Indy V Updates

Shia La Beouf Says Spielberg Has "Cracked" Indy 5

Frank Marshall Confirms 'Indy 5' IS On the Horizon Read more!

George Lucas talks about Indy V

From the Sunday Times interview
"If I can come up with another idea that they like, we'll do another."

"Indiana Jones only becomes complicated when you have another two people saying 'I want it this way' and 'I want it that way', whereas when I first did Jones, I just said 'We'll do it this way' - and that was much easier.
"But now,i have to accommodate everybody, because they are all big, successful guys too, so it's a little hard on a practical level." (George Lucas comments on the making of the fourth film)

"We still have the issues about the direction we'd like to take."
"I'm in the future, Steven's in the past. He's trying to drag it back to the way they were, I'm trying to push it to a whole different place. So still we have a sort of tension. This recent one came out of that. It's kind of a hybrid of our own two ideas, so we'll see where we are able to take the next one." (Creative differences he and Spielberg have recently been experiencing)

From the MTV interview:George Lucas elaborates elaborates on the plans for Indy V
Mutt Williams (Shia LaBeouf) is unlikely to be the focus of the sequel:
"Indiana Jones is Indiana Jones," he explained. "Harrison Ford IS Indiana Jones. If it was Mutt Williams it would be Mutt Williams and the Search for Elvis or something."

About the plot:
"We are looking for something for him to go after. They are very hard to find. It's like archaeology. It takes a huge amount of research to come up with something like that."

Tags: indiana jones, karen allen, last crusade, raiders of the lost ark, temple of doom, kingdom of the crystal skull, harrison ford, george lucas, shia la beouf, steven spielberg, movies, film, entertaiment

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Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull Review

19 years have passed since the release of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (it's probably my favourite movie from the first three).Until recently,it was considered as the last Indy movie and as it's pointed out it was a nice way to end a successful series.All this time,there was a lot of of talk about a fourth Indiana Jones movie,many rumours about the script,the release,the disagreement between the key people involved in the production (George Lucas,Steven Spielberg,screenwriters).Until 2006,nothing was certain.However,after all these years of waiting,the new Indiana Jones movie is released.


You may have read about the various scripts of Indy 4.The final script was written by David Koepp (Spiderman,Secret Window).He kept what he felt were good ideas from previous scripts (such as Mutt, which he felt was an interesting role reversal from Last Crusade).The crystal skull was already the plot device.The screenwriter aimed to make Indy 4 less dark than Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom yet less comic than Last Crusade, aiming for the balance from the first film.However,in my opinion,the movie is tonally closer to Last Crusade.
19 years after the Last Crusade,in 1957,the era is different:Cold War,McCarthy era.This era is depicted in the movie (from the FBI suspicions,investigation,pursuit of Dr.Jones to the Soviet agents).The opening scene serves serves as a great introduction to the movie,in a place familiar from a previous Indy movie.It's one of the many references to the original trilogy ,which are successfully integrated to the plot and will please Indy fans.Dr.Jones still teaches in college and we learn some things about his activities after the last movie.After a series of events,he's back in action and in pursuit of the crystal skulls.During this time,Mutt Williams (Shia La Beouf) is introduced.You probably know that he is Indy's son.One of the most funny moments,is the reaction of Indy when he learns that Mutt is his son.It's not the only funny moment in KOTCS,there are many of them,many hilarious lines,which don't make the movie a comedy,but they are successfully integrated to the plot.
Marion Ravenwood (Karen Allen) returns and the chemistry between her and Indy,that we saw in Raiders of the Lost Ark,still exists,although her role here is smaller.At first,the impression about Mutt may be mixed,but he becomes a likable character and he participates in many action scenes.If Shia La Beouf can be the protagonist of a possible fifth Indiana Jones movie,that's another subject.In my opinion,the recent George Lucas statements are not incidental.In KOTCS it is evident,that the writers had in mind this possibility.
Harrison Ford,although he is 66 years old,he's still in shape.He's still Indy,athough a little tired,and he proves it.His perfomance is very good and the script helps him,with smart and funny lines.Cate Blanchett is also very good as the villain,Irina Spalko.She's beautiful,even with that hair.
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull has a lot of action,many action scenes and many impressive scenes.Although David Koepp,wrote most of the script,a significant part was a combination of elements from previous scripts.And maybe that's one of the movies flaws,the plot.The movie,sometimes,slows down and the alien element is a matter of controversy,which either you'll like or you won't.Initially,i was not negative about that,but with the conclusion of the mystery of the crystal skulls,my feelings were mixed.However,Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is a filling movie,with lots of action and with many funny moments.It's a very good,entertaining movie.

Tags: entertaiment, film, george lucas, shia la beouf, cate blanchett, harrison ford, indiana jones, kingdom of the crystal skull, movies, karen allen, steven spielberg

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Indy IV Looks Back at the Original Trilogy

There's never before seen behind the scenes footage of the original films, storyboards, interviews with George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, Frank Marshall, Kathy Kennedy, Harrison Ford, Karen Allen, David Koepp, Ray Winstone, Jim Broadbent, John Hurt, Cate Blanchett, Shia LaBeouf and much more!

Part 1


Part 2


Uploaded by JonesKW

Tags: indiana jones, shia la beouf, karen allen, last crusade, raiders of the lost ark, temple of doom, kingdom of the crystal skull, harrison ford, george lucas, cate blanchett, steven spielberg, movies, film, entertaiment

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Interviews: Indiana Jones's Harrison Ford and Karen Allen

27 years after Raiders of the Lost Ark burst onto movie screens, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull brings Harrison Ford's Indiana Jones and Karen Allen's Marion Ravenwood back to the big screen: Reunited, as the song says, and it feels so good. What felt less good was the timing of the press interviews for Kingdom of the Crystal Skull; Paramount scheduled their Cannes publicity interviews the day before the press screening of the film. (Call me a traditionalist, but normally I like to see the actual movie before talking to the actors in it; I'm just funny that way.) Still, Ford and Allen were funny and disarming -- they seemed a little amused by the hypothetical questions and broad general inquiries the chain of events required -- and Cinematical was there to learn about Harrison Ford's take on the best part sof playing Indy, Karen Allen's musings on Marion Ravenwood's sex life and much more;


I'm just wondering how your own excitement level is, returning to the Indiana Jones character?

Harrison Ford: Well, I'm very excited to bring another one of these spectacular adventures to the screen, and to work with Steven and George again. For the last twenty years or so, these films have continued to appeal to an audience, and young kids, as it becomes age-appropriate, have been introduced to the films on DVD by their parents, and to have the opportunity for them to see it full-scale in a movie theatre, with a big screen and big sound, in the dark with a bunch of strangers, and have this common visceral experience is a brilliant opportunity, so I'm delighted to be a part of it again.

You've always resisted having a favorite character. I was wondering if you'd say that Indiana is now your favorite.

HF: Well, you've worn me down: Indiana Jones is now my favorite character. No, all I insist on is that the pleasure of the process for me as a professional is the work itself, and I don't have a favorite character. You have favorite characters. You're the viewer, the buyer, a customer if you will, and it's perfectly natural for you to have favorites. But for me, it's about the experience, it's about the process, it's about the challenge of it all, so regardless of whether or not it's highly successful or moderately successful or not successful at all, it's not about having favorites.

