Alchemist253 writes "George Lucas has announced that the script for the long-rumored fourth Indiana Jones film has been finalized and is to begin filming this year, with Harrison Ford once again in front of the camera. From the article: 'In a statement, the 64-year-old Ford said he was ready for another turn as the globe-trotting archaeologist. "I'm delighted to be back in business with my old friends," he said. "I don't know if the pants still fit, but I know the hat will."' All three of the earlier movies were shot in the 80s. How well do you think this character is going to translate into a movie made today?
From Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade [imdb.com] Panama Hat: This is the second time I've had to reclaim my property from you. Indiana Jones: That belongs in a museum. Panama Hat: So do you.
I wonder if they're going to have Nazis in this movie, now that Harrison Ford has been aging for decades.
Either the Nazis will come out of a time warp in the 1960s, or maybe they'll continue to set the movie pre-WWII and explain that Indiana aged 25 years instantly when he decided to open that box and peek inside the Ark, just for a second, with sunglasses on.
I can't find a copy of the quote, but I recall hearing that after Schindler's List and Saving Private Ryan Spielberg had sworn off using Nazis as generic semi-comic villains.
A twenty-years-aged Indy will probably be fighting cartoon Commies rather than cartoon Nazis. Perhaps Chinese ones.
All three of the earlier movies were shot in the 80s. How well do you think this character is going to translate into a movie made today?
The originals were all done in the pulp-action adventure style that was popularized fifty and sixty years ago - I doubt that it'll somehow be less attractive now than it was when the genre was only thirty years old.
Also, all three may have been shot in the eighties, but they took place in the forties, so it's not like we're going to see an Indiana Jones trying to come to terms with teh Intarwebs.
On the other hand, twenty-some odd years later... hey, an Indiana Jones that took place in the sixties might have real potential.
I honestly hope they DON'T ditch the pulp fiction feel of it.
What the entertainment industry lacks currently is light stuff like pulp fiction, be it books, movies, or tv shows (I will admit that the day and age of the radio drama are probably gone, though they could be revived via the use of netcasts).
I have honestly been goign back and reading some of the old stuff (before my time) jsut because it is hard to find anytihng like it that is current. After all, I can only take so many pieces that are trying to be high-brow/intelectual/witty/etc. Every so often I need something that is just pure release and nothing else.
> I honestly hope they DON'T ditch the pulp fiction feel of it.
[Int. ancient temple. Indy's female love-interest-du-jour has a cartoonish Nazi at gunpoint.]
Indy: Bring out the Gimp. Nazi: The Gimp is sleeping, Herr Jones. Love-interest-du-jour: It's fantastic! The chamber must extend 60 meters... Indy: Shit, they ain't got the metric system in ancient Egypt. They wouldn't know what the fuck a meter is. Love-interest-du-jour: Then what would they call it? Indy: A cubit.
[Love-interest-du-jour accidentally shoots Nazi in the head, splattering brains everywhere.]
Love-interest-du-jour: Oh man, I shot that Nazi in the face. Indy: Why the fuck did you do that! Love-interest-du-jour: Well, I didn't mean to do it, it was an accident! Indy: Oh man I've seen some crazy ass shit in my time... Love-interest-du-jour: Chill out, man. I told you it was an accident. You probably set off a booby trap by stepping on that "X" right there. Indy: "X" never, ever marks the spot, bitch! Love-interest-du-jour: Hey, look man, I didn't mean to shoot the son of a bitch. The gun went off. I don't know why. Indy: No, let me ask you a question. When you came in here, did you see a hieroglyphic out in front of this temple that said Dead Nazi Storage? Love-interest-du-jour: Indy, you know I ain't seen no... Indy: Did you see a hieroglyphic out in front of this temple that said Dead Nazi Storage? Love-interest-du-jour: [pause] No. I didn't. Indy: You know WHY you didn't see that hieroglyphic? Love-interest-du-jour: Why? Indy: 'Cause it ain't there, 'cause storing dead Nazis ain't my fucking business, that's why!
Lucas said he and Steven Spielberg recently finalized the script for the film.
