As Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny continues to play in cinemas around the world ($247,905,329 globally and counting) there’s still plenty of new to catch up on, so here’s a round-up of what’s happening in the world of Indy.
First off, Karen Allen discusses her thoughts on her role in Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny and how she wishes she was more involved.
“I think because the last time you see Indy and Marion, they’ve gotten married – I don’t know that I thought we’d pick up from where we left off, but I did always imagine that it would be a story with Indy and Marion going forward. When Steven was going to direct the film, I think the scripts were more focused on an Indy/Marion story. But when Steven stepped aside and James came in, he started fresh with new writers and they just went in the direction they went in.
They were going to tell a different story. That’s not to say that I had ever read a script that Steven was working on, because I hadn’t, but I just knew from conversations that we’d had that the ongoing story had involved Marion in a much bigger way than the story that they ended up with.”
Next, with Dial of Destiny out in cinemas and Young Indiana Jones on Disney Plus in the States and various other locations, Lucasfilm caught up with Sean Patrick Flannery to discuss his time as Indiana and the thought of following in the footsteps of Harrison Ford.
“He is one of the last iconic movie stars. He’s like Montgomery Clift, James Dean, or Steve McQueen. When the time came for me to audition for a younger version of his character, it seemed so unlikely. The probability of me getting Young Indiana Jones was so far in left field that I had zero nerves. It was actually to my benefit. I didn’t care. There was no way they were going to cast some dude from Texas who’s never done anything. Every movie since then, I’ve been nervous!”
While not following directly in his footsteps, young Ethann Isidore had the pleasure of sharing the screen with Harrison Ford and learning from the great man.
“He helped me a lot to know how to use my energy because I was giving a lot of energy, but sometimes maybe too much. He looks and acts like Indiana Jones all the time!” Isidore says. “He is Indiana Jones. I thought I was going to meet someone else, someone I didn’t know, but actually I knew him. It was quite a surprise that Indiana Jones and Harrison Ford are the same person.”
Prop Master Ben Wilkinson takes a look at the props and artifacts of Dial of Destiny, always a key role on any Indiana Jones production. Here, he discusses the Lance of Longinus.
“We started off and we made a version of that and then it was like, ‘You know what? We kind of know it’s a fake anyway, so let’s take that and let’s do our own version of it, so, it’s not a copy of something we’ve seen.
“It had a bit of weight to it because the metal work was real. It was just something that our prop maker Christian [Short] made and carved, and then we molded. So it felt a bit more real than just a plastic molded thing. But it was nice and I loved the way that, when you see the film and they open the case, the metal work really sort of shines out.”
Finally, Lucasfilm caught up with co-star Mads Mikkelsen who recalls the moment he met Harrison on set for the first time, or rather Dr Indiana Jones.
On Mikkelsen’s first day on set, he arrived for a costume fitting and a script read, but ended up meeting the man with the hat. “I went outside my trailer and Harrison [Ford] was outside. That was the first time I met him.” Ford was in full costume, and Mikkelsen says he felt like a kid again, recognizing not the esteemed actor and co-star but the hero he loved. “It wasn’t Harrison, it was Indiana Jones. He had the hat, the whip, the jacket. [It was] surreal. Watching him work, it’s just been, you know, an experience of my life….Because, all of a sudden, I’m part of it.”
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