Ford Earning $1.25 Mil a Day?

February 26 -- Harrison Ford is raking in $25 million for just 20 days of work on his new thriller, according to reports. That's $1.25 million a day, or $156,250 an hour (for an 8-hour day), approximately $2,600 per minute, or $43 per second

In October, Variety reported that Ford would be pulling down a $20 million salary for K-19: The Widowmaker, based on the real-life Cold War tragedy that befell a Russian nuclear sub in 1961. Now the New York Post claims that whopping sum is higher, and for less work, than anyone imagined.

If that staggering pay-per-workday ratio is true, it puts Ford above Marlon Brando, who was paid $3 million for four days' work on the 1978 film Superman. The eccentric thespian, you recall, played the superhero's dad for approximately 10 minutes of screen time.

However, Ford is quoted in London's Sunday People as saying it's not about the money. "The cash didn't tempt me. I took the part because of the gripping plot," the actor reportedly told the British press.

He says he was inspired to take on the role of real-life hero Captain Zateyev by "the tremendous courage and sense of duty exhibited by the Russian submarine force amid the Cold War struggle for nuclear supremacy."

Widowmaker executive producer Tim Kelly tells the London paper, "We would have paid anything to get Harrison Ford on board. He guarantees a hit." Ah, how quickly they forget such duds as Random Hearts.

The Post also reports that Ford, who's rumored to be worth $250 million, could earn $40 million for a yet-to-be-scheduled fourth Indiana Jones film. We'll believe that one when we read it, thanks.

Ford Casting Blessed by WidowWhile casting Ford as her late husband met with the blessing of Zateyev's widow, the movie itself has been attacked in Russia for historical inaccuracies and for portraying the Russian sailors as vodka-swilling peasants.

Says Zateyev's daughter, Irina, "Some years ago, when another scriptwriter asked us who we would like to play Nikolai, we suggested Harrison Ford. When father was still alive, we were watching an American film, The Fugitive, with Harrison Ford, and we both told him how great was the similarity between them. My father even had a scar at the same place on the chin."