More details are emerging about the fifth “Indiana Jones” film ahead of an expected trailer drop within the next few weeks.
As part of the Empire magazine cover story this month, the outlet spoke with director James Mangold who discussed the new film’s opening sequence, saying he used the opportunity to do something quite special.
It has big shoes to fill, considering the previous four had some iconic screen moments ranging from the Shanghai poison and diamonds fight in “Temple of Doom” to a young Indy (River Phoenix) on one of his early adventures in “The Last Crusade”.
Mangold says: “I wanted the chance to dive into this kind of full-on George-and-Steven old picture and give the audience an adrenaline blast.”
The result is a set piece that jumps back 25 years earlier in the main narrative – from 1969 to 1944, around six years after ‘The Last Crusade’. The opening scene also involves a castle swarming with Nazis, and Ford made young again by de-ageing technology.
New ILM software used a ton of archived material of the younger Ford and matched it to freshly-shot footage and melded the two to result in a high quality digital young Ford.
Producer Kathleen Kennedy adds: “We’re dropping you into an adventure, something Indy is looking for, and instantly you have that feeling, ‘I’m in an Indiana Jones movie.'”
Ford says he’s impressed by the de-aging tech: “This is the first time I’ve seen it where I believe it. It’s a little spooky. I don’t think I even want to know how it works, but it works. Doesn’t make me want to be young, though. I’m glad to have earned my age.”
Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Mads Mikkelsen, Shaunette Renée Wilson, and Boyd Holbrook co-star in the film arriving in May.
