Frank Marshall in Empire - "More like LC in tone"
"The picture is locked," says Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull producer Frank Marshall. "Steven's pretty much done editing. And were going into the phase with Johnny Williams where he starts scoring the movie. He's really writing now, and then we'll start scoring in February."
Entering the homes straight of post-production, Crystal Skull has managed to keep story details under wraps. It has been 19 years since the intrepid archaeologist has graced the multiplex, leading to much debate about the ways Indy might change to keep pace with the new breed of drunken pirates, amnesiac spies and tortured, caped vigilantes. The answer seems hardly at all, everyone at Camp Indy that the movie retain the gruff thrills and lo-fi flavour of the original trilogy. Take, for instance, the number of digital effects shots that ILM, under the supervision of Pablo Helman, are currently working away on.
"There are a couple of hundred, which is very low," says Marshall. "We're completely in the style and tone of of the first three movies - right down to the fact Michael Kahn is cutting on a Moviola."
If Crystal Skull is keeping pace with the previous flicks - "We have all the iconic elements we had in the first three," confirms Marshall - which of the first three does it most resemble: the thrills of Raiders, the gloom of Doom, or the comedy of Crusade?
"I would say it's closest to the third one. It's adults. I mean, you have the sidekick in Shia(LaBeouf), but you don't have a Short Round, and I think the banter between the characters is as fun as it was in the third movie."
Still, Indy has moved with the times. Lucas recently revealed that just as the original films, set in the 30's, paid tribute to the Saturday morning serials of that decade, so Crystal Skull, set 20-odd years later in 1957,will pay tribute to the low-grade movie equivalent of that era - Z-level sci-fi films like The Creature From The Black Lagoon and The Blob. It's a smart move that gives the film a potentially completely different flavour within the same context of thrills, spills and B-movie homage. The shift in decade has also allowed Indy to fight a new foe (out go the Nazis, in come the Soviets) and a new mindset for our hero.
"Indy is a bit older now," explains Marshall. "He's been a professor at Marshall for the last 15, 16 years now, so he's learnt a few things. You're going to see the results of what he's learnt over these last few years."
To add further glitz, David Keopp's screenplay had given Indy a foil in the shape of LaBeouf as a teen tearaway. Look anywhere on the internet (okay, maybe not Facebook) and the popular rumour is that Labeouf is Indy's estranged son named Mutt, the bi-product of that one-night stand with Marion on the tramp steamer in Raiders (which makes the picture on the previous spread a family portrait). But Marshall will neither confirm of deny.
"He brings a youthful arrogance that Indy can play off and there's a lot of banter between the two of them," says Marshall about LaBeouf's character. "Think American Graffiti. There's a hot rod and a greaser on a bike."
Rounding out the cast is a clutch of actors that constitute the best eensemble of 2008. Cate Blanchett as Russian spy Spalko ("She's very...severe. I think Cate had a ball!"), Karen Allen returning as Raiders love interest Marion Ravenwood, John Hurt as an unnamed academic, rumoured to be Marion's long-lost father Abner ("A person that Indy knew in the past but much more on the university side of things, like Denholm Elliot was," is the Marshall line), and our very own Ray Winstone as a rival archaeologist.
"He's a friend and foe of Indiana Jones. They've known each other over the years," says Marshall. "Indy's also worked for the government before, so you might think that they were both in the Service together. Maybe Ray was in your Service and Indy was in our Service, and they came together in the past and now they are coming together again. There's a friendly rivalry."
So it's not like Belloq, a pure antagonist?
"No, not that kind of competitive. They are friends. But the natural forces of greed take over at some point."
With a May 22 global release date, a promotional campaign is starting to gather pace, following the release of Drew Struzan's brilliant teaser poster. (Fans are seeing all these things that I look at and go, 'Well, I guess you could say that!'"), the debut of the first trailer this month and, new for Indiana Jones, a blitz of merchandising hoopla.
"It's funny that there's an Indiana Jones Potato Head but also and Indiana Lego set! We have more merchandising elements with this one than with the other three, a lot more fun things to be part of the legacy."
INDIANA JONES AND THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL IS OUT ON MAY 22.
ARTICLE COURTESY OF EMPIRE MAGAZINE.