"It's going to be fantastic. It's going to be the best one yet," the 62-year-old filmmaker said
This from the guy who can be heard in the making of the Phantom Menace saying about Jar Jar Binks: "we've never had a character this funny before".
Does anybody else remember when Indiana Jones's hat was deposited in some Hollywood museum (under glass) and they made a press conference about how there would never be another one? Apparently Lucas doesn't. Presumably he was holding out for the script that allowed him to shoot the entire movie in CG except for Harrison Ford.
Indy 4 will be shot in the old-fashioned way with lots of use of stuntmen rather than CGI effects. It's one of the few things confirmed about the project. And remember, Spielberg is directing this, not Lucas.
I know how you feel, but remember when your parents kept telling you when you were a kid about how cool the 60s were, and it felt like they were talking about a different geological era? Well, that's what these kids today think about the 80s. And much like our parents told us, we can tell today's youth that their music sux0rs compared to the stuff we had back in our day.
Is it me or is there a staggering paucity of new ideas around at the moment. If you discount the remakes and the 'let's do another one's there's precious little around now that's truly original. Much as I loved the Indianna Jones movies can't we have a new hero once in a while.
There are plenty of new ideas around. Thousands, millions of them. You can bet your bottom dollar that Hollywood is absolutely crammed to bursting with smart, dynamic writers with amazingly edgy, groundbreaking, intelligent film scripts, any one of which could, if made, become an iconic classic, a milestone in modern cinema, a fixture of pop culture to come. You have your ideas, I'm sure. I know I do too. There is no shortage of ideas.
The problem is the, studios don't care about movies. They don't care about creating new icons. They care about money. And nothing else. And when you want to make money, you don't take risks, you make safe movies. Cash cows. Sequels to existing successful movies are by far the most reliable of these. Even most original movies you will find slot neatly into pre-existing genre templates. There's the teen comedy movie, the action movie, the romantic comedy, the animated kids' movie, and so on, and so on. It's all numbers.
The other problem is the viewing audience. They don't want to see new things. While there is less money at stake, they, too, want a safe movie. They go to movie theaters to see something they are pretty sure will entertain them. Out-there, avant-garde movies do not appeal to the general public - at least, not to the most profitable movie-going demographics. Therefore making a stunningly imaginative new movie is risky - it's a risk for punters to see it, which makes it a risk for studios to make it, which is why they are so rarely made.
Also, movies are a global market. An explosion translates far better into a foriegn language than subtle dialog. Special effect blockbusters do much better overseas than a witty drama (much of which can be lost in the translation).
That being said, there are more indie movies available now that there ever were... you just have to see them on cable, or on netflix, or whatever.
All three of the earlier movies were shot in the 80s. How well do you think this character is going to translate into a movie made today?
Depends on who has the most influence on the movie: if Spielberg then I think it'll be a fun romp, if Lucas then I'm afraid it'll turn into a moralistic pile o' crap (see "Star Wars Prequels").
Lucas has already said he's tried to reedit the earlier movies to make Indy more "heroic" (I believe that he wanted to edit or remove the "Indy pulls his guns on the sword wielding baddies and shots 'em dead on the spot" scene from the first film a'la "Greedo shoots first". Spielberg wouldn't allow him).
What an idiot. I don't care whether Greedo shot first, but that scene was by far the funniest thing in the entire Indiana Jones series, and removing it would be as dumb as letting Lucas write dialog of any kind.
I've heard that the scene with the crazy sword-spinning guy was another Ford improvisation - they had planned an elaborate sword vs. whip duel (Indy had lost his gun someplace) but Ford was too sick to film it and suggested "can't I just shoot him?".
This movie has been in the works for easily 10 years. There have been dozens of scripts by multiple writers that have been repetitively rejected.
In order to preserve the original trilogy as one of the best in American film history, only a damn good script would make it past Ford/Lucas/Spielberg.
Personally? I can hardly wait another year and a half for it. A fourth movie is long overdue.
Yeah, that could have been bad:
*glucas has rejected script1
*glucas has rejected script2
*glucas has rejected script3 ...
*glucas has rejected script4
*glucas has rejected script5
glucas: Bantha pudu, all of it. I'll write the script.
