Indiana Jones Actor Ethann Isidore Talks Working with Harrison Ford

The first time that actor Ethann Isidore met Harrison Ford was during the filming of Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny’s (2023) final scene. “It was really emotional, everyone was crying on set that day,” Isidore recalls about the moment when Ford and Karen Allen have their last reunion as Indy and Marion. As is so often the case with film production, scenes are typically captured out of sequence to the actual story, and during an aside on this fateful day, the young actor playing the new character Teddy had the chance to meet one of his cinematic heroes.

“I was waiting for my turn on set,” Isidore explains, “and then they got me and said it was going to be my first time acting with Harrison Ford. I was so excited but I was also nervous. The first time I saw him, I remember thinking that I was in front of Indiana Jones and Han Solo at the same time, which blew my mind. We shook hands, and he looked at me and said, ‘Terrible casting for Teddy.’ [laughs] I was so confused, so I laughed, even though I didn’t know if it was a joke. Then I saw the whole team laughing, and Harrison started smiling at me. I realized, okay, he’s a funny guy. [laughs] I had been stressed and unsure how to act, and then he made this joke, and I knew he’d be joking all the time.”

“Teddy is like Helena’s Short Round,” says Isidore. “Then this old, grumpy man who he doesn’t know anything about comes into their life and starts to run the show. It’s really annoying for Teddy, and at first, he hates Indiana Jones.” The young actor imagined a stepfather and stepson kind of relationship to aid in his grasp of the characters’ dynamics. “Teddy has to accept the fact that this guy is now a part of his life. Both of them have their own ideas and don’t let others tell them what to do or how to act. Both of them think they know everything about life. One is younger and the other is older. It’s a common relationship you can find in everyone’s lives.”

Relationships of every kind are central to the Indiana Jones stories, from a classic like Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) to a brand new adventure like Indiana Jones and the Great Circle. Indy himself is nothing without his friends and family. The connections that the archaeologist forms with others is essential, at first pragmatically in the sense that, without his companions, Indy would’ve certainly perished in many a foiled escapade. But more importantly, these people shape Indy into the hero that he becomes. Without them, he is not the character that we’ve come to love onscreen.

So too has been the power of relationships on the sets of Indiana Jones movies. As Isidore is keen to point out, his time with Harrison Ford on Dial of Destiny was more than a working relationship, but a friendship as well. A generation earlier, Ke Huy Quan was another young actor to receive this kind of personal mentorship from Ford. Unlike Isidore, however, the 12-year-old Quan had no preconceptions about the man he’d be acting with, having never seen any of Ford’s work. When he attended a casting call for Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1983), he famously wasn’t even there to audition himself, but rather to chaperone his younger brother, who was going for the part.

“I think it benefited me that I didn’t know who [Harrison Ford, Steven Spielberg, and George Lucas] were,” Quan would say in 2023. “To me they were just three grown-ups. And I didn’t think much of it. But what I do remember is that they were just so friendly and kind, and funny, and they were [each] like a kid.” As he described it, Quan’s own innocence at the time allowed him to engage with Ford at face value. “I just loved being around him all the time. Even when we’re not shooting…I just wanted to talk to him and hear him tell me stories.” As did Isidore, Quan enjoyed making practical jokes with the older actor.

Still quite young at the time, Quan hadn’t aspired to be an actor. A recent immigrant to the United States, Quan and his family had left South Vietnam as refugees only a few years prior. “I didn’t go searching…to be an actor,” he explained. “None of that was on my mind…. I was just being…a 12-year-old, being a kid. You know, going to school, learning a new language.” Isidore, by comparison, was already a teenager with a mind set towards acting when Dial of Destiny materialized.

“It felt like I’d always wanted to be an actor,” says Isidore, himself born outside of Paris, France after his family had emigrated from the island of Mauritius. “I watched movies just like Indiana Jones – adventure movies, action movies, superhero movies, especially Spider-Man. They made me think that when you’re an actor, you can be whatever you want.” He is adamant that Quan has been a particular inspiration.

