Indiana Jones 5: July 19, 2019

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Finn

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You know, if that's the way they wanna go, it would technically be possible to de-age the Ford on screen roughly 20 years, making him pass for a man in his 50s. Dye job, make up, proper lightning, clever use of camera angles, liberal use of stunt men and every digital post-processing trick in the book could just about do the job.

Whether the end result would still be glaringly telling or not is of course anybody's guess.



Not to mention how much easier it would be to just accept the reality and come to the conclusion that if there is an issue with a leading man in his 70s, the proper way to amend that is to use a younger actor.
 

Major West

Member
Pap pictures of Ford in civilian mode looking like he just woke up 30 minutes ago aren't really a good indicator for age on screen. Actors wear makeup in movies, and have professional lighting on them, this usually takes a few years off. That's before you add the digital touch ups these days (as mentioned above). Even in recent TV appearances you can see him looking much better. In mid shots Ford always looks younger. Many of the medium (waist up) shots in KOTCS Ford could have passed for a 55 year old. The amount of physical action Ford/Indy did in Kotcs is what I would still expect him to be able to do. A man in his mid 70s who is fit and in good shape, can run, play tennis, fly planes (crash them and survive) is still capable of swinging on a rope, hitting people, firing a gun and having adventures. (please use your gun this time Indy). There really is no danger of this not working or not a being a success. Kotcs still made a ton of money regardless of the quality of the film and I expect V will be much better than that.
 

Silvor

New member
Major West said:
Pap pictures of Ford in civilian mode looking like he just woke up 30 minutes ago aren't really a good indicator for age on screen. Actors wear makeup in movies, and have professional lighting on them, this usually takes a few years off. That's before you add the digital touch ups these days (as mentioned above). Even in recent TV appearances you can see him looking much better. In mid shots Ford always looks younger. Many of the medium (waist up) shots in KOTCS Ford could have passed for a 55 year old. The amount of physical action Ford/Indy did in Kotcs is what I would still expect him to be able to do. A man in his mid 70s who is fit and in good shape, can run, play tennis, fly planes (crash them and survive) is still capable of swinging on a rope, hitting people, firing a gun and having adventures. (please use your gun this time Indy). There really is no danger of this not working or not a being a success. Kotcs still made a ton of money regardless of the quality of the film and I expect V will be much better than that.

Exactly what I've always said!
Unfortunately for some people the fact that Ford can do these things doesn't matter, because to them it would "still look crazy and unconvincing to see a old man do these things on screen" for some reason.
If Ford can do it Indy can do it I say!
 

AndyLGR

Active member
Dependant on how Harrison looks in comparison to his KOTCS self I wonder if theres a possibility they could make it a prequel to KOTCS, only by a year or 2 though, that way it eliminates any need to reference back to Mutt or Marion.
 

Crack that whip

New member
Finn said:
Not to mention how much easier it would be to just accept the reality and come to the conclusion that if there is an issue with a leading man in his 70s, the proper way to amend that is to use a younger actor.

So, in order to portray a 70-ish Indy, you're saying they should cast a younger actor and put him in old age makeup rather than just casting Harrison? That's just silly. :p
 

Tohtally Indy

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I don't care if he's older. Indy/Ford is a character, and person, that I have always admired. Life is short, and I am frankly excited to see him in one more go-round. I am excited to see what they come up with. Remember, it's a movie. Entertainment. Belly aching about entertainment is such a first world problem. Get over it!
There is going to be a NEW INDIANA JONES MOVIE!! BRING IT ON!! :D :hat:
GOOD DAY, SIR!!
 

Udvarnoky

Well-known member
Finn said:
You know, if that's the way they wanna go, it would technically be possible to de-age the Ford on screen roughly 20 years, making him pass for a man in his 50s. Dye job, make up, proper lightning, clever use of camera angles, liberal use of stunt men and every digital post-processing trick in the book could just about do the job.

We've all seen what an Indiana Jones movie with a lot of post-processing looks like. It looks generally unpleasant while being the death to any sense of immediacy. Now we have to go for broke and turn the main character's face into a grotesquerie as well? If you're going to bother making a final movie with Harrison Ford, you make it with Harrison Ford, with all the trimmings (and facial creases, and liver spots).

Yeah, I hate this idea for a number of reasons, but the main one is it misses an opportunity, and that is for the fifth movie to be an utter embrace of Indy's mortality. Crystal Skull dealt with his age (at least to the extent that movie "dealt" with anything thematically), but more in an "Indy's alone in the world" kind of way, addressed at the end by the convenient materialization of a family.