*glucas pounds on keyboard for 37 minutes
glucas: There! A rollicking adventure about Indie finding a lost island and a chest full of cursed Aztec gold.
Well the knight who was guarding the grail also aged despite drinking from the grail regularly (one would imagine). The grail seems to severely slow down aging, but perhaps only through frequent use (the knight did say something about staying in the temple being the price and limitation of the grail's power)
My guess would be that they'll set it forward quite a few years and make up Ford and Connery to look a bit younger. iirc, in the old "Young Indiana Jones" tv series you saw a very very old Indiana Jone
Watch the movie again, the old man guarding the grail mentions that the grails effects only work if dont pass the great seal, that is the boundaries of immortality.
Which leaves a very big plot hole on who made the great seal and what is it?
And why does it have anything with the holy grail? Since presumptuously the grail in itself is the power to immortality, but why does it matter that the seal had anything to do with this? Did Jesus show up and bless the seal when the knights made the temple in the Middle
> Which leaves a very big plot hole on who made the great seal and what is it?
I think you're missing out on the whole "Power of God" thing here. Just to pull something from my nethers, I'd say that the folks who set up the place (the knights who found it) got a vision from God to set up a place for the grail and make a seal on the ground to mark the boundary. The seal itself isn't the boundary, just like a road cone isn't the pothole that it marks. The seal just shows mortals where the line is. As
Yeah. Allegedly. In truth, what has lucas ever done that wasn't hokie and childish? The original Star Wars was actually pretty good, but Lucas deserves little credit for that. He lucked out in a major way with Harrison Ford, and Harrison Ford saved Star Wars. Try to imagine the movie with just whiny little Luke Skywalker. It just doesn't work.
Case in point, there is a video on youtube of behind the scenes footage from Empire Strikes Back. There is a great scene in Empire where Solo is being lowered in the carbonite pit and Leia shouts to him, "I love you!" Han looks up at her and say, "I know"
What a great scene! Well guess what, Lucas originally wrote it this way: Leia: I love you Han: I love you too.
Stop for a moment and let the deep, penetrating suckiness of those two lines seep into your being. George Lucas, sitting at his typewriter, no doubt in his underwear, actually typed that, and actually thought it was a good idea. He typed that crap, then he sat back and looked at what he had done and said, "hell yeah, I'm a bloody genius."
Fortunately, when it came time to film that scene, Irvin Kershner was calling the shots and Lucas was (presumably) in a crypt somewhere. Harrison Ford looked at the script and said, "this sucks" and Kershner agreed and they changed it. And we all remember Empire Strikes Back as a great movie.
Well, it is a great movie, but no thanks to Lucas.
If only we had known the truth, then maybe we wouldn't have been so shocked some years later when we were treated to Lucas' drivel in the form of such brain-numbing lines as "omfg sand is the suxor it gets in my eye LOL!!!11" and my personal favorite, "Noooo!!!!"
Harrison Ford looked at the script and said, "this sucks" and Kershner agreed and they changed it.
If only it had been such an intentional alteration. In fact, the scene had so many takes that Ford had heard "I love you" so many times he finally replied "I know" half jokingly. They thought it fit Solo's character better and stuck with that line. The whole movie had to be re-edited at great expense because the first version was terrible. To get the movie we ended up with many of the scenes go right until the last frame of film that was shot to get them to work.
One of the memorable fight scenes in Raiders of the Lost Ark came about in a similar way. During the chase through Cairo, Indy was supposed to have a long fight with a swordsman. Harrison Ford was sick the day they were going to shoot the scene, and asked Spielberg if they could shorten the scene. The result: The guy flashes his swords around, and Indy just pulls out his gun and shoots him. A classic Indy moment that wasn't in the script.
Perish the thought! I can see it now: Indiana Jones (Ford) united with his illegitimate son (Justin Timberlake) go after the Lost Chalice of Talent. K-Fed leads the cast of bad/worse guys in pursuit. Working title: "Indiana Jones 4: The Audience is Doomed!"
Maybe something like this. (Score:5, Funny)
*CRACK*
"Shit! My back went again!"
