Harrison Ford on crusade for 4th "Indy" movie in 2007

SANTA MONICA, Calif. — Trust him, the once and future Indiana Jones is still up to the challenge.

It's been three years since Harrison Ford has hit the screen, his longest stretch without a movie since "Star Wars" launched him to celebrity nearly 30 years ago.

It's been even longer since Ford scored a solid hit, but he's back on familiar ground with the high-tech heist flick "Firewall," playing another Everyman character forced to rise to the occasion.

And Ford hopes that two other pet projects will follow closely: "Manhunt," a 19th-century drama in which he's cast as the Army detective who tracks down John Wilkes Booth, Abraham Lincoln's assassin, and that elusive fourth chapter in the "Indiana Jones" saga.

Ford, producer George Lucas and director Steven Spielberg have kicked "Indy 4" ideas around for years as several screenwriters had a go at the script.

"We're now closer than we've ever been," Ford said. "I think it'll happen pretty soon."

At an American Film Institute bash for Lucas last year, Ford joked that they had to hurry, or co-star Sean Connery would be too old to play Indy's dad. At 63, does Ford feel too old to play dashing adventurer Indy?

"No, no. Indiana Jones changes just like everybody else," Ford said. "I don't have any issues with that, and I still feel physically adequate to faking it just like I've been doing for 30 years. I'm looking forward to it. It's good fun."

At one time, the three had hoped to shoot the "Indiana Jones" sequel in 2004 for release last year. Now, Ford said, production could begin this year, with the movie arriving in 2007.

"Part of it is finding a time when all three of us are available to commit to it," Ford said. "I think we've got that now."

Though he had a three-year hiatus between 2003's crime-comedy flop "Hollywood Homicide" and "Firewall," Ford said the latest film took an unusually long time to get into production as the script evolved and personnel changed.

Directed by Richard Loncraine ("Wimbledon," "Brimstone & Treacle"), "Firewall" casts Ford as a computer-security expert forced to help carry out a $100 million cyber-bank job after a crook (Paul Bettany) takes his wife (Virginia Madsen) and children hostage.

"Firewall" maintains a thread common to many of Ford's most successful roles. In "Air Force One," Ford was a U.S. president who turned action hero to thwart hijackers. In "The Fugitive," he was a doctor on the lam, trying to prove himself innocent of his wife's murder. In "Patriot Games" and "Clear and Present Danger," he was a CIA desk jockey pressed into field service.

Since 1997's "Air Force One," Ford has had modest success with the desert-isle action romance "Six Days Seven Nights" and one smash hit, the ghost story "What Lies Beneath," though the latter was mainly Michelle Pfeiffer's movie.

With more than his share of commercial fortune from his "Star Wars" and "Indiana Jones" days, plus hits such as "Witness," "Working Girl" and "Presumed Innocent," Ford is unconcerned about maintaining blockbuster status in Hollywood.

"I don't have to be on top anymore. I just have to be available," Ford said. "Yes, you certainly hope for some success for your films, because there's a lot of money invested, and you want to see people get their money back, at least.

An airplane pilot, Ford is up to speed on computer-navigation technology but skeptical that many of the latest gadgets are worth the bother. He prefers music on vinyl over digital sources, uses e-mail sparingly and occasionally will watch a movie on a portable device while traveling.

His character in "Firewall" is a techno-whiz, jury-rigging bits and pieces from cellphones, fax machines and MP3 players.

The new "Indiana Jones" film will stick to old-fashioned fisticuffs, Ford said.

Spielberg and Lucas have kept the story a secret, saying only that "Indy 4" would take place after World War II. Can Ford add any details?

"It's set after World War II," Ford wisecracked, with his characteristic stone face.

And will Connery be back as Indiana's professorial pop?

Without a pause, Ford reiterated, "Sometime after World War II."