What if Harrison Ford couldnt play Indy! Who Would?

Randy_Flagg

Well-known member
Re: i no who would play indy

Webley said:
the kid from E.T henry something?

Henry Thomas. But, I think his schedule is WAY to busy lately, I mean, you see him in SO many movies these days... haha.
 
After much consideration and the process of researching the character of Indy, I feel Carrot Top would be a suitable repleacement.


But, seriously, how about the man who was originally supposed to play Indiana Jones? Tom Selleck!

[Edited by bountyhunter2999 on 09-02-2003 at 08:36 am]
 
If Ford can't play Indy, Indy 4 will never be made, I'll tell you that right now...

...But if it was still going to be made without him... one day, I was thinking of an Indy prequel (between YIJC and Raiders), and what he would look like. In my brain I gradually "morphed" him down to his early- to mid-twenties and I came up with...













(drum roll, please)














...Ethan Hawk! I don't know where the heck that came from but I just saw him wearing a fedora and squinting in the sun a la the "Temple of Doom" poster. Go figure. But, there have been zanier ideas posted on this thread. :rolleyes:
 

Whipper

New member
I would've enjoyed seeing a big-screen Young Indy film, as an interim sort of thing, while waiting for them to get around to Indy IV.

Pick up with Flannery as Indy in his mid-to-latter 20s. Perhaps doing graduate work with Prof Ravenwood, and probably involved with a too-young Marion Ravenwood in a steamy, totally-wrong romance on the side. (Naturally, as how many Indy adventures are there, younger or older, that don't feature a love interest or femme fatale on the side? And This one fills in an untold-tale gap directly related to the setup for Raiders.)

And, if the Young Indy series had continued, I really wanted to see him continue to develop and reach that moment when he donned All the traditional Indy Gear for the First time, embarking on his first mercenary-archeologist-for-hire adventure.

That was my dream last-scene for the Young Indy series. Then you'd leave off, having seen how Young Indy reached that fortune-and-glory stage, and knowing there's several years of adventuring ahead of him where he'll establish his notoriety, until we pick up again in 1935 with Temple Of Doom.

(A Young-Adult Indy film might begin with him about halfway there, with a new-looking leather jacket and satchel. I'd have him lacking only the Whip at first, so we could then find out what life-saving last straw prompts him to add it to his Permament aresenal. And, obviously, learn how to handle it.)

If they'd done a Young Indy film, it was far-enough removed from the era of Harrison's Indy to stand apart. And at the same time, if it were a hit, who knows where they might've gone from there? A couple more films, perhaps. Working around in the Young Indy days, there was a wide-range of options for new stories.

And it's a way of avoiding the issue of trying to Replace Harrison's "Mature" Indy. I'm pretty sure there'll Never be another actor playing Indy in the 30s. But the 20s are still wide open, to my view. You can't replace adult, seasoned Indy. But Young Indy could still be done.

Not sure how old Sean Flannery is now. I haven't seen him in awhile aside from an episode of Dead Zone, where he looked pretty good.

However, considering how much time has passed, it might be best to consider a new actor. Someone who could bridge the gap of Time and Difference between Flannery and Ford's portrayals. (Much the way Flannery bridged the difference between Phoenix and Ford, physically.)

A deeper voice would be good to hear, for example. Don't get me wrong, I think Sean did a great job as Young Indy, I loved the series and enjoyed his performances. He even had the Harrson mannerisms down pat while bringing his own thing to the role as Young Indy. He grew into the hat as time went by.

But sometimes I had a hard time believing his voice would one day turn into that of Harrison Ford's Indy. I used to chalk it up to the assumption that his various failed Romances would accomplish that trick, as he grew more cynical and toughened over the next 15 years, heheh. So, you may wanna look for someone more rugged-sounding if you try to start up a new Indy series set between Young and Raiders.

Anyway, that's an option, the one I'd present.

If you want to do more bigscale Indy films with another actor, I say go the Young-Adult Indy route. The 1920s are still plenty exciting. Supremely so, in some ways. I think Harrison is pretty much irreplaceable in anything set near or beyond 1935.

Because everything beyond Harrison's take on Indy is Based on what Harrison's portrayal Created.

Indiana Jones is inextricable from Harrison Ford...Unless you take the same character significantly Younger and tell the stories that lead Back to that adult version. And then the audience is Still going to be Looking for Traces of Ford in Indy. He's gotta walk that walk.
 

intergamer

New member
Or even Jack Ryan?

But seriously, think Viggo Mortensen could do it? Nah, probably better off getting a CGI Indy (which isn't necessarily a bad idea). Some of Indy in IJ4 will probably be a CGI Harrison Ford: 5,10 years from now, or after Ford is old or dead, maybe we can make a movie with the character of Indy being completely CGI.

It would unquestionably look closer to Harrison Ford than any "real" replacements.
 

philhos

New member
(A Young-Adult Indy film might begin with him about halfway there, with a new-looking leather jacket and satchel. I'd have him lacking only the Whip at first, so we could then find out what life-saving last straw prompts him to add it to his Permament aresenal. And, obviously, learn how to handle it.)