Re:Maybe something like this. (Score:5, Informative)
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Nah, Panama Hat already said it best.... (Score:5, Informative)
Panama Hat: This is the second time I've had to reclaim my property from you.
Indiana Jones: That belongs in a museum.
Panama Hat: So do you.
Parent
Re:Maybe something like this. (Score:5, Funny)
Either the Nazis will come out of a time warp in the 1960s, or maybe they'll continue to set the movie pre-WWII and explain that Indiana aged 25 years instantly when he decided to open that box and peek inside the Ark, just for a second, with sunglasses on.
Parent
Re:Maybe something like this. (Score:5, Funny)
What, they're putting Rick Berman and Brannon Braga on the team, too?
Parent
Re:Maybe something like this. (Score:5, Informative)
A twenty-years-aged Indy will probably be fighting cartoon Commies rather than cartoon Nazis. Perhaps Chinese ones.
Parent
shot in versus (Score:5, Interesting)
The originals were all done in the pulp-action adventure style that was popularized fifty and sixty years ago - I doubt that it'll somehow be less attractive now than it was when the genre was only thirty years old.
Also, all three may have been shot in the eighties, but they took place in the forties, so it's not like we're going to see an Indiana Jones trying to come to terms with teh Intarwebs.
On the other hand, twenty-some odd years later... hey, an Indiana Jones that took place in the sixties might have real potential.
Re:shot in versus (Score:5, Interesting)
What the entertainment industry lacks currently is light stuff like pulp fiction, be it books, movies, or tv shows (I will admit that the day and age of the radio drama are probably gone, though they could be revived via the use of netcasts).
I have honestly been goign back and reading some of the old stuff (before my time) jsut because it is hard to find anytihng like it that is current. After all, I can only take so many pieces that are trying to be high-brow/intelectual/witty/etc. Every so often I need something that is just pure release and nothing else.
Parent
Re:shot in versus (Score:4, Funny)
[Int. ancient temple. Indy's female love-interest-du-jour has a cartoonish Nazi at gunpoint.]
Indy: Bring out the Gimp.
Nazi: The Gimp is sleeping, Herr Jones.
Love-interest-du-jour: It's fantastic! The chamber must extend 60 meters...
Indy: Shit, they ain't got the metric system in ancient Egypt. They wouldn't know what the fuck a meter is.
Love-interest-du-jour: Then what would they call it?
Indy: A cubit.
[Love-interest-du-jour accidentally shoots Nazi in the head, splattering brains everywhere.]
Love-interest-du-jour: Oh man, I shot that Nazi in the face.
Indy: Why the fuck did you do that!
Love-interest-du-jour: Well, I didn't mean to do it, it was an accident!
Indy: Oh man I've seen some crazy ass shit in my time...
Love-interest-du-jour: Chill out, man. I told you it was an accident. You probably set off a booby trap by stepping on that "X" right there.
Indy: "X" never, ever marks the spot, bitch!
Love-interest-du-jour: Hey, look man, I didn't mean to shoot the son of a bitch. The gun went off. I don't know why.
Indy: No, let me ask you a question. When you came in here, did you see a hieroglyphic out in front of this temple that said Dead Nazi Storage?
Love-interest-du-jour: Indy, you know I ain't seen no...
Indy: Did you see a hieroglyphic out in front of this temple that said Dead Nazi Storage?
Love-interest-du-jour: [pause] No. I didn't.
Indy: You know WHY you didn't see that hieroglyphic?
Love-interest-du-jour: Why?
Indy: 'Cause it ain't there, 'cause storing dead Nazis ain't my fucking business, that's why!
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Not to nitpick, but... (Score:5, Informative)
The open sequence in Raiders says "Peru, 1936."
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Well there goes another one! (Score:5, Insightful)
Hopefully 2007 ushers in a year in which remakes, sequels, and adaptations give way to original and creative stories and ways to tell them.