What about coming back to Indiana Jones ... you've been talking about it for years and kept saying, "Well, they're working on a script, we'll see ..."; Was there ever...

HF: Well, of course they were lying; they just made it up two weeks before we started. No, it was a long slog, it was a complicated process, it was, as it has always been. George works on the germination of the idea, he and Steven work with a writer they have agreed on, there are adjustments to be made – by the way, these guys, they're a little busy, they do other things, other than Indiana Jones movies – so it's not a full-time job to get one of these scripts together. But when it's ready, and we all agree, when they do their process, it comes to me, and I have my little say about it, and the recipe is adjusted. It's a meal for three, so maybe a touch more of this or a little too much salt ... we work it all out amongst us until we're all confident that we have something of the quality that we've done in the past.

And did you think it was always going to happen, that you'd come back for a fourth time?

HF: I didn't think about it much at all, until I read the script, a script that finally engaged me and I thought was a challenge and an opportunity.

Based on the trailer, it looks like you handle the age question with humor ...

HF: We don't handle the age question, we ignore it. Obviously, we've moved twenty years deeper into history, we're no longer dealing with Nazis but with Russian villains. It's 1957, the Cold War and the era of McCarthyism in the United States, a very interesting resonance to modern times that might engage us a little bit. And the character: the hair's a little gray – a lot gray – and...

And some of the stunts go a little awry, based on the trailer... in the sense that you can be more clumsy than you were in 1981.

HF: I beg your pardon. (Laughs) You're getting a little bit more clumsy too.

Yeah, I am.

HF: No, age has its virtues and it has its disadvantages, and I think we embrace the reality of the passage of twenty years of time. We're not coy about it, you know, constantly commenting on it, but the guy is twenty years older.

Did you ever worry that they might be waiting so long that they'd have another Indiana Jones come in and you couldn't do it?

HF: Oh, yeah, I was desperate about that. No, I was just hoping that Brad (Pitt) wouldn't be available.

You mentioned a couple of times about the challenges of doing this. What were the challenges?

HF: The challenge is always – ladies and gentlemen, Karen Allen – the challenge is the same as it always is, to bring a character and the situations to life, to manipulate and express the ideas of a story. Every scene's got a reason to be there. There's a germ of the story, there's a character opportunity, there's a relationship opportunity in every scene, and the actor does the best he can to give that life and expression and fiber for the audience.

Is it more or less of a challenge, doing a fourth?

HF: It's the same job, and I don't think it's more of a challenge. If you feel that you're equipped with a script which gives you the opportunity to do your best work – and certainly, everyone had that ambition – then you just go ahead and do it. You don't sit and think, "Oh, this is gonna be a challenge," you know? It's work, and it's fun, by the way; I hate to spoil everyone's enjoyment of their own job, but... this is a better job. It's really fun. I get to work with really smart people who are amongst the best in the world at what they do, including this young lady. ...

What was it like going back twenty-six years after the first one, after you first worked together?

HF: I was delighted that Karen could rejoin us. She's the original relationship for Indiana Jones. We know Indiana Jones through the character that Karen played in the original film, and we learn more about him.

Karen Allen: Well, they have a history even before the film begins. We know that they've known each other, which comes forward right away, when she socks him in the jaw, we know that there's some history that never gets filled in, but they go back a long way.

HF: That's how we progress the relationship, in the understanding of the characters through the relationships that they have.

When you were talking about the script, you mentioned the McCarthy era and hinted on contemporary resonance, and I wondered if you could expand on that, and does this film have some kind of message or is it pure entertainment?

HF: No, it's not a message. Every bit of history has an opportunity for resonance to current times, and it was a period of time in American history when academia was under a real challenge for the freedom that makes people who are part of the academic process flourish, and so, well, I think we'll leave it at that and let you draw what you will from the film, but it's not a message and it's not a pointed sort of reference to the current day, but everything is the past is an opportunity to learn from the past and deal with the present.

You've just been named to the board, in Boston, of the Archaeological Society there?

HF: Yeah, I've just accepted...

The board of directors?

HF: Honorary, I think, board of directors.

Isn't this because you've been playing Indiana Jones, or is it something with your personal life as well that...?

HF: No, it's because Indiana Jones is the only archaeologist in current film history, and it has been good for archeology to have a contemporary representative of that profession on the screen.

Cinematical: Ms. Allen, Mr. Ford, have the scope and nature of the filming experience changed significantly from the first one? Were you just able to go back into working relationships with people, or was it different on a technical level, on a resource level, or even on a level of expectation?

HF: You mean, were the trailers bigger?

Cinematical: Not necessarily, but if that's what comes to mind...

HF: They were a little bigger, yeah...

KA: When we made Raiders of the Lost Ark, Steven was working with a lot of people for the first time, and my impression coming onto this set in the very beginning was, they have an amazing kind of team. Janusz Kaminski and all the people that Steven works with, it just felt so seamless, just like a well-oiled team of people, so there was something in that that felt really great to me, you know. They almost don't even have to speak; they make hand signs to each other across the room and people are moving and doing things, and that felt kind of different, because I remember Doug Slocombe, who was doing the first one... everybody was kinda trying to learn everybody's language. One thing that was so extraordinary to me coming onto a film like this for the first time, in London at Elmstree [Studios] when we were shooting Raiders, was just the extraordinary craft of the building of the sets, which just blew my mind. I'd never seen anything like that before, and I have to say that the craft of the sets in this film also blew my mind, almost on a daily basis. You'd walk into these sets that were being built, and I felt just like a little kid a lot of times. It was just like, "Wow! How'd they do this, and aren't we lucky to be working on these sets?" So those are the things that jump to mind...

Did you two stay in touch since Raiders? Have you seen each other at all in the last twenty years, or was it just on the set, like you picked up where you left off before?

KA: We'd seen each other a couple of times, when we did a promotion for when they came out with the box set of the films together. They brought Kate Capshaw and myself and Alison Doody together, and Harrison came by, and I saw him...

HF: We ran into each other on the streets of New York one time, but we haven't really... Karen lives in New York, I live in California, we haven't worked together, obviously, since then. We have different lives in different regions of the world, so we haven't really seen much of each other.

KA: But it felt very seamless. When I walked on the set to do the camera test in Los Angeles, and Harrison knocked on my door, and I opened the door, and suddenly, we're standing there, talking to each other as though weeks had gone by. It just felt very easy to me.

Ms. Allen, a couple of years ago (in an interview), you told me that you were utterly convinced that Marion and Indy had had a child together.

KA: No, I didn't tell you that. (Laughs)

You did tell me that.

KA: Years ago, I told you that?

Two years ago.

KA: I don't remember this conversation. What did it have ... In reference to what?

A phone interview for the New York Post.

KA: Oh, was I just making things up?

Yeah, you were making things up. (Laughs)

KA: There was a funny moment a couple of years ago when they did a couple of special screenings at the Paris Theatre in New York, and I hadn't seen the film in several years, and I was watching the film on the big screen for the first time in a really long time, and I remember the scene when we're on the submarine, and I wake up, and you're gone, and I remember noticing in this particular screening, my character reaches up and grabs her nightgown, and I thought, "gosh, I don't remember that!" I was thinking, I didn't remember that they had had a moment, like a romantic moment. In my mind, I was thinking of the missed kiss – you fall asleep, and there's that missed kiss – but then I forgot about the moment of her grabbing the... So I may have been making a joke about that moment or something...

