Harrison Ford will forever be associated with two iconic characters: Han Solo from 'Star Wars' and adventurous archaeologist Indiana Jones. After a 19-year break, the actor again slipped into the leather jacket, dusted off the whip and donned the fedora for 'Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull'.

With the film's release on DVD, Ford looks back at over 25 years of Indy.

Do you remember when you first got cast for the part of Indiana Jones?

Tom Selleck had been cast but his network had exercised its option so he couldn’t get released from his TV show, which I didn’t know about at the time. I got a call from George asking me to read a script, which I did. He told me to read the script and to then go over and meet Steven Spielberg at his house. I had never met him before. I read the script and was really excited about what I had read and the potential. The meeting went well and that was it.

There had been many rumours about Tom Selleck and the casting. One that came up was that George Lucas did want you initially but since he had already worked with you on 'American Graffiti' and the 'Star Wars' trilogy, maybe he should utilise a different actor.

I have no idea. You would have to ask someone else. I was never approached prior to what I had just talked about. If that is the case then the story becomes even more bizarre.

Another story had the character initially called Indiana Smith.

I never saw anything with the character named Indiana Smith. I have no idea where George came up with the last name. I know Indiana came from the name he had for his dog at the time.

Both George and Steven have talked about how these movies were inspired by their love for the classic Saturday morning movie serials that used to play back in the 1950s. Were you a fan of those films as well?

The Saturday morning serials that I knew were Gene Autry and Hop Along Cassidy. I didn’t know any others. I only knew the westerns. Those were the films I went to see on a Saturday. I don’t even remember the others.

I want to take you back to the beginning of playing the part. How did you approach how to play Indiana Jones?

It started with the script and when you read that this guy walks around carrying a whip, wearing a fedora and a leather jacket in the jungle, there is no avoiding who that character is. You know this guy is particular and you can’t avoid that. You put on the clothes and you realize who you are and what you are meant to be. The script was quite clear as to the kind of character this guy was. I saw an enormous opportunity, even though I did have to wear a heavy leather jacket in the jungle.

How did they decide on those iconic wardrobe choices?

We went through a lot of hats. We went through a lot of jackets. The jacket was custom designed based on period details by Anthony Powell, our costume designer. John Landis’s wife also helped with the costume design. We fitted him with those little details to make him comfortable.

Those three of those items went into the Smithsonian Museum. How flattered were you to have that happen?

I think it is quite common for some costumes to make it into the museum. The selection doesn’t seem so bizarre to me. It was a character that we all created between all of the filmmakers.

After that first film 'Raiders Of The Lost Ark', there have been three subsequent films. When you put that fedora back on, does the character come right back to you?

It does. I have a long experience with Indiana Jones so it is not surprising to me that the character is resonant in my bones. This last time after an absence of almost twenty years, it was sort of interesting to put it all on again. When I did, it just felt friendly and familiar and something I knew well.

Having worked with some very impressive directors over your career, what was it about Steven Spielberg that impressed you?

It was his fluidity and filmmaking skills. He has this great sense of visualisation. He has a keen sense of how filmmaking works. He enjoys the process which many do not so it I fun to be around him.

Have you seen an evolution of him as a filmmaker over the course of these four films?

Yes but it would be hard to track it for you. These last 20 years, Steven has done two lifetimes worth of work in anyone else’s account. He was certainly a formidable filmmaker when we finished the last one; now he is formidable and more mature. I really enjoyed having the opportunity to work with him again.

He does like to put his protagonist in some rather precarious situations. When you look back on the challenges you were faced up against, are there some that really amazed you that you were able to pull off?

There were some sequences that did drag on for a while and they are complicated and very physical. I don’t remember anything particular that was too daunting. I know that you break them down into shots and doable chunks. There was nothing too daunting.

In 'Raiders Of The Lost Ark', you were beaten, shot at, dragged by a truck and dodged an engine of a moving airplane. You had to be physical prepared.

I was physically prepared. I knew the type of movie I was getting involved in so I made every effort to show up in the best physical shape I could be in. That was the case for all four of them. I did suffer injuries on the first two but not the third but I can’t remember. The potential for getting hurt was relatively high so being fit is a good preventive step to take. It was fun to do that kind of thing again.

You had some extreme weather conditions back then in Tunisia when you shot that plane sequence.

It wasn’t so much the weather at that point more so than when the plane ran over my knee and tore my ACL. It clipped my left knee and here we were in the middle of Tunisia and there wasn’t much of a medical option that I had so I just had to carry it with me through the rest of the film.

Didn’t you just wrap it in ice and keep going?

Yeah. We wrapped it up and got through it.

Why do you think the character of Indiana Jones has become so identifiable to audiences? To have four movies portray the same character has to resonate on some level.

I think there are many levels as to why people respond to that character. First of all, the stories are unpredictable adventures. There are elements that are unique to the films — the combination of the realistic physical elements and the sort of sci-fi, psychic elements that usually have to do with a religious object at times. It is also about good guys versus bad guys. I think the most attractive part of the films is their sense of joy and pleasure in their journey of film storytelling.

People also responded to your sense of humour. How involved were you in improvising those lighter moments? Did you decide that you would just pull the gun and shoot the guy in the big sword fight?

There was usually an ulterior motive. In the case of the swordsman, I was anticipating a three-day shoot of the world's most elaborate sword verse whip fight. I was in no mood because I, along with 90 percent of the crew, had dysentery. My time spent outside of the trailer with my pants up was about ten minutes. I was ready to get out of there. We had already shot a whip fight in a bad guy confrontation where Marion had been kidnapped, so I felt the tempo and the phasing of the moment of that fight was repetitive. After having been in the car with Steven for about 45 minutes riding to the set, I said to him after thinking about it for a long time, why don’t we just shoot that son of a bitch. We both arrived at the same conclusion so we could get out of there and thought it would be a good character stroke.

How much do you trust your instincts on set? You do have noted directors and writers around you but how much does your instinct guide you as to what the character would really do?

Oh yeah. I have always engaged filmmakers because my suggestions are not coming out of thin air. I have studied the script and my character and the situation at hand so I don’t mind making suggestions. Both George and Steven were very collaborative so it made my job more fun. I trust everyone else’s instincts but you are the one there on the floor, you just kind of know. It doesn’t come to an argument. You make your suggestions and you try them out. It might not go your way but at least you tried alternative options.

It does seem that Steven has this fascination of putting his actors in direct conflict with animals — from snakes to bugs to rats. Who knows what this latest film will feature but what do you recall about those altercations?

They love that kind of way to get an audience squirming in their seats. It certainly is one of the elements that is predictable in these stories. There will be yucky stuff. It doesn’t; bother me at all.

There were real snakes in that pit…

There were many snakes in that pit. I never had any fear of snakes to tell you the truth. That was just acting. They did have to put up Plexiglas divide for the cobra attack.