THE RETURN OF THE GREAT ADVENTURE
Spielberg, Lucas and Ford Re-Team for an Adventure Worthy of the
Name INDIANA JONES
Like its predecessors, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the
Crystal Skull is distinguished from anything else in the
cinema landscape by Steven Spielberg’s unparalleled vision,
George Lucas’s limitless imagination and Harrison Ford’s
embodiment of a timeless adventure hero.
From his first appearance nearly 27 years ago, Indiana Jones
has become one of the most beloved heroes of the silver screen,
and almost since the day 1989’s Indiana Jones and the
Last Crusade was released, audiences all over the world have
announced their collective desire for another Indiana Jones adventure.
“We created Indiana Jones, but it
belongs to the world,” says director Steven Spielberg.
“And now we’re the custodians.
Our job really is to serve up a huge helping not only of what
Indiana Jones means to audiences who grew up with it, but to introduce
the character to those who haven’t. This new film is for
the fans.”
Executive producer and co-story writer, George Lucas, says his
goal was to create an experience that will transport audiences
into an all-new adventure set in a familiar world - a world that
generations of fans have come to know and love. “The
style is the same, the humor is the same. Everything feels the
same. But we’ve also been able to build on it. The relationships
we have on the set and the ones on the screen are stronger and
better and more fun than they’ve ever been,”
Lucas says.
Few actors have been as inextricably identified with a character
as Harrison Ford is with Indiana Jones - and he returned to the
role with all the style and swagger that helped turn the archaeologist-adventurer
into a cinema icon. “Having been out
in the world making all kinds of other movies, I was happy to
do another Indiana Jones film, just because they’re so damned
much fun to do,” Ford says. “I
love being in business again with Steven and George, and I’ve
had a great time on this one.”
Spielberg calls Ford’s casting the most important element
in the unique alchemy of Indiana Jones. “More
important than my directing it, more important than all the writers
that came in, more important than almost the sum of all of its
parts, was the fact that this series would not have been as successful
as it was if it were not for Harrison Ford playing that role,”
says Spielberg. “Harrison is at home
in the skin of Indiana Jones.”
For years after the release of Last Crusade, Spielberg
harbored a belief that the time for Indiana Jones had ended. “I
shot Indiana Jones riding a horse into the sunset because I thought
that brought the curtain down on the story,” he remarks.
“And in a sweet, nostalgic way, that
was fine with me at the time. But there were some people who weren’t
fine with it - and this movie really started with the fans.”
It took the energy, enthusiasm and persistence of Harrison Ford
to inspire the team to reunite for another adventure. “Harrison
called me and said, ‘Why don’t we make another one
of these pictures? There’s a fan base out there that wants
it,’” Spielberg recalls. “He
was tenacious. He called George, and George got to thinking about
it, and then George called me and said, ‘Well, Steve, what
do you want to do? It could be fun to make another movie.’”
“I have to give the credit to Harrison
for starting the ball rolling and then to George for working to
get me to consider the possibility of at least one more story,”
Spielberg says.
Together, Spielberg, Lucas and Ford agreed that they would only
pursue a fourth Indiana Jones adventure if the idea - and the
execution - were up to the standards of the first three movies.
It took 19 years to find just the right script - and one of the
first points of agreement between the three was that 19 years
should pass for Indiana Jones, too. “He
is certainly older, if not wiser,” Ford jokes.
Thanks to Bryan Babich and 'nz-lc' for the heads up.
