Spielberg, Ford and Lucas on Indy IV Exclusive: Dream team talk sequel
Getting one of the Indiana Jones triumvirate to talk about the fourth sequel is a rare opportunity, but getting George Lucas, Steven Spielberg and Harrison Ford to spill at the same time is as infrequent as finding a needle in a haystack under some hen's teeth on a blue moony night at the end of a month of Sundays.
But Empire was lucky enough to speak with the trio as part of our massive Indiana Jones 25th anniversary celebrations and it seems that Indy IV is going to be a tad controversial.
“We’re basically going to do The Phantom Menace”, says Lucas (stay with him here, he’s making a point). “People’s expectations are way higher than you can deliver. You could just get killed for the whole thing…We would do it for fun and just take the hit with the critics and the fans...But nobody wants to get into it unless they are really happy with it”.
The ‘damned if you do, damned if you don’t’ situation has freed up an idea for a plot that was originally deemed too incendiary.
“I discovered a McGuffin,” continues Lucas, still reluctant to name said McGuffin. “I told the guys about it and they were a little dubious about it, but it’s the best one we’ve ever found… Unfortunately, it was a little too ‘connected’ for the others. They were afraid of what the critics would think. They said, “Can’t we do it with a different McGuffin? Can’t we do this?” and I said “No”. So we pottered around with that for a couple of years. And then Harrison really wanted to do it and Steve said, “Okay”. I said, “We’ll have to go back to that original MacGuffin and take out the offending parts of it and we’ll still use that area of the supernatural do deal with it”.
“Hopefully it will be different in all the right ways and the same in all the familiar ways,” adds Spielberg.
As for timing, Lucas says that filming is scheduled for mid-2007, for a 2008 release but getting the gang back together is a tricky proposition. “Before I was just working with Steven and Harrison. Now everybody’s a superstar, so it’s a little bit more difficult than it was then”. “But there’s a good chance it will happen,” assures Ford. “There are things left for this character to do”.
For more on Indy IV, plus over 30 pages of celebration of the Indiana Jones series, featuring interviews with every cast and crew member you can think of (except the monkey) pick up a copy of the new issue of Empire, on sale from August 25.
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Read that the new title will be Indiana Jones and the Ravages of Time. Sounds ok, therefore, will Lucus' macguffin regard some sort of time/supernatural element as well as a nod to Ford's age? ... Read More
It's a theory going around the Indy forums. Another name for Garden of Eden, however if that were the 'McGuffin' It could still be controversial (as George has apparently mentioned in the interview) because of the Islamic belief that a soul when a person dies goes to paradise, not too far off from Chrisitianity's heaven. It may be possible that Eden is one and the same. It can be a film that relates to both death and rebirth. And with the addition of the heavily rumoured "Indy's daughter" ... Read More
What is the garden of life? Is it similiar to the fountain of youth, because if it is, I think it would work well with Indy's aging problem and create a nice dillemma for an aging hero: Do I drink to stay young and keep fighting evil or do I pass and accept that my time is coming to an end? But then again, the holy grail offered eternal life already, so that may be too much of a repeated idea. ... Read More
Your last post seemed rather angry, not to mention chock full of beautiful mental images, so let me attempt somewhat of a truce, if at all possible. This shall be done via the adressing of a few points. (dont worry not all of the same 9 from the last few posts)
1. When I mentioned the quick shooting of the movies, I was trying to get the point across that Spielberg was more concerned with the movies being fun than perfect, so the hair thing becomes small and completely unimportant. ... Read More
Your last post seemed rather angry, not to mention chock full of beautiful mental images, so let me attempt somewhat of a truce, if at all possible. This shall be done via the adressing of a few points. (dont worry not all of the same 9 from the last few posts)
1. When I mentioned the quick shooting of the movies, I was trying to get the point across that Spielberg was more concerned with the movies being fun than perfect, so the hair thing becomes small and completely unimpor... Read More
My theory is the 'Garden of Life." The other theories posted in this thread are already games, books and comics. Some are also rumours already debunked. ... Read More
Thank you for condescending to put me in my place. You certainly told me!!! By way of punishment I've amended my original comments:
1. You're right, the opening sequence is absolutely brilliant. And characters such as Indiana Jones are much more interesting with their mystique removed.
2. As you say, Spielberg shot the film so quickly Harrison Ford wouldn't have had time to grow his hair between takes. I must be punished for that one. By the way, what's a 'filp-flub'?
3. Since you gr... Read More
this is good news, and I hope geroge Lucas chooses Natalie Portman to play miss Jones, cause it wil look like han solo and padme together, and I hope the natzi's fight in it too. I hope its about some thing about god, like maybe the stick moses used. ... Read More