“I love the performance that Key Huy Quan gave as Short Round,” Isidore comments. “He’s younger, but in my opinion he’s as big as Indiana Jones, he’s as brave as Indiana Jones. He always wants to be his sidekick, and I love this about this character. It was one of my inspirations to play Teddy. When you know what Ke Huy Quan became now, winning an Oscar for Everything Everywhere all at Once, it’s really inspiring. I would love to follow in his footsteps.”

One aspect that Quan and Isidore shared in their respective Indiana Jones experiences was the importance of family. “We came to the United States with absolutely nothing,” Quan would reflect. “[My parents] sacrificed everything; they gave up everything they had to get all of us here.” He recalled attending Temple of Doom’s 1984 premiere at Mann’s Chinese Theater in Hollywood with his entire family (including eight siblings) in tow.

Similarly, Isidore was able to share the Dial of Destiny experience with his family, including plenty of travel to places like Morocco, Sicily, and the United Kingdom. “We felt like we were Indiana Jones,” Isidore muses. “We met amazing people. It was a dream come true for me. I felt that my mother was very happy about it. My brother went to school in England and had to learn a new language. It was a really special moment in our lives. I was really glad that they could share the experience with me.”

For each young actor, watching Harrison Ford on set was an important benchmark. “I love him because…one, he’s a great actor,” Quan explained. “He understands this business very well. You know he shows up to work very well prepared. Very professional. Gives 110 percent. And he understands the responsibility that he has carrying the weight of the movie.” Just as significant, though, is Ford’s behavior on set. “He just carries himself with so much grace and elegance and humility. I mean here is a man that’s been in the business for almost what, 60 years now? And [he still enjoys] what he does. And second, to take it really seriously, and to treat it like a job, and to still appreciate the job, and still appreciate that he’s still able to do this. That speaks volumes.”

Isidore remarks that “what’s amazing about Harrison Ford is that he speaks with everyone the same way. Something admirable, in my opinion, is that he didn’t want people to call him Mr. Ford. He wanted people to call him Harrison, or Harry. To him, he was like everyone else. I really admired this. He talked to my family the same way he talked to the crew or the actors. My little brother, Lennie, and him were like best friends on the set. They’d kid around. Harrison and Phoebe even went down to the swimming pool with my family while they were rehearsing the underwater scene. They let my brother try on the mask to breathe underwater.” (Ironically, Ford had also given the young Quan swimming lessons while on location for Temple of Doom.)

Ford also provided Isidore with direct advice about their shared vocation. “We had a conversation about acting,” he explains, “and Harrison told me something that was both fun and true. He said that acting is like being a child, but you get paid for it [laughs]. When you’re a child, you play with your imagination all the time, and that’s what being an actor is. You play with your imagination and try to build this world, this character’s background, in your head.”

That connection formed by Isidore with his fellow actors formed the heart of his experience on Dial of Destiny, which he calls “a dream come true.” In fact, as he points out, he’d come close to giving up on his dream not long before he won the part of Teddy. “Before this, I didn’t know if I would make it in movies,” Isidore says. “When I see where Ke Huy Quan is right now, it gives me even more hope. Dial of Destiny was the best moment for me in this way. It gave me courage and inspired me to keep going with acting. I hadn’t known if I wanted to keep going. You never know when it’s going to work or not. I almost stopped just two months before I ended up in the movie.

“What I would say to other young actors who don’t know if they want to keep going with their dreams is that you can do it,” Isidore concludes. “Just believe in it. You have to wait for the good moment, and you have to take the chance when they give it to you, otherwise you’ll miss amazing memories, amazing people, and amazing moments with your family and friends.” And of course, all of us in the audience would miss out on those amazing characters and stories onscreen.

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny is now available to watch on Disney+

Lucas O. Seastrom is a writer and historian at Lucasfilm.

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