They already did this. Look during the River Phoenix scenes in Last Crusade. On the circus train. He falls through the roof into the lion's car. He gets backed into a wall. What's that hanging on the wall? A whip!!! First try, he splits his lip. Second try, works and lion backs off. He throws it up to the raider in fedora and leather jacket.

Remember?

Sorry, if that sounded sarcastic.
 

intergamer

New member
This and the "If not Ford then who?" thread need to be consolidated: they're the same thing. Or better yet, lock the other one, its screwed up anyways.
 

Whipper

New member
Remember?

Sorry, if that sounded sarcastic.

Pardon me, it's not like he started carrying a whip around after that. In Young Indiana Jones and The Curse Of The Jackal (1916), Indy's getting his ass kicked around and, backed into a corner, his fingers find a whip hanging on a shelf.

Unfurling it, he pauses, momentarily rubbing his chin scar from 1912, remembering what happened last time he tried to use a whip. (Nice continuity touch.) Then he cautiously flips it out there and actually snaps a knife out of his attacker's hand with his first strike, followed up with a crack to his attacker's face. (He was fighting Demetrios, a one-handed gun-runner, played by the same guy who worked with the monkey in Raiders...I do remember some things.) Then Indy loses the whip and it turns back into a fist-fight.

So anyway...Freak encounters with a whip saved his life a couple of different times. I just figured there might be one more lucky whip encounter (3rd time's the charm) that prompts him to Keep it and always have it on his belt when he's working the field.
 

intergamer

New member
Attila the Professor said:
intergamer said:
CGI CGI CGI CGI CGI

WHY? What does a computer have to offer that a real actor does not? Tell it, tell it, tell it!

I'm saying...ok: Ford can't do it. Its 10 years in the future. CGI is near perfect. Wouldn't you rather have a seemingly real Ford (even if he is technically digitized) than change actors ala Bond?

I would.

But I will concede one point. On one of the Bond dvd extra's, they mention a reason why Bond survived through many actors. When you go to watch Mission Impossible, you go because of Tom Cruise. You say: "Hey look at Tom Cruise smoke that bad guy"...who says, "Ethan Hunt is so cool. Ethan Hunt just climbed up that mountain"?. But you go to a Bond movie to see James Bond.

Likewise, I think the Indiana Jones movies are more about Indy than Harrison. While Harrison portrays him perfectly, we could live with another actor. People still say that Sean Connery <i>is</i> James Bond.

So another actor wouldn't be bad, I say. But if in 10 years, CGI is perfect, I'd rather have Harrison Ford play Indiana Jones, even if <b>he</b> is dead.
 

Whipper

New member
WHY? What does a computer have to offer that a real actor does not?

Immortality. Forever Spry. And way more reasonable on salary...

Then again, if Harrison is wise, he'll trademark himself so his family continues to get paid when he's gone.

In the meantime, I'm eager to see how well they'll pull off the feat of bringing Bruce Lee back, as well as creating the kid-version of Tom Hanks. Keep pushing the envelope.
 

intergamer

New member
Whipper said:

Then again, if Harrison is wise, he'll trademark himself so his family continues to get paid when he's gone.

lol..."Harrison Ford of the sole property of his relations (copyright 2003). Used with permission."
 

Adventurer

New member
CGI is only as perfect as the people behind it.

Today, it seems that nearly the whole world (please note: no specific person in mind, just a very, very general observation) thinks that there is some sort of software with a "make cool picture" button. It seems to me that it is often forgotten that there are people behind it who make Gollum move, breathe, talk. You cannot make CGI perfect. Even if you use motion capturing, it is not perfect, because essentially it is not HF who is acting, but someone else. Same with an animator. He will look at old references, trying to mimic Ford´s movement. Or, even if it would be possible to "capture" old movements, it will be a mere shadow of his gestures. In this way, Ford can revolutionize Indy from the point where he left him. An animator can "only" interpolate the available data thenceforwards.
 

intergamer

New member
Adventurer said:
CGI is only as perfect as the people behind it.

Today, it seems that nearly the whole world (please note: no specific person in mind, just a very, very general observation) thinks that there is some sort of software with a "make cool picture" button. It seems to me that it is often forgotten that there are people behind it who make Gollum move, breathe, talk. You cannot make CGI perfect. Even if you use motion capturing, it is not perfect, because essentially it is not HF who is acting, but someone else. Same with an animator. He will look at old references, trying to mimic Ford´s movement. Or, even if it would be possible to "capture" old movements, it will be a mere shadow of his gestures. In this way, Ford can revolutionize Indy from the point where he left him. An animator can "only" interpolate the available data thenceforwards.

oh, I agree: CGI won't be perfect, it won't be Ford; and remember, I prefaced it with "10 years in the future"

but I'm saying that "almost Ford" is better than another actor who is certainly not Ford

who knows about CGI in 10 years

[Edited by intergamer on 09-30-2003 at 06:15 pm]
 
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