Re:Well there goes another one! (Score:5, Informative)
Uh, fraid not. [bbc.co.uk]
Parent
Ok, George, I'll believe it when I see it (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Ok, George, I'll believe it when I see it (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
So much for never (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:So much for never (Score:5, Informative)
Parent
If Indiana Jones Sr was around in pre-WWII Germany (Score:4, Funny)
That'll make Indiana Jones Jr. old enough for something like Indiana Jones and the House Committee on Un-American Activities.
HCUUA: Sign the confession!
Jones Jr.: Gimme the whip!
HCUUA: No time to argue. Sign the confession, we give you the whip.
Jones Jr.: (signs the confession) Gimme the whip!
HCUUA: Adios, señor. (guards grab Indiana Jones Jr.)
We Aren't Dead, Yet (Score:3, Insightful)
Most of us who saw the originals are still alive today. Why wouldn't the characters translate well? The 80's were NOT that long ago. Sheesh!
Re:We Aren't Dead, Yet (Score:5, Insightful)
I know how you feel, but remember when your parents kept telling you when you were a kid about how cool the 60s were, and it felt like they were talking about a different geological era? Well, that's what these kids today think about the 80s. And much like our parents told us, we can tell today's youth that their music sux0rs compared to the stuff we had back in our day.
Of course, they were right.
Parent
No new ideas (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:No new ideas (Score:5, Insightful)
There are plenty of new ideas around. Thousands, millions of them. You can bet your bottom dollar that Hollywood is absolutely crammed to bursting with smart, dynamic writers with amazingly edgy, groundbreaking, intelligent film scripts, any one of which could, if made, become an iconic classic, a milestone in modern cinema, a fixture of pop culture to come. You have your ideas, I'm sure. I know I do too. There is no shortage of ideas.
The problem is the, studios don't care about movies. They don't care about creating new icons. They care about money. And nothing else. And when you want to make money, you don't take risks, you make safe movies. Cash cows. Sequels to existing successful movies are by far the most reliable of these. Even most original movies you will find slot neatly into pre-existing genre templates. There's the teen comedy movie, the action movie, the romantic comedy, the animated kids' movie, and so on, and so on. It's all numbers.
The other problem is the viewing audience. They don't want to see new things. While there is less money at stake, they, too, want a safe movie. They go to movie theaters to see something they are pretty sure will entertain them. Out-there, avant-garde movies do not appeal to the general public - at least, not to the most profitable movie-going demographics. Therefore making a stunningly imaginative new movie is risky - it's a risk for punters to see it, which makes it a risk for studios to make it, which is why they are so rarely made.
Parent
Re:No new ideas (Score:4, Informative)
That being said, there are more indie movies available now that there ever were... you just have to see them on cable, or on netflix, or whatever.
Parent
Not one comeback - but two! (Score:5, Funny)
"George, Harrison and I are all very excited," Spielberg said, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
I thought George Harrison has passed away? Or are they bringing him back as well as Indy? Just amazing what those boys at ILM can do...
Working Title (Score:5, Funny)
How will this one be? (Score:4, Informative)
Depends on who has the most influence on the movie: if Spielberg then I think it'll be a fun romp, if Lucas then I'm afraid it'll turn into a moralistic pile o' crap (see "Star Wars Prequels").
Lucas has already said he's tried to reedit the earlier movies to make Indy more "heroic" (I believe that he wanted to edit or remove the "Indy pulls his guns on the sword wielding baddies and shots 'em dead on the spot" scene from the first film a'la "Greedo shoots first". Spielberg wouldn't allow him).
Re:How will this one be? (Score:4, Funny)
Parent
Re:How will this one be? (Score:5, Informative)
Ford improvisation - they had planned an elaborate sword vs. whip duel
(Indy had lost his gun someplace) but Ford was too sick to film it
and suggested "can't I just shoot him?".
Parent
Any word on.... (Score:4, Funny)
Indiana Jones now has a family... (Score:4, Insightful)
Didn't Nostradamus say... (Score:5, Funny)
Working title: (Score:5, Funny)
All the films were shot in the 80's... (Score:4, Funny)
Oh, man. I read this and thought "that can't be right!" - then I looked it up and now I just feel old.
This isn't a last ditch attempt for easy $$$ (Score:4, Interesting)
In order to preserve the original trilogy as one of the best in American film history, only a damn good script would make it past Ford/Lucas/Spielberg.
