Yet the difference between Dr. Stonehill and the characters Ford is more commonly known for is exactly what attracted him to the role. “The fact that I’m known as something gives me the opportunity and obligation to become known for something else,” Ford said.  “That’s what actors do – play different kinds of characters in different kinds of films.  If you don’t, it becomes the same thing over and over again and it’s no damn fun at all.”

The search for different kinds of films to work on was exactly what led Ford to star in and executive produce Extraordinary Measures, which is based on Geeta Anand’s book The Cure.  The path that led to the film started six years ago, when Ford was introduced to the Wall Street Journal articles that preceded the book. 

The articles tell the true story of biotech executive John Crowley, who has two children with Pompe disease.  Crowley went to great lengths to help find a treatment for the disease, and the potential to bring his courageous story of determination to the screen was instantly recognized.  “The goal was to tell a story of an ambitious and effective man,” Ford said,  “who took on great challenges and accomplished great things, and his alliance with an unlikely partner in this adventure [Stonehill] – which would net me a good part to play.”

The man chosen to play Crowley was Canadian actor Brendan Fraser.  When asked about the experience working with his co-star, Ford had nothing but praise.  “Brendan brought a real emotional relationship to the material, understood it, felt it, had good ideas about it,” he said.  “It was a pleasure to work with him as an actor and as a producer, and I was very pleased with the performance that he gave.”

While Fraser’s character is directly based on the real-life John Crowley, Ford’s Dr. Stonehill is a fictional composite of a number of researchers.  When asked how he made the science presented in the film by Stonehill realistic and understandable for audiences, Ford noted that science “is the language of the film.  You want to make it sound like it’s your first language and not something you’re struggling to learn.”  

To accomplish this goal, Ford did extensive research, visiting labs and talking to scientists. “John Crowley,” Ford pointed out, “was really helpful in steering me towards scientists in the biomedical community that helped me understand not only exactly what it is I was meant to be able to talk about but to help me find ways to [visualize] science – which is largely practiced in the head – so that audiences could see the practice of science in a realistic way.”

As Extraordinary Measures is released this weekend, Ford is nearing 60 credited film appearances.  However, the 67-year-old actor is showing no signs of slowing down.  When asked what inspires him to continue making films, Ford remarked that “I love the work, I love being useful.  I like being somewhere where the sum of my experiences and the development of my craft skills are useful.  I like the opportunity to confront different kinds of questions and work through the puzzle of deciding how to give them expression.”

Extraodinary Measures is in theatres January 22.