Harrison, it seems like your attitude to the press process has changed; you used to seem as if doing interviews is worse than a root canal. Now, you seem...

HF: I've had a lot of root canals. (Laughs) I've got a mouthful of 'em. Of course, it's something you become somewhat more ... inured to. I recognize the value of the process, and hopefully, I'm not as ... impatient with it as I might have been. That's one of the virtues of the age, is becoming a little bit more graceful.

Does it help when it's talking about a film, or a series of films, that has become a part of popular culture? I mean, the impact of Indy goes beyond the individual installments of it. It just seems that it's a reference point now certainly in American popular culture, and also in world culture.

HF: Well, of course it's easier to talk about a film that you have the expectations and it's been admired rather than picked apart at the seams. But, of course, I have great confidence in this film on account of the people who are involved, which is not to say that any other people that I've worked with, I had less confidence in during the process. But this is a film that's made for the audience to enjoy, the pure pleasure of the moviegoing experience, and it's a huge, huge engine. We've seen the movie, and I think we have a degree of confidence that it'll be... an experience that people will enjoy.

And do you allow yourself to take pleasure in the idea that this has become a part of the popular culture?

HF: You know, it doesn't occur to me to think that way. It's my job, it's what I do for a living, and I'm really pleased when it's successful, when it brings pleasure to the audience, and it advantages me in the pursuit of my profession.

Obviously, you both used to work with each other. How did you both find working with Shia, and do you have any memorable moments in the filming with him?

KA: Shia's just a delight, as far as I'm concerned. He's very, very funny and – I don't know how much I can describe particular scenes in the film – but there's some moments where Shia has some quite challenging tasks he had to perform in the film, and there's just some very, very, very funny, wonderful moments with Shia where he was just above and beyond the call of duty. He's an incredibly talented young actor, I find him very eloquent as an actor. With his face, he says a lot... he's remarkable. I'm really very impressed with him, and I had an awfully good time with him.

HF: Me too. He's very professional, he works really hard. He had some very sort of arcane skills to acquire, and he worked really hard. He was an enormous pleasure to be around, and I really enjoy him a lot.

Did you teach him anything on set?

HF: I taught him how to act. (Laughs) Because nobody understands that except me... I didn't teach him anything; he taught me. He's been an actor for ten years or something, and he has an enormous talent. He's gonna be around for a long, long time.

You were talking it when it becomes age-appropriate to show the DVDs to our children. My six-year-old son watches the first three movies, which probably makes me a bad parent, but when did you let your kids see the movies, and the second part is, the violence in the movies isn't very graphic, it's somewhat old-fashioned, and do you think that's a good alternative, because, increasingly, we see really violent movies for kids out there.

KA: I think a little bit depends on the kid. My son, who's seventeen now, was very, very sensitive to violence in films. I mean, he would get extremely upset over things that wouldn't dawn on me as to find too violent, but he's just a kid who got very absorbed in whatever was on the screen in front of him, and he could get frightened very easily. So I waited, I don't think he saw Raiders of the Lost Ark until he was maybe 8 or 9, but I certainly know other kids who saw it at a much younger age, and the melting heads and things just didn't seem to bother them at all.

HF: Yeah, I agree absolutely. We have a seven-year-old at home, and I think he self-censors in a way. He's very much like Karen described her boy; it's not what he's looking for, and when he has an experience with a movie, he's really not ready for physical contest because it's not something that's part of his experience. So, in his case, in Liam's case, I think it would be another year or so before I let him see this film. This film, with the possible exception of ripping out hearts ...in The Temple of Doom, which, as you know, established the PG-13 rating, I think we're gonna have a film that the entire family can enjoy together.

How do you feel about showing it in Cannes, which is probably in front of the toughest crowd in the world?

HF: I'm really eager to see the train leave the station... and I think it'll be just fine.
Cinematical.com,22/5/2008,written by James Rocchi

Tags: indiana jones, kingdom of the crystal skull, harrison ford, george lucas, steven spielberg, movies, interview, film, karen allen, entertaiment

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Interviews: Indiana Jones's George Lucas, Shia LaBeouf and Cate Blanchett

In the Carleton Hotel at Cannes, a small group of journalists have navigated the maze-like hallways, made it through a series of security checkpoints and eventually brought to a suite to sit in rows and hear Cate Blanchett, Shia LaBeouf and George Lucas talk about the making of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Despite the bizarre timing of the interviews -- Paramount scheduled the press day before the press screening of the film -- rendering the experience slghtly awkward, LaBeouf, Blanchett and Lucas were relaxed and charming as they took hypothetical questions, general inquiries and wild guesses about the film. Cinematical was there to hear George Lucas talk about the politics of Indy, LaBeouf explain why his switchblade skills needed work and Blanchett talk about being directed by her children, and much more

George, was it really important to have the space alien element to the story? The legend about this movie is that it was held up because you wanted to have the Area 51 segment in there. Is that true, and why is it so important to have the aliens in there?

George Lucas: Well, these movies don't work without an object that they're going after that is supernatural and that is a real object that people believe in – whether it's actually true or not true – whether it's the Ark of the Covenant, whether it's the Holy Grail, these are things that are mythological artifacts that have real mythology. It's not made-up Hollywood, by me or by anyone else, it's the real deal. So I had to have something that would be the real deal. When we finished the third film, we didn't know if we were gonna make (a next) movie. ...
George Lucas (continued): We signed on for three movies, we did our three movies, and that was the end of it. It was especially true for me, because I was the one who had to come up with the next story, and we'd struggled so hard with the last one, and even the second one. The only one we had a really good MacGuffin on, so to speak, was the first one. So I said, "well, don't worry, we'll never do another one of these unless we come up with something." When I thought about the fact that we would have to deal with Harrison in a later age, you know, he'd have to be in the fifties in order for the whole thing to work and for his age to be appropriate, and then I started thinking, "Well, gee, the obvious thing to go after is a film that's sort of... we were in the action-adventure serials of the thirties when he was in the thirties, so he would be in the B-movies of the fifties, which were kind of science-fiction movies." That was really how that thing grew. I came up with that and the idea that something from that genre, it seemed to me that was a really good idea for a MacGuffin. And, of course, the others said, "We're not doing alien movies." So we discussed that for about ten years... (Laughs) Ironically, I went off and did ten years on my alien movie, Steve went off and did War of the Worlds and his alien movies, and so, while we were all off doing alien movies, saying we weren't gonna do another alien movie, we finally came together and found something that was different, that wasn't quite what my original idea had been, a modified version that everyone seemed to get excited about.

There's no movie without Harrison Ford, I think, so did you have to arm-wrestle him back into this? Was he reluctant?

GL: No, Harrison was the impetus, he was the one that kinda wanted to do it... Steven was the one who sorta didn't want to do it, and I was the one that said, "Well, I can't think of anything to do," so we were caught in that. Harrison's saying, "I wanna go out and do something," and I'm saying, "I can't think of anything to do," and Steve's saying, "I wanna stay home and watch television so I can be with my kids." So, you know, that was kind of the way we went for quite a while, and then there was the fact that we couldn't get our schedules together in order to do it, it was hard.

We haven't seen the movie yet, but I've always just assumed that Shia's going to be playing Indy's son in this movie. Is that true?

Shia LaBeouf: That's an assumption.

GL: That is an assumption. That's an assumption, sir.

So talk a little bit about coming onto this project, then.

