending."
Directed by Roger Michell (Notting Hill) and written by Aline Brosh McKenna (The Devil Wears Prada), it could be said that Morning Glory mocks the morning television genre. Not so, says Ford dryly.
"We weren't mocking the good ones. The people who do it well are to be admired. I'm not mocking the profession in general."
Ford, now 68, is not participating in as many action films these days, and says,"If you're asking whether it's more fun to play a hero without the action element? It's just fun getting paid to tell stories, period. It's fun working with really talented people, trying to make something that is both funny and emotional and that engages the audience in an emotional experience. But it's also fun to jump, run, and fall down."
Given that the movie is about morning TV, how does Ford spend his morning? "I turn on the news to see if there's been a big accident overnight but my real information comes from reading newspapers and listening to BBC radio.
"I can't bear that cheerful morning stuff. I don't want to know people by their first names that early in the morning."
As for news programmes in general, how does he feel about the dumbing-down of news in favour of "info-tainment"?
"It's worse than that," he says, and livens up. "And what I'm about to say doesn't apply to those people who do responsible newsgathering and real journalism. Those people are still out there.
"What I'm fearful of is the kind of political opinion disguised as news, where people can go to have their prejudices confirmed. There's a whole branch of what passes as news that does that.
"Whatever your political persuasion or preconceptions are, there will be a show you'll find that will tell you you're right.
"That's not news. That's religion. It makes me crazy," he says, with a sigh.
"But that's my personal opinion."
LOWDOWN
Who: Rachel McAdams, Harrison Ford, and Diane Keaton
What: Morning Glory
When and where: Opens at cinemas on Thursday
-TimeOut