The fifth move could root its story and artifact in Indy's proximity to the grave, very much like the search for the Grail was a metaphor for Indy and his father discovering each other. I think it's a rich vein, though history cautions me not to be optimistic they'll find it.
 

Finn

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Udvarnoky said:
We've all seen what an Indiana Jones movie with a lot of post-processing looks like. It looks generally unpleasant while being the death to any sense of immediacy. Now we have to go for broke and turn the main character's face into a grotesquerie as well? If you're going to bother making a final movie with Harrison Ford, you make it with Harrison Ford, with all the trimmings (and facial creases, and liver spots).
This is exactly the point I alluded to in the very sentence that was right after the bit you quoted. While it's doable, not too many of us would probably appreciate the end result.

If they intend to make a film where the main focus is on Indy in his twilight years, Mr. Ford is all they need. But if they intend to make a film that aims to do the same things its predecessors did, having a younger actor portray the character alongside Ford is the way to go.
 

Udvarnoky

Well-known member
Finn said:
If they intend to make a film where the main focus is on Indy in his twilight years, Mr. Ford is all they need. But if they intend to make a film that aims to do the same things its predecessors did, having a younger actor portray the character alongside Ford is the way to go.

I guess I just thought it was self-evident that the former was the way they were going to go (with or without a flashback narrative, an idea which I've gotten colder on).

The thing about the reboot is that it's going to happen anyway. Disney need not hurry with it. Ford, on the other hand, has a tick-tock element. What with him being vocally interested in doing the role again, combined with his Star Wars reception, Disney['s accountants] probably thought, **** yeah, we get to have it both ways: a proper fifth installment to cash in on nostalgia and close out the "Connery" era of the franchise, followed by the reboot. Win-win for them.

Though certainly plausible, I think the problem with making Indy 5 a dual-narrative that introduces us to the new young Indy via flashback is that it makes the movie work at cross-purposes. If this is to be the final Ford/Spielberg outing, it's reasonable to want those two hours to be devoted exclusively to the final Ford storyline. It's his last hurrah; should he really have to give up precious screentime to his replacement?

And from a business standpoint, while I kind of get the strategy of introducing us to the new actor while we're saying goodbye to the old one, there are liabilities as well. Unless Disney's working faster than any of us suspect and are penning the reboot script in tandem, it seems pointless to commit to the new actor so far ahead of time. Approaching the movie with one foot in the "Indiana Jones 5" mindset and another in the reboot seems like a recipe for making neither work. They'll have their work cut out for them without the extra baggage.

Though if Disney's absolutely confident they know who they want to cast, I think there are more tasteful alternatives to the Godfather Part II structure. When Ford (perhaps literally) hangs up his hat at the end of the film, you could have a split second glimpse of the new actor in the hat before we cut to credits, and that's it. (So, basically the transition from Phoenix to Ford in Last Crusade, but in reverse. Having him socked in the face would be a nice touch as well.)
 

Pale Horse

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Staff member
Udvarnoky said:
The fifth move could root its story and artifact in Indy's proximity to the grave, very much like the search for the Grail was a metaphor for Indy and his father discovering each other. I think it's a rich vein, though history cautions me not to be optimistic they'll find it.

If there was ever an argument for the Fountain of Youth, this is it.

Indy finds evidence of Jack Sparrows endeavors. It's a Disney crossover dream.

But seriously the Fountain of Youth checks most of the boxes necessary for a safe fifth film.
 

Udvarnoky

Well-known member
Re: The Fountain of Youth

Aside from the Pirates franchise handling that McGuffin fairly recently (it's amazing how much On Stranger Tides, as "meh" as it was, felt more like an Indy movie than Crystal Skull), Central America as a location might feel a bit too same-y. We need to get back to the eastern hemisphere in a big way with part five.
 

Randy_Flagg

Well-known member
Udvarnoky said:
Re: The Fountain of Youth

Aside from the Pirates franchise handling that McGuffin fairly recently (it's amazing how much On Stranger Tides, as "meh" as it was, felt more like an Indy movie than Crystal Skull), Central America as a location might feel a bit too same-y. We need to get back to the eastern hemisphere in a big way with part five.

I want to finally see a cold climate. We've never seen that in an Indy film (aside from a brief stop in Nepal.) Even if it's just for the opening adventure, I think a cold/snowy climate would make a nice change from all the hot jungles and deserts that we always see in Indy films. Although, Indy would look a bit silly wearing the fedora with a big winter coat.
 