SL: It's terrifying and exciting, and even if you're welcomed, the scope of it, it's daunting. You get past that, the fact that George Lucas is George, and Cate Blanchett is Cate, and Harrison Ford is Harrison, and... it's very scary. You can giggle, because you're George Lucas, but it was very scary for me, and it eased up in the first couple of weeks. The way that we started with the schedule, we sort of jumped right into stunts, and then you find this mutual respect with Harrison, who isn't warm immediately, so once we developed a friendship type of thing, everything became easier.

Cinematical: I'm very curious, Mr. LaBeouf, Ms. Blanchett, what your greatest moment of anxiety was in the process but also what your greatest moment of unexpected joy was as well? When were you the most scared and when were you the most happy?

Cate Blanchett: I was most terrified or worried about how I could do all these action sequences and keep my hairdo completely neat. (Laughs) I became obsessed with the neatness and the line of the hair, and I did manage to do it mostly.

Was that hairdo an homage to somebody specifically in the fifties?

CB: Well, Vidal Sassoon. ...

GL: I'm a big fan of Louise Brooks, a big fan of the bob, and I couldn't resist. I just had to get that in a movie.

CB: I didn't resist.

GL: Just something that had to happen.

Mr. Lucas, you've been in this place before, in the sense that you've had this original, fantastically successful trilogy and then went again with a later one. I'm not gonna say you're gonna do three more, or two more of these after this, but does this sort of make you nervous in any way because of the reaction to your second Star Wars trilogy... was not that great at the beginning?

GL: Well, it wasn't, and I explained to Steven when we set out on this one, I said, you know, and I've gotten in trouble for saying it, which is, when you do a film that's this anticipated, people have a tendency to believe it's going to be the Second Coming, and no matter what you give them, they're going to be disappointed, until ILM can come up with a way of presenting the Second Coming that's believable. You're gonna get, especially in the new twenty-first century communications reality of the internet and everything, it's just a whole different world and people have very strong opinions and they express them. Part of that was also, with Star Wars and Indiana Jones, has not been reviewed in a superlative fashion most of the time, these aren't the movies that end up winning Academy Awards or anything, so you come to expect the fact that ... we knew that going in. There's a reason for us to do this, we certainly don't need the money and we're only gonna get sort of ... people are gonna throw tomatoes at us. But it's a fun movie to make, we love it, we like to see 'em, and in the end, this one turned out fantastic, so for us, it was all worthwhile, and I'm sure there'll be some people who'll be disappointed. Anybody who loves the old movies I'm sure will love this film, because I've seen it, and it's fantastic. It's everything the old ones were and more, which ... You know, The Phantom Menace ended up the most successful worldwide movie of the Star Wars series, even though everybody seemed to hate it. I don't know how that happened, but it worked out.

Will there possibly be an Indy 5 then?

GL: What I said, which I've been saying all day... (Laughs) What I said before, to somebody at a party, which is, Harrison and Steven and I have talked about it, but we can't do it unless we come up with a good idea, which I haven't. It took me twenty years to figure out... well, it didn't take me twenty years last time, but it took me five or six years to figure it out, and the next question on that one was, will it star Shia? And I said, well, you can't do an Indiana Jones film without Harrison Ford, because he's Indiana Jones, which somebody then made an assumption that Shia was Harrison's son, and that Harrison would then turn into the Sean Connery character, which is quite an assumption, considering I don't have a story yet... or may never have a story.

Cinematical: This is for the actors, were there any specific period materials or films or documents or photos that you were asked to look at? Were there things that you looked at to get a feel for the period in the film?

SL: Yeah, I was given a homework packet – Red River, The Wild One, Rebel [Without a Cause], Blackboard Jungle, Sidney Poitier, that was a big one, that was the main one...

Cinematical: You got Juvenile Delinquent 101.

SL: Yeah.

GL: The biggest part of the packet was... the first ten years of Playboy magazine.

Is that true?

GL : No.

Cinematical: And Ms. Blanchett, did you have a similar document or series of documents to look at, or no?

CB: Yeah, I did, obviously, because I play someone working in the Russian military, and they were working with suggest-ology and ESP and telepathy and ... am I gonna be shot for talking about all this? (Laughs) It was a huge fat document that was sort of the documentation of all the research that was done and it was utterly fascinating. It was treated like a science, and it was about how you could dominate the world through mind power without military hardware. So it was quite an incredible thing, so...

But you had to learn swordplay too, though?

CB: Yes, I've always wanted to fence. It's a very fine art.

Between playing a version of Bob Dylan and doing this, it's almost hard to believe these are in the same kind of medium, it's almost like very different worlds. Which is the more challenging, the more difficult, the more sort of ... forbidding?

CB: I think you said it. I think films are a very elastic medium, and people can get real literal about it, and to place something that... really, this is not a sequel, I just always think of Indiana Jones, the next Indiana Jones film, as being another chapter in an adventure story, whereas the Bob Dylan film was just exploding a linear narrative, it didn't have a linear narrative, and now I'm sounding like Bob Dylan. (Laughs) So it was a very different experience. Obviously, this has got a huge epic trajectory that's all adrenaline-based, and the Dylan experience was very different, but this is what the film demands of you.

Could you talk about Indiana Jones in Bob Dylan's voice for us?

CB: No, that'd be really schizophrenic.

GL: You can't assume that Bob Dylan is a Russian spy who believes in parapsychology. We don't get to make that assumption.

CB: That's why I was hired.

So here we are at Cannes, you've been at Cannes before, you've presented films many times at Cannes, and so has Steven Spielberg, obviously, going back to E.T. What is it about Cannes that works for this particular franchise?

GL: Well, it's always fun to come to Cannes. It's a nice place, when it's not raining, and... for us, it's a chance to sort of bring it out and have it open on a very big stage, and in a place where everybody loves movies, which is also great. It's also, in terms of a practical level, a place where all the media meet, so you get to do this part of it in a convenient way that you wouldn't... because otherwise, we'd have to go traveling all around the world, which we are gonna have to do a little bit of, but at the same time, it cuts down on that, and it's a festive and fun way of handling that whole drama.

Is it low-risk?

GL: I think it's probably, in terms of what we were talking about before with those people who write about movies, it's probably a higher risk, but in terms of... let's just have a good time and just let it be out there and let everyone enjoy it, it's good because it... You have the choice of premiering it here or in London or New York or L.A., so why not here where it's that much more fun?

Cinematical: Shia, you were in Transformers, which was a very large computer-effects-driven film. Was it different being on a slightly more analog set: more stunts, more props, more physical objects, and not just staring where a robot's supposed to be? Was it a different filming experience despite the scale of the film?

SL: Absolutely. Yeah, it's learning a whole new skill set. Transformers, a lot of it is reactionary, where you're not part of the physical action, and this is very different. It's acquiring skill sets that take time to learn. There's no way to trick yourself into learning them, you have to learn them.

Like, what did you have to learn?

SL: Motorcycle riding, sword fighting. It was four-and-a-half months prep. The knife took time. These are physical skill sets that I... I don't have a switchblade, I'm a Jewish kid from Echo Park. (Laughs) So those things are very different.

Is there much more CGI ... compared to the other three?

GL: No. Steven really wanted to do this the old-fashioned way. We did a little bit, but not very much. It's mostly matte paintings and things.

Shia, you've got another movie (Eagle Eye) coming out before the end of the summer?

