Well, I typed all this...may as well post it.
Finn said:
On the other hand, the practice could be seen as another nod to the film series' origins in the serials of old. Back in the day, it was more of a rule than an exception that any Middle Eastern character appearing on screen was nothing but a Westerner with dark enough features.
Indeed, Finn. I imagine Anthony Quinn would have been at the top of the list for casting options if Raiders had been made in the '50s or '60s. Maybe Topol, though not after the Six-Day War. Heck, he
even played a Sallah once - though apparently double Ls is the Israeli spelling!
Rhys-Davies was a fortuitous choice, too, at least when compared to their first choice of Danny DeVito, who's a fine actor but one who seems pretty far from the Egyptian type. Or rather - and this is what matters most in Hollywood - he'd play too much as American to be able to play as anything else. Brits often get more leeway. See Alec Guinness, for example, or Olivier.
A more contemporary model - or analog - for their casting practices is possibly the Bond films, which sometimes was dedicated enough to casting for ethnicity that the actors had to be overdubbed, sometimes went fully Japanese when casting Japanese principals, sometimes cast a Mexican as a Turk, and, just a year before Temple of Doom, cast a Frenchman as an Afghani. Of course, the next time they needed an Afghan character, 3 years after Temple, and 2 years before Crusade, they went with a Pakistani, considerably closer. And then in '89, when they needed someone from that part of the world somewhere east of the Adriatic (do we have any real idea where Kazim is from?), they went with an Armenian - who maybe could have played the Egyptian digger in the first place, had he made it to his audition. Which is to say, it's not necessarily a narrative of change in casting practices but of happenstance and multiple factors weighing on decisions.
Maybe the most instructive thing about the Bond example? Playing to the international market was frequently a factor when they *did* cast to ethnicity.
So the casting could be wide open. Still, I don't see any reason for ethnicity or nationality to not receive a fair amount of weight; after all, no one other than Americans gets much play in fan-casting the lead.
Anyway, if they were ever to get around to casting Henry, Sr., and wanted to continue the little joke, and keep him as a British national, well, Timothy Dalton could be an interesting choice.
And Jared Harris would be a solid choice for either Brody or Henry, Sr., for that matter, maintaining the usual Indy-Brody age gap and being young enough to do some action as Henry. (Connery is just 12 years older than Ford, after all.)
He can even fight!
And finally, apparently Jennifer Lawrence and Chris Pratt are making a film together. Might be chemistry to watch for.