Udvarnoky

Well-known member
Yeah, with Nepal we just had those exterior establishing shots of The Raven, and the Himalayas were mere backdrop for the Temple of Doom plane crash, lasting a matter of seconds.

Mountainous and icy settings don't feel played out the way deserts and jungles do at this point in the film franchise. Similarly, the Coronado sequence was tiny enough in scope that I feel like an open seas Indy set piece is still a pretty untapped resource. There are definitely places they could go with this. And Indy exploring mountain temples and ancient ruins doesn't feel out of place at all for an aged archeologist.
 

Johnny Nys

Member
I'm reading through the comments and this insane idea hits me, with a high cringe-factor I must add. With everybody throwing out ideas of what they want to see, here's something I definitely do not want to see: we had aliens, or well, interdimensional beings if you insist, so the next cliché would be time travel. What if the McGuffin, whatever it could be, throws Indy back into the past, not physically but mentally like in the Butterfly Effect, his mind suddenly landing back in a younger version in his past. Either that, or it would make him go through a Doctor Who Time Lord regeneration. To repeat myself: I don't want this to happen. But it's one of those ideas that could have come to fruition, perhaps if Lucas had still been on board and they really were paving the road for a younger actor.
 

AndyLGR

Active member
On the subject of macguffins we don't want to see. I hope they don't use something from the previous films, like the Ark has been stolen by someone. The only reason I say that is that although I enjoyed TFA immensely, it was a very simple plot that harked back to the original films in its story and aesthetic look and it makes me wonder if Disney would do a similar thing with Indy and recycle old ideas and stories and play it safe.

In the back of my mind I'd always thought Disney would reboot Indy and do an origins style story featuring Indy and Belloq in some early adventure. But I hope 5 is an all new macguffin and supporting characters.
 

Moedred

Administrator
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As always, thanks to the newshounds who seek original content from the filmmakers. Here are the Kimmel and BBC Ford quotes destined for the main site. He jokes the "idea" that comes to mind is his payday, but I think he's thinking about a long-favored MacGuffin.
March 22, 2016
Harrison Ford: "Not now. I?m not quite, I?ll be ready. I?ll be ready. I?m excited about this."
Q: ?Did they finally come up with an idea that you loved?"
Harrison Ford: "Uh, yeah. Yeah!"
Q: ?Did you demand that they kill Indiana Jones?"
Harrison Ford: "No, I haven?t read the script. I haven?t read the script. I?m talking about the contract! No, no, we?re here to kid around. I mean, seriously. Listen, that?s why we came, right? No, I, listen. The opportunity to work with Steven again on this character that is? Spielberg. Spielberg. Yeah. Steven Spielberg. The chance to revisit this character which has brought pleasure to so many people, not to mention me. No, it?s fun. It?s great fun to play this character. It?s great fun to work with Steven. I?m looking forward to it. Sure, I can tell you the whole thing right now. So..."

March 22, 2016
Harrison Ford: "Well, I, yeah, I've always thought that there was an opportunity to do another. And, uh, but I didn't want to do it without Steven. And I didn't want to do it without a, you know, a really good script. And happily we're working on both. Steven is developing a script now that I think we're going to be very happy with. Why don't I just tell you everything that happens? No, of course not. No."
 

AndyLGR

Active member
Moedred said:
As always, thanks to the newshounds who seek original content from the filmmakers. Here are the Kimmel and BBC Ford quotes destined for the main site. He jokes the "idea" that comes to mind is his payday, but I think he's thinking about a long-favored MacGuffin.
Having watched the Kimmel interview yesterday, I wondered if he had agreed to do the film anyway as long as Steven was involved without there being a full story in place yet, but just a general idea of what it would be about.

What is the long favoured macguffin?
 

Indy's brother

New member
Attila the Professor said:
We dig snow, Alfred Hitchcock, and noir. Also something called the Dial of Ahaz, along with this picture:

2851420726_b336f8d331.jpg


Oh, and maybe go farther away than Hawaii for principal filming? You done good by the Western Hemisphere last time around. Easy way to avoid delving too deep on that family drama, too.

Thanks for the nod, 'Tila. And as I've mentioned here in the past, I am in agreement with keeping Indy off continent for an entire adventure. Solves a lot of fan griping about his era, and the events and characters involved in KOTCS.
 
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