SL: Yeah, September, I think.

And you're doing the Transformers sequel?

SL: Right.

How do you see your career now? Are you gonna be the new action go-to guy?

SL: Today, I'm in Indiana Jones, and that's okay. Just one day at a time. I take movies that I like to watch and I like to make. I don't think it's that strategic, I don't think I'm plotting and planning like that. Opportunities come up and then you take 'em, a play-it-by-ear type of thing.

Cinematical: There are very large heroic paintings of both of you on the front of this building, very high. Are you kind of inured to that, or is it still a little... either exhilarating or awkward to go by those?

CB: It was in my contract. (Laughs)

... Which speaks to something that fascinates me, because Indy is now, it's beyond the individual successes of the first three movies. It's now popular culture. Indiana Jones is actually a brand, it's an idea. Harrison Ford is now on the board of some archeological museum because he's Indiana Jones...

CB: That's really cool.

That is kind of cool, so ... you helped create it. What is it that you see in this that's parallel to your experience on Star Wars that's made this into the kind of pop cultural phenomenon that it is now?

GL: It's hard to really discuss how it happened, but once it has happened, I mean, I do have sort of two cultural icons. Fortunately, they're both positive and they both, especially Indiana Jones, has done a job of highlighting archeology and the social sciences around history, archeology, anthropology, all these sorts of searching for our past kinds of endeavors, and making them more interesting, especially to young people, that there is something to be said for digging up the past and sort of going through it and seeing what you can see and applying that to your current situation, which is what I'm a big fan of. It was my obsession. You talk to any archeologist now and they say, "oh, I was the original Indiana Jones" or "I got into this because of Indiana Jones", and it's not that exciting. It's exciting in an intellectual way, not in a physical way, although you do have to sit out in the sun for ten hours a day and bake, which is what the most real thing about this science is. ... The history's exciting. The whole thing is a way of sort of enlightening at least a younger generation and even an older generation to our past, exploring our past, and it helps that Indy gets on the board of museums and stuff so people will say "Hey, this isn't just an old place where they store old stuff, archeological stuff is a cool idea, let's go look at this stuff," and it does relate to an actual event. It's hard for a lot of people to take that thing that's in a museum and relate it to a person, and even if you're doing it through a fake person who's in between, the archeologist who actually does have to go out and dig the thing up, then you can understand that and you can understand how that begins to fit and go back further and further.

Is that why you financed these extraordinary '92 documentaries for the Young Indy box sets?

GL: Well, I'm a bit of a history maniac, and I always have been. It was my major in high school, and it was my major in college, and I really think that people should have a good clear picture of the past, and I think it is important to science and math and the other things that get pushed in the technological world to make us richer, to be able to build better things. It's also important for us to look back and see the psychological mistakes that were made or pressures that people were under and the good decisions that were made under horrendous conditions, and hopefully to learn from that, because we don't seem to be able to do that.

Harrison Ford was saying how McCarthyism comes up and how that's an example of what you've just been talking about. Is that a fair comment, the right to academic freedom?

GL: Yeah, fear, fear of the unknown, fear of not wanting to change, ultimately. That's a period of time that was interesting to me because of when I grew up, but at the same time, when there is a truly paranoid attitude toward Communism in particular, Russia or the Soviet Union, that was all created by – dare I say it – an unwillingness to talk to each other and sit down and try to settle the problems without rattling the sabers, and in that particular case, it became an economic war that, one side ran out of money before the other side did, although that other side ran out of money too, which we will soon find out, and it's like, when do you sort of get to the point where you sit down and realize there's this thing called diplomacy that, if you actually use it, it actually is a nice tool for human beings to sit down and come to a civil agreement rather than shooting each other in the head. I just wanted to say: this is history, learn from it. This is just a little piece from the beginning of the twentieth century.

Could we hear the actors talk about their favorite or the best memory you got from making this movie?

CB: I have to say, as a now mother of three, on the mushy side, I was just so amazed by what a tight-knit family you all are, I mean culturally as well as individuals. You've all grown up together, and how embracing you are, and my kids were so welcome on the set – in fact, Steven even let them direct me one day, they were highly critical. (Laughs) They would call "action," and he was highly welcoming to my family, and so that was really pretty special.

SL: I think the last day was powerful. Everybody seemed to be pretty tearful. I've never seen that in another movie before. It was powerful, it was a long time coming, and we'd gone through a lot, and that last day was... it was a powerful day. At that point, we'd already gone through the adventure, and just how warm everybody was, crew included, I mean everybody was really tight. Like Cate said, it was a tight-knit group.

GL: We started this movie to have a good time because we had a good time a long time ago doing the first three, and the three of us really enjoyed it and the most fun I ever had making movies was making Raiders of the Lost Ark, and that sort of set the tone for the whole reason we did this in the first place is, one: yes, we too wanted to see another Indiana Jones film, and we have the power to actually make it happen, we can see another one, and we love to watch them. We love this one, so, on top of that, we actually love making them. I mean, they're hard, and they've got their problems, but generally speaking, everybody has a great time. There's not a lot of crazy stress or anything. Everybody's very professional, working very hard, but also enjoying themselves, and it is sad when it ends. You say, gosh, it doesn't happen all the time on a picture. There are times where things are a little less than perfect. ...

Shia, has Harrison given you any advice on how to deal with all the added attention you're gonna get after this film, after Indiana Jones, and especially from the ladies?

SL: Harrison kinda laughs it all it off. Again, his star rose in a very different time, it was less tab-worthy. He also... He laughs at the mistakes. He came in at a different age, he wasn't 21 doing this, and it came later for him, and he laughs it off. He doesn't really give me any advice, he just sorta laughs at the scenario, and... no, I'm left the loner. (Laughs)

Do you get embarrassed when girls come up and ask for your autograph?

SL: Yeah, I can't deal with it yet; I get weirded out.

Cinematical.com,22/5/2008,written by James Rocchi

Tags: cate blanchett, entertaiment, film, george lucas, interview, harrison ford, indiana jones, kingdom of the crystal skull, movies, shia la beouf, steven spielberg

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Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull Behind the Scenes Part 3

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Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull Behind the Scenes Parts 1-2

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Indiana Jones 4: The Scripts That Weren't part 2

Script: Frank Darabont's INDIANA JONES 4 script

Writer: Frank Darabont (writer/director of The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile, and The Mist, among others)

Authenticity: Don't wet yourselves... WE DON'T HAVE A COPY. We've simply heard the rumors like everyone else.

However, that's not to say that there aren't fake versions of Darabont's script flying around out there. We've heard about one alleged Darabont draft that worked in a lot of "already announced" details with excerpts from other internet Indy 4 fakes. Most notably, this faker apparently borrowed heavily from the Indy and son storyline in the known-bogus Indiana Jones and the Sons of Darkness, a fan script (mistakenly attributed to Jeffrey Boam for a long while) written by a guy named Robert Smith, hoping to jump start his screenwriting career. (For more on the Sons of Darkness, go here.)

So if you read anything online about Indy and his son Abner looking for Noah's Ark, beware. Besides, even Darabont himself commented recently that the whole "Shia as the son of Indy" aspect never appeared in his script. He told MTV that "That’s a whole new element that’s been brought in. Shia? I don’t remember writing that character." Darabont also mentioned that he considered writing the script - a screenplay that apparently both Spielberg and Ford wanted to film until Lucas refused to accept it - "a waste of a year... At this point, I don't give much of a damn what George thinks, but I wouldn't want to harm my friendship with Steven". Darabont later told MTV that he wasn't holding a grudge and wanted to move on.

