As you’ve probably seen at your local newsstand by now, Vanity Fair got the exclusive first look, complete with interviews with Steven Spielberg and George Lucas and photos by Annie Leibowitz, at Indiana Jones 4. A movie this highly anticipated ain’t gonna go to any geek site (meeting Lucas and Spielberg in person, and having to get the big story from them, would be enough pressure to cause a geek boy to explode), it’s gotta be with the big boys. Here’s a brief run-down of some highlights:
Jim Windolf wrote the story, and he’s a terrific writer who really likes ‘70’s movies. Windolf also wrote the cover story on the last Star Wars film, and revealed on the magazine’s contributor’s page that he saw the first Star Wars four times in the summer of 1977. For that cover story, Lucas only promised ten minutes of his time over the phone, but they ended up talking about an hour. Now for the Indy 4 piece, Windolf got to see Lucas in person up in Skywalker Ranch.
Windolf made some sharp observations about Lucas, calling him, “a very soft-spoken billionaire. His speech pattern is a jumble of quick bursts that alternate with long pauses worthy of an absent-minded professor. In his favorite chair, he sat in a slumped posture, Nikes up on the coffee table. Over the years he has complained about how much he dislikes writing scripts, directing movies, and serving as the head of Lucasfilm Ltd. – which are his three main professional activities.”
Because of the disappointment many fans experienced with the newer Star Wars films, Lucas has to be aware that if Indy 4 sucks, rightly or wrongly, fingers will point to him first. “I know the critics are going to hate it,” Lucas said, with characteristic pessimism. “They already hate it. So there’s nothing we can do about that. They hate the idea that we’re making another one. They’ve already made up their minds. And all they’re going to do is go to the movie to say they saw it, but they could already write their review today. The fans are all upset. They’re always going to be upset…They write their own movie, and then, if you don’t do their movie, they get upset about it.”
Still, Lucas is confident in the film, and Spielberg revealed, “When I saw the movie myself the first time, there was nothing I wanted to go back and shoot, nothing I wanted to reshoot, and nothing I wanted to add.”
Above: Getting their Indy legs back
As Spielberg told Windolf, “Making the latest installment of Indiana Jones was like getting back on the bicycle I hadn’t ridden in 18 years,” but he got his “Indy legs back in the first couple of days of shooting.”
In talking to Windolf, Lucas remarked that one generation loves the original Star Wars, and another loves the last three. With the next Indiana Jones, the generation gap could work in the movie’s favor if George and Steve play their cards right. Raiders of the Lost Ark, like Star Wars, was based on the films that excited Lucas and Spielberg when they were kids, but updated for modern audiences.
Kids loved Star Wars and Raiders, and the parents who took them to the theaters had their inner children awakened by reliving the old serials and sci-fi flicks they saw when they were young. If Indy 4 succeeds, today’s older generation will relive the magic of seeing Raiders for the first time, and baring force majeure, today’s younger generation should find plenty of excitement as well.
Comments (6)
This may be the last big action movie for Harrison Ford, like Sean Connery, there is a time to move on. This movie will be just memories for me, fun to see some of the orginal players but not expecting much more.
Posted by harryo | January 9, 2008 4:55 PM
Posted on January 9, 2008 16:55
I really hope this movie doesn't suck. I've been waiting for a new Indy movie for 10 years. I'm worried about Harrison Ford's age, but there's no one else I want to see playing the character and I trust Spielburg and Lucas to make the best of it. Maybe they'll even squeeze one more movie out after this. Raiders probably remains my favorite movie of all time.
Posted by Maxor217 | January 9, 2008 8:58 PM
Posted on January 9, 2008 20:58
I'm writing my 1st screenplay and I know that we all see movies we could have done better- or thought we could, at least. We all have our sacred cows, and star wars was one of them. They saw the prequels and were rightfully irate (sorry lucas) and they expect more of the same in this newest installment of Indy. They expect more special effects and CG and less story and believable action...kind of like the old john maclane in Live Free or Die Hard rolling off of that jet fighter in the bridge scene.
I'm an action guy so I like stuff like AvP, aliens, terminator, Indiana Jones of course, etc. so I don't mind directors whose 3rd acts are notoriously long due to all the stuff happening, and guys like Bay who have something blowing up every 10 minutes. I read if I want to learn something, and go to the movies if I want to be entertained.
I think IJ4 will be as good as the others as long as they don't turn Indy into a kick ass. He was never a kick ass so I hope they keep his persona the same, but this Shia dork- why they went with him I'll never know. Harrison doesn't need this wimp to help carry the movie. Harrison could beat this kid up easily even now and the kid is like 45 yrs younger than he is. Harrison is still able to draw crowds without some dorky sidekick...let us hope that they aren't using dork boy as the 'young indy' for the flashback sequences.
All in all, though, Spielberg is not one we can criticize because he's the billionaire visionary while we are just the critics.
Posted by Tom | January 10, 2008 12:49 AM
Posted on January 10, 2008 00:49
go Indy!
Posted by Indiana Jones | January 10, 2008 5:42 AM
Posted on January 10, 2008 05:42
While I disagree with Lucas on the fact that some of us disliked the movies because he didn't do the movie the way we liked it. The reason I disliked Episode 2-3 (1 wasn't bad), was every time Anakin opened his mouth he sounded like an idiot. Some of his lines still make me wince, and I can't stand listening to a kid whine through out two entire movies. The books were better in my mind as I could gloss through the whining.
As for Indy4, I can't wait!
Posted by vicsrealms | January 11, 2008 4:09 PM
Posted on January 11, 2008 16:09
I disagree with the idea that episode 1 wasn't bad. Episode three was terrible. GL made a prequel of a 20 year old movie with 2 decades of technology that looks out of touch with the original. The newer older movie looks newer than the older newer movie which is a paradox. It really should have been a sequel to Star Wars. I also think the prequel movies fail because they got stuck in the fall of Darth Vader. I personally could care less about Vader's fall or redemption the end result was it added very little and really prevented the genre from moving forward. I don't think everyone has the same attraction for the "Luke, I am your father line" as George Lucas.
If you look at Harry Potter J. K. Rowling wrote 7 books to explain the battle between Harry Potter and Valdemorte. J. K. Rowling did a much better job of developing her world than George Lucas did with 3 movies. There is no reason why you couldn't have had 7 Star Wars movies in the Empire verses rebellion genre. This is where I think the prequel really fails by denying everyone the potential to see the true resolution that you can't really show in a trilogy. Even the idea of a trilogy is really pasee. As Rowling demonstrates by creating 7 books and 7 movies that are much more seamless and enveloping.
Posted by Jar Binks | January 28, 2008 3:57 AM
Posted on January 28, 2008 03:57