Personally? I can hardly wait another year and a half for it. A fourth movie is long overdue.
Re:That's funny (Score:4, Funny)
Parent
Re:That's funny (Score:5, Funny)
Indiana Jones and the Annoying Alien from Naboo
JJ: "Meesa no liiiike Nazzzzziiis!!"
IJ: *crack* "Oh, my back!" *crack*
JJ: "Aaaaaggghh!!! Meesa no like bull whip!!!!"
Parent
Re:That's funny (Score:5, Funny)
Anything that keeps Lucas from writing scripts deserves our support.
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
*glucas has rejected script1
*glucas has rejected script2
*glucas has rejected script3
*glucas has rejected script4
*glucas has rejected script5
glucas: Bantha pudu, all of it. I'll write the script.
*glucas pounds on keyboard for 37 minutes
glucas: There! A rollicking adventure about Indie finding a lost island and a chest full of cursed Aztec gold.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
ObSNL (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Which leaves a very big plot hole on who made the great seal and what is it?
And why does it have anything with the holy grail? Since presumptuously the grail in itself is the power to immortality, but why does it matter that the seal had anything to do with this? Did Jesus show up and bless the seal when the knights made the temple in the Middle
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
I think you're missing out on the whole "Power of God" thing here. Just to pull something from my nethers, I'd say that the folks who set up the place (the knights who found it) got a vision from God to set up a place for the grail and make a seal on the ground to mark the boundary. The seal itself isn't the boundary, just like a road cone isn't the pothole that it marks. The seal just shows mortals where the line is. As
Re:Oh boy! (Score:5, Insightful)
Yeah. Allegedly. In truth, what has lucas ever done that wasn't hokie and childish? The original Star Wars was actually pretty good, but Lucas deserves little credit for that. He lucked out in a major way with Harrison Ford, and Harrison Ford saved Star Wars. Try to imagine the movie with just whiny little Luke Skywalker. It just doesn't work.
Case in point, there is a video on youtube of behind the scenes footage from Empire Strikes Back. There is a great scene in Empire where Solo is being lowered in the carbonite pit and Leia shouts to him, "I love you!" Han looks up at her and say, "I know"
What a great scene! Well guess what, Lucas originally wrote it this way:
Leia: I love you
Han: I love you too.
Stop for a moment and let the deep, penetrating suckiness of those two lines seep into your being. George Lucas, sitting at his typewriter, no doubt in his underwear, actually typed that, and actually thought it was a good idea. He typed that crap, then he sat back and looked at what he had done and said, "hell yeah, I'm a bloody genius."
Fortunately, when it came time to film that scene, Irvin Kershner was calling the shots and Lucas was (presumably) in a crypt somewhere. Harrison Ford looked at the script and said, "this sucks" and Kershner agreed and they changed it. And we all remember Empire Strikes Back as a great movie.
Well, it is a great movie, but no thanks to Lucas.
If only we had known the truth, then maybe we wouldn't have been so shocked some years later when we were treated to Lucas' drivel in the form of such brain-numbing lines as "omfg sand is the suxor it gets in my eye LOL!!!11" and my personal favorite, "Noooo!!!!"
God, I hate George Lucas.
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Let me improve your feeble script
Luke: NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
George Lucas : I'm a bloody genius
"zomg teh force is strong in dis 1, i can tell from his milk-of-chloreines"
Random Star Wars fans, I AM George Lucas. Together we shall rule the universe as father and son.
Re:Oh boy! (Score:5, Interesting)
If only it had been such an intentional alteration. In fact, the scene had so many takes that Ford had heard "I love you" so many times he finally replied "I know" half jokingly. They thought it fit Solo's character better and stuck with that line. The whole movie had to be re-edited at great expense because the first version was terrible. To get the movie we ended up with many of the scenes go right until the last frame of film that was shot to get them to work.
Parent
Re:Oh boy! (Score:5, Interesting)
Parent
Re:Shouldn't Ford be the helpful mentor by now? (Score:4, Funny)
I'll take CGI over that, thank you very much.
Parent