The two big questions surrounding Darabont's Indy 4 script are - "How much of Darabont's draft is David Koepp using?" and "Will Darabont appeal to the WGA to get a screenwriting credit?"

For hardcore Indy fans, who lovingly remember Darabont's work on the Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, there's a lot of buzz surrounding these questions. You can bet that if Darabont doesn't get credit on Indy 4, there are going to be a lot of people that COULD BE interested in making Darabont's draft public, so that the fan community can judge for themselves how much Frank contributed to the final product. (Much like how Brian Helgeland's original cut of Payback hit the bootleg circuit after Mel Gibson took over control of the film.)

Script: (Unsubstantiated) Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

Writer: George Lucas and David Koepp.... ALLEGEDLY

Authenticity: Weaker than weak. How about "flaccid"?

If you go to SuperShadow.com, you'll be introduced to SuperShadow, a man who claims to be "very close, personal friends with George Lucas" and alleges that his website "played a crucial role in the development of the Star Wars prequel trilogy." He even states that: "Lucas has acknowledged many times in public that SuperShadow is the best thing to ever happen to Star Wars" and that "SuperShadow.com is the official web site of George Lucas." (If you can find proof of ANY of these claims, then you're the real archeologist, not Dr. Jones.)

Mr. Shadow has created a formula that SUPPOSEDLY breaks down the plot of every Indiana Jones movie, and he claims to have detailed plot outlines for Indiana Jones 4 (and Indiana Jones 5 too!). The ONLY reason we're even mentioning this... ahem... "special" individual is that his plot summary has been re-pasted onto several message boards (with claims of its authenticity) and we don't want anyone unfamiliar with SS to be taken in by the... let's just say it... hoax.

The one thing you have to give SuperShadow credit for is his ability to take the tiny bits of information leaking out about the production and weave them into his flimsy narrative. If you've read the Vanity Fair article about Indy 4, saw some of the on-set photos from Yale, looked at the cast announcements, and read one or two interviews, you could've written a similar plot summary.

Basically, it claims that Abner Ravenwood, Indy's mentor and Marion's father, was even more interested in the Crystal Skulls than the Lost Ark, but apparently, he never mentioned it much. When Indy's colleague Hawthorne (Jim Broadbent's character) brings Indy a crystal skull to examine in the 1950s, the Russians kill Hawthorne and take the skull, leaving Indy and his student Mutt to track it down. The Commies capture Indy and Mutt and, by an AMAZING coincidence, they're also holding Marion, who admits that (unbeknown to ANYONE) that Mutt is Indy's son. It gets worse from there.

CONCLUSION:

Don't believe the hype. If you read online that someone's read a script for Indiana Jones 4, take it with a BIG, BIG GRAIN OF SALT. This is one of the most anticipated movies in YEARS, so you know that the security surrounding the project is airtight. (Well, except for the image debacle a few months ago... and the Russian dancer extra who ignored his non-disclosure agreement... never mind.) If you read anything about Indy and the Monkey King, Saucer Men, Sword of Arthur, Sons of Darkness, Lost City of Atlantis, or a Tomb of Ice - smile, nod, and check your calendar again. Memorial Day 2008 simply can't get here fast enough.

The Deadbolt.com,written by Tom Burns

Tags: entertaiment, film, george lucas, harrison ford, indiana jones, kingdom of the crystal skull, movies, steven spielberg

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Indiana Jones 4: The Scripts That Weren't part 1

Admit it, movie nerds. As soon as the lights went up on The Last Crusade back in 1989, you immediately turned to your friends and started to argue about whether or not Indiana Jones would ever return to the big screen. Theatre lobbies around the world were filled with shouts of "How do you top the Holy Grail?!", "He rode off into the sunset!", and "It's called The LAST Crusade, moron!" as Indy fans struggled to come to terms that the Man in the Hat, alas, might never come back. Things probably seemed fairly bleak until George Lucas announced his Star Wars prequels, and the fan community realized that if King George is crazy/stubborn enough to bring back the galaxy far, far away, then maybe things weren't so hopeless for our favorite Nazi-punching archeologist.

After almost 19 years in development, this Memorial Day Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull will bring Harrison Ford and his fedora back to silver screen. While we don't know much about the plot , it's safe to say that over 19 years, the story has probably evolved and changed considerably. Lucas and Spielberg have had a small army of well-known screenwriters trying to hammer out another Indy sequel since 1989, a select club that includes Jeff Nathanson, Frank Darabont, Jeffrey Boam, Jeb Stuart, and Mr. Twist himself, M. Night Shyamalan. According to reports, David Koepp, the film's final screenwriter, had the job of taking all of the previous drafts, mining out the best bits, and assembling them into a story that pleased Lucas, Spielberg, and Ford to return to their action-serial roots.

Some of the early scripts have seen the light of day, even making it online, while others are as hard to locate as footage of Eric Stoltz as Marty McFly in Back to the Future (Look it up, it's true). Since, as some outlets have suggested and reported, Koepp's script is allegedly an amalgam of past drafts and new material, we here at The Deadbolt have taken a look at a couple of the defunct scripts and all of the information surrounding the early works to see what secrets might be hidden. Who knows, maybe they'll shed some light on where Indy is heading in Chapter 4? We're also going to explore what we've heard surrounding a couple of fake Indy 4 scripts that have made the online rounds (believe us, they're everywhere), so you'll hopefully know a B.S. spoiler when you see one.

So grab your whip, don't eat those dates, and step into the alternate universe of Indiana Jones movies that never happened.

Script: INDIANA JONES AND THE MONKEY KING

Writer: Chris Columbus (writer of The Goonies, but you know him best as the director of Home Alone and the first two Harry Potter movies)

Authenticity: Strong. (Though there is some debate regarding which draft is available on the internet and whether or not that draft has been tinkered with.) Spielberg and Lucas have both confirmed that Columbus did work on a Monkey King-themed script. Here's the thing - this script originated back in 1985 and was supposed to be the follow-up to Temple of Doom. Ultimately, it didn't work out, however. Spielberg told theraider.net: "Chris writes comedy brilliantly and his script was very humorous ... It was upbeat and full of the same nostalgia that we tapped into in Raiders of the Lost Ark, so in that sense Chris was right on the money. But I don't think any of us wanted to go to Africa for four months and try to get Indy to ride a rhinoceros in a multi-vehicular chase, which was one of the sequences Chris had written." It was rumored that the script was retooled following Last Crusade as a possible Indy 4, but this has yet to be confirmed.

Plot: Indy heads to Africa to find the lost civilization of Sun Wu-Kung, the legendary Chinese Monkey King, who is said to have a Garden of Immortal Peaches that can grant eternal life.

The Good: Say what you will about Columbus, but the man knows how to write action. His Monkey King script is filled with elaborately-imagined action sequences, which would've made this a $200 million dollar movie, even back in 1985. Apparently, Spielberg liked the action so much, he borrowed some of Columbus' set pieces for Last Crusade (the Venice boat chase and the tank pursuit both have their origins in this script). Plus, even though the general public (i.e. cargo pants-wearing Americans) don't know much about the Monkey King, Columbus gets points for adding a Chinese deity to the canon of other Jones-discovered religious artifacts.

