Harrison Ford is fairly dismissive of opponents of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. He's not trying to hide it either, as gleaned in his latest profile in The Hollywood Reporter. While talking with THR's James Hibberd, the man in the fedora was reminded that some people were quite resentful of Indy 4.
"What have you seen, folks?" Ford apparently replied. "I mean, [the critics] were harsh on it, but what are they doing now?"
In the late 2000s, it became something similar to sport among film journalists and bloggers (especially online) to pick apart the fourth Indiana Jones film. This reaction was probably heightened by the fact that many felt Ford was then too old at the age of 66 to play the part. Yet 15 years later, Ford is still standing with the fedora and bullwhip, and arguably busier than ever as he pairs his two new television programs, 1923 and Shrinking.
In his tense chat with the industry trade, he seemed to want to acknowledge this anomaly.... Still, the actor and James Mangold, who is the director and co-writer of Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, seem eager to admit that Indy 5 will be doing some things differently from Crystal Skull. For starters, rather than dismissing the fact Ford/Jones is now well into the age of collecting social security, Dial of Destiny will embrace this reality headfirst.
'We removed a lot of old jokes from the script,' Ford said. Indy's revelation came as a result of THR implying that Kingdom of the Crystal Skull was simply making light of Indy's then-present years, and indy shooting back, 'not as easy as it used to be.' But by and large, Crystal Skull's Indy was still as physically strong as ever, defeating men twice his size and half his age with his naked
In '08, some critics made hay out of it, and it appears Dial of Destiny will go in a different direction.
"There is a moment when [Indy] observes himself in this situation and responds, 'What the fuck am I doing in here?' I want to see situations in which the audience gets a chance to experience the story, rather than to be led through the nose with highlights pointed out."
Mangold also spoke with Hibberd and shared his own thoughts on leaning into Indy's age with sincerity and thoughtfulness rather than deflection and self-deprecation.
"The mistake you can make in movies is when someone is of a mature age but the film continues this charade that they are not that old," Mangold said. "Every challenge he faces is through the reality of what someone of that age would be confronted with."
We suspect Indy will not be merely out-punching his opponents in the fifth one. At the risk of sounding like one of the jaded cranks Ford shrugged off, we think this is a good thing.
The Dial of Destiny and Indiana Jones will be released on June 30, 2023.