The Bad: Yes, Columbus can write action, but he writes pure-bred CRAZY action, crazy on a level that's appropriate for the Mummy movies, but not Indiana Jones. There IS a sequence where Indy rides a rhino while chasing a tank, and there's an extended battle at the end with Indy organizing an army of African pygmies and super-smart gorillas to battle an army of Nazis Ewok-style. No fooling, there's a bit where the gorilla starts driving a tank. Plus it opens with a bizarre sequence where Indy is fighting a banshee in a Scottish castle and it has NO relevance to the rest of the story (just something that happened on his vacation). He's not a Ghostbuster or Fox Mulder, he's an archeologist!

The Ugly: Beyond the implausibility of Columbus' script, there's also a disturbing undercurrent of stereotyping and misogyny. There is literally a part where Indy's lovelorn grad student, Betsy, attempts to commit suicide again and again because Dr. Jones won't return her affection, and Indy couldn't care less. (He's mad that she almost ruins his whip by trying to hang herself with it.) And Betsy remains a punching-bag for the rest of the script. If that wasn't bad enough, the foreigners are all painted with such ridiculously broad strokes - the Scots are all drunks, the Africans are simple primitives - that it's cringe-worthy. And we're not even getting to the fact that Indy DIES at the end of the The Monkey King, only to be resurrected by Sun Wu-Kung, who tells Dr. Jones that he has enjoyed watching his adventures from the heavens. How do you say "lame" in Chinese?

Script: INDIANA JONES AND THE SAUCER MEN FROM MARS

Writer: Jeb Stuart (writer of Die Hard and The Fugitive)

Authenticity: Pretty good. We know Stuart worked on an Indy script, and the Indy fan community seems to vouch for its authenticity. The real juicy part is that this is one of the few scripts that have made its way to the public that was officially written post-Last Crusade as an Indy 4 candidate AND that uses the special "MacGuffin" that Lucas demanded for Indy's fourth adventure.

Plot: Set in the 1950s, Indy gets left at the altar by his linguist fiancée (no foolin'), so he follows her to White Sands, New Mexico, where he discovers that the U.S. Government has obtained a strange alien knick-knack from a crashed flying-saucer. But both the Russians (and some little green men) want the artifact for themselves.

The Good: Any hardcore Indy fanboy would LOVE the wedding portion of the script - not because Indy takes the plunge (he falls in love very early), but because of all the cameos. Not only does Henry Jones Sr. show up again as the best man, but we get Sallah and Short Round as ushers and Willie Scott and Marion Ravenwood show up to take Indy out drinking after he gets dumped. (The best exchange is when Marion and Willie mentioned that they can't believe that Indy found someone, and Sallah comments, "You mean other than yourselves?") The script also does a nice job of working in references to Indiana's age and how the good doctor is functioning in the 1950s. (We learn that he was an American spy during World War II.)

The Bad: For an Indiana Jones story, there's a disturbing lack of globe-trotting in "Saucer Men from Mars." Aside from an opening sequence in Borneo, Indy travels between New Jersey and New Mexico, and that's it. Talk about the most boring map montage ever. And, like we mentioned, like James Bond in Casino Royale, Indy finally does say "I love you" in this script and it's really early on. The problem is that Stuart never really shows us why Dr. Elaine McGregor is so noteworthy or alluring. She's simply "the girl" in the story, and she makes you long for Karen Allen or, hell, even Allison Doody. Finally, some of the 1950s American government/A-Bomb/Roswell conspiracy stuff is handled pretty heavy-handedly. There's a ridiculous moment where Indy survives an atomic blast at a bomb test site by hiding in a refrigerator. "Duck and cover" was plausible back then, but now... sheesh.

The Ugly: What we've heard about this makes us nervous about the alien aspects of Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. The aliens within Saucer Men are seemingly beyond generic - an apparent mixture of the aliens from Close Encounters and Signs with even less backstory. It also features a stone cylinder - an ET power source - covered in markings that hint that the aliens have been coming to Earth for centuries. For some unknown reason, it's also a ticking time bomb that needs to be placed in a specific altar on a specific mountain or else... bad stuff will happen. That's all the explanation that's given. The Ark, the Sankara Stones, and the Holy Grail all had centuries of mythology to wrap around those artifacts. This Saucer Men alien icon has nothing - we get weird Communion-esque aliens and a flying saucer dogfight that feels like something out of Independence Day. Thank God, Lucas actually used something out of real archeology - the Crystal Skulls (though their origins are widely debated) - to tie in the alien aspect of Indy 4 rather than this new age mess.

The Deadbolt.com,written by Tom Burns

Tags: entertaiment, film, george lucas, harrison ford, indiana jones, kingdom of the crystal skull, movies, steven spielberg

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Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull Characters

Mutt Williams

No Indy adventure is complete without at least one sidekick.

In addition to his partner, Mac, Indy is joined by young Mutt Williams. Mutt is a greaser straight out of American Grafitti. He's tough, loves his motorcycle, and knows just how to get under Indy's skin. Expect plenty of banter between the two as their quest hits one snag after another.

For whatever reason, Mutt knows about the Crystal Skull and enlists Indy's help in tracking it down. This has forced some to speculate that Harold Oxley, the character who went missing in search of it, is connected to Mutt.
There has also been a good deal of speculation that Mutt is actually Indy's son. This is certainly possible, as the two share a more than passing resemblance and a love for danger. However, Steven Spielberg has dismissed any theories, instead encouraging fans to simply enjoy the fun and adventure of another Indiana Jones movie. Mutt may well be Indy's son, but don't count on this plot point being a major part of the movie.

Marion Ravenwood


Short Round was wrong about one thing. There is time for love, Dr. Jones.

While fans have always pictured Indy as a James Bond figure when it comes to romance, he's bucking the trend for this film by reuniting with an old flame.

Marion Ravenwood, Indy's love interest from Raiders of the Lost Ark, returns for another adventure. Like Indy, Marion is getting up there in years, but time has done little to dull her beauty or her gusto. The two originally met and fell in love because Marion's father was a colleague of Indy's. With Prof. Ravenwood also reportedly appearing in Crystal Skull, it's likely he has some hand in bringing the on-again, off-again lovers together.

Irina Spalko

Indy has squared off with some intimidating villains in his adventures, mostly of the Arabian or Nazi variety. A lot can change in two decades, though.

The Third Reich has given way to the Iron Curtain. The Soviet army has become the latest target of Indy's bullwhip, and his prime nemesis is the beautiful but deadly Irina Spalko.

Unlike many of Indy's enemies, Spalko prefers to do her killing with a fencing blade or her bare hands. Somehow, we doubt that Indy will be able to dispatch her as easily as he did the Arabian market swordsman in the first movie. Much like Dr. Elsa Schneider from The Last Crusade, Indy finds himself caught in a love/hate relationship as his attraction for Spalko comes into conflict with her desire to kill him.

George "Mac" McHale

Time and contractual obligations have cruelly taken away two of our favorite Indy characters – Sallah and Marcus Brody. Replacing Sallah as Indy's occasional partner and right-hand-man is Mac. While Mac is handy to have around in a firefight, he's not necessarily as unflinchingly loyal as Sallah was. Mac is as much an archaeological competitor as he is a friend to Indy, and their relationship can best be described as troubled.

Dean Charles Stanforth
Whereas the rough and tumble Mac fills in for Sallah, Dean Stanforth replaces Marcus Brody as the brains of Indy's ragtag outfit.

Dean Stanforth heads up Yale and is often a friendly and helpful voice for the aging adventurer. If he takes after Brody at all, expect Stanforth to be unwillingly dragged into all manner of death-defying circumstances.

IGN.com,7/5/2008,written by Jesse Schedeen

Tags: characters, entertaiment, film, george lucas, harrison ford, indiana jones, kingdom of the crystal skull, movies, steven spielberg

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Cannes 2008: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull Press Conference (video) Parts 3-4

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Cannes 2008: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull Press Conference (video) Parts 1-2

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Cannes 08: Shia LaBeouf Star of Next Indiana Jones?

Journos from across the world have been interviewing the stars of Indy IV today in Cannes, with several of the key players letting slip there may be further whip-crackery in the future, though with less of the titular archeologist himself.

Firstly, speaking to Fox News, George Lucas commented, "I haven't even told Steven [Spielberg] or Harrison this but I have an idea to make Shia LaBeouf (who plays Mutt) the lead character next time and have Harrison come back like Sean Connery did in the last movie (Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade). I can see it working out."

Harrison Ford, in a conversation with MTV, was also questioned about potentially being the supporting character next time round. "I have no cheeky answer for [that]. I just work here. I'm glad to work here," he said. "Till they tell me otherwise, I will continue to be Indiana Jones."

LaBaouf meanwhile added fuel to the fire, saying, "I know Harrison would love to [continue]. Is there going to be an 80-year-old Indiana Jones? No one can say never." The Transformers star continued: "Mutt's pretty wild [but] it's all about what the public feels. I know if it's received well, that's a pretty definite indicator. If it's received well, I don't imagine they would stop making them."
Rotten Tomatoes,19/5/2008,written by Orlando Parfitt

Tags: indiana jones, kingdom of the crystal skull, harrison ford, george lucas, development, steven spielberg, shia la beouf, movies, film, entertaiment

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Cannes 2008: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull Press Conference

Steven Spielberg and George Lucas were on hand with the cast to answer questions about the film. Of course, many of the questions were directed at Ford and Spielberg, but a few were tossed to other cast members as well.

Spielberg, asked whose idea it was to revisit the franchise, said that the idea first came up when Harrison Ford said at the Academy Awards several years back that he'd be interested in wearing Indy's hat again; he noted that he was the hardest to convince that the world really wanted another Indy film. Asked whether there will be further sequels, Spielberg said that that depends on whether people want one, and that they'll keep an ear to the ground to gauge audience reaction to Kingdom of the Crystal Skull; if there's interest, though, he said there will be more to come. So, good news for all you Indy fans out there.

Ford was asked whether he fears critical reaction to the film. He smirked and replied that, look, this is a popular film, and we know that with a film like this, a certain critical element will be negative to that, it's expected. He said that he doesn't pay attention to those critics, and that a film like this is made not for film critics, but for the people who will buy the tickets. Those people, not critics, are his audience, they are who he makes movies for.

Cate Blanchett and Ford were asked if, at a festival like Cannes, there is pressure to put on the "star attitude." Blanchett replied that she takes her cues from Ford on that; he said simply that he doesn't really know what a "star attitude" is, that he thinks of himself not as a star, but as just a movie actor with a job to do.

Shia LeBeouf was asked what the most difficult stunts were in the films; he answered that the jeep chase sequence was tough because it was grueling and shot over several days, but that the motorcycle chase scene (his character has Indy on the back of a motorcycle as they are being chased across the college campus by KGB agents) was the hardest though, because if he made one wrong move and Ford got hurt, "that would be the end of the movie."

Asked about the Cold War elements of the film, Spielberg noted that the film is set in 1957; we've transitioned out of World War 2 and Nazis, and now there's a new enemy for Indiana to go up against. He talked a bit about a scene in the film where Indy is seen, in his hat, silhouetted against a mushroom cloud, and felt that scene in particular sets the time and the tone and adds depth to the film. He talked about growing up in the Cold War era under the threat of communism and nuclear bombs, of air raid drills and fear, and said that this is the mood on which the film is based.

Blanchett was asked how it felt to finally get to be in an Indiana Jones film; she replied that she'd always wanted to be one of the ladies in the Indy films, but that when she couldn't convince Spielberg to make her a heroine, she was delighted to take on the challenge of playing a villain with a great haircut. She also laughingly apologized to Russian fans of the film for her Russian accent in the film.

Lucas and Spielberg talked about the decision to screen the film at Cannes simultaneously with press screenings around the world, saying they felt that it was both more fun and more fair to allow all the press to see the film at once, rather than the usual layered screenings which give certain "elite" press earlier access to films than others.

One journalist slipped in a question about Tintin, which Spielberg will direct with Peter Jackson producing. He said he'd not even been aware of Tintin as a material until he saw critics writing about it, but that it's a great property for a film franchise. He confirmed that there will be three films based on three of the Tintin books (though he wouldn't reveal which ones) and that they'll be shot with motion capture.

Spielberg was asked about the theft of film stills from the set, and how they managed to keep the storyline mostly under wraps. It was pretty obvious he's still angered by that event, but he said simply that yes, it's true the stills were stolen, that they were stills from basically the first two-thirds of the film, which "some website" (he wouldn't talk directly about which one) got ahold of them, and that they had to shut them down from publishing the stills and spoiling the film. Beyond that, he said they kept things under wraps by making sure only certain key people had the full script and keeping it out of the hands of the talent's agents and PR people, and by just not talking about it.

George Lucas, asked about the Crystal Skull and whether he really believes in the legend, noted that all the Indy films have legendary artifacts with supposed supernatural powers, it's part of the franchise, and that "I don't have to believe in them, I just have to believe that there are people out there who believe in them."

On the subject of special effects and use of CGI, Spielberg said that he prefers to shoot his films on actual sets, that they have had excellent art directors for all the Indy films, and that it's very difficult for any actors to act realistically against nothing but a blue screen. Ford was asked whether he really did his own stunts; he replied that "I don't do stunts, I do physical acting" and that the facial expressions of the character are just as important as the action in conveying the meaning of those scenes. He said that if a scene could not be set up by the stunt team such that it was something he could realistically do, it wasn't done.

The question of how much of the film is hard-scripted versus improvisation came up; Spielberg said that they have the entire thing storyboarded out, but that he always leaves room for improv in there, as the set is "very collaborative." He said that Ford might have an idea about how to shoot a particular scene, or Blanchett about how to play the villain, or Allen might want to add a line that she feels Marian Ravenwood would say, and that he likes to keep open for that, see what happens, and use what works.

Ford and Allen were asked what it was like to work with Spielberg again after 20 years; Ford noted that, as good a director as Spielberg was when they shot the first Indiana Jones, he's even more of a genius now, he completely trusts him as a director, and he's "a genius."

Cinematical.com,18/5/2008,written by Kim Voynar

Tags: cannes, entertaiment, film, george lucas, harrison ford, indiana jones, kingdom of the crystal skull, movies, press conference, steven spielberg

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Cannes 2008: Indiana Jones Premiere photos

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Tags: cannes, entertaiment, film, george lucas, harrison ford, indiana jones, kingdom of the crystal skull, movies, photos, premiere, steven spielberg

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