lazypadawan | Entries tagged with indiana jones

Harrison Ford lets loose on Shia LeBeouf, who is set to make even more money with yet another "Transformers" film out this weekend:

http://www.hollywood.com/news/Ford_slams_LaBeouf_over_Indiana_Jones_comments/7812553

The young loose cannon is now sharing with the world his "exploits" with former co-star Megan Fox.

Hard to believe, but the world was introduced to Indiana Jones 30 years ago this past Sunday (June 12, 1981). The film was THE hit of '81. It became an instant classic, Indy became an instant movie icon, and Harrison Ford became a movie star in his own right, going on to become one of the biggest box office draws of all time.

Back then, two people dominated blockbusters: Steven Spielberg and George Lucas. Seeing them team up in a movie starring Han Solo was an '80s fanboy's dream come true. You probably think I couldn't wait to see this thing. You probably thought I went out opening weekend and saw that puppy a hundred times in the theater.

Well, you would be wrong!

I don't know why, but the movie looked kind of dumb to me. Maybe I just couldn't wrap my 11-year-old head around seeing ol' Han be another guy (he would totally love me for that). But I didn't care to see the movie. I saw other stuff that summer, including my first ever R-rated movie (the great Bo Derek comedy "Tarzan The Apeman") and the James Bond flick "For Your Eyes Only." But I avoided "Raiders" in June and July.

Then August rolled around and one Sunday my dad says, "Let's go see 'Raiders of the Lost Ark.'" I grumbled, "Aww, that movie looks stupid." My parents thought I was crazy and my brother made it three against one. Off we went to the Sunniland Theater near where I used to live in Miami.

Sunniland was a big old two-screen theater that looked every bit its age. The floors were always sticky and the curtains had probably been there since the 1950s. It was where they showed midnight movies like Rocky Horror, "The Song Remains The Same," and "Pink Floyd's The Wall," because the flying toast or the kids tripping on acid would cause minimal damage. Strangely enough, it still managed to book first-run movies even with a newer and better theater about five miles away. Even stranger, Sunniland managed to outlive the other theater by a few years.

While we were waiting for the movie to start, I saw a man come in with his kids. The kids sat down and the dad went to get popcorn. When he came back, he sat back down and the bottom of the seat collapsed from under him. Everybody laughed. Fortunately the guy wasn't hurt or anything.

After I saw the movie, I wondered what the hell I was thinking. The movie was great! It became my brother's all-time favorite (it still is). When the Nazis melted at the end, everybody was grossed out but I was laughing my head off. It was one time in life I couldn't have been happier to be wrong.

TFN posted this from some New Zealand website:

Harrison Ford's final outing as Indiana Jones will be "emotional and exciting" as the franchise heads back to its roots after a badly received fourth installment.Proof positive the PR branch at Lucasfilm has been the pits for the past 10 years.

Ford is well-known for his portrayal of the archaeologist and adventurer, and has agreed to reprise the role one last time.

Indiana Jones 5 will begin shooting next year, and much of the plot line will be centred around the Bermuda Triangle, an area over the North Atlantic Ocean where a number of aircraft are said to have disappeared.

"George (Lucas) and Steven (Spielberg) have been working on a script and it's almost there," a source explained.

"Harrison is on stand-by for filming next year. This looks like being an emotional and exciting conclusion to the franchise, with Indy facing his biggest challenge yet."

Hopefully without loudmouth/traitor Shia "DUI" LaBeouf.

The Bermuda Triangle idea is interesting, if there's any truth to this. Steven Spielberg touched on the Bermuda Triangle in Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

Maybe this time Indy is looking for sunken Spanish treasure, a great deal of which is still strewn all over the Caribbean Sea.

Update: According to thewrap.com, Paramount and Spielberg's reps have issued the usual denials. Carry on.

Now that young star Shia LaBeouf is in Cannes promoting Wall Street II: Money Never Sleeps, he's burning bridges like a pyromaniac on speed. Let's see if he comes back for Indy V after telling the press this:

The last time Shia LaBeouf came to Cannes, in 2008, it was to promote "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull," the revival of the swashbuckling adventure franchise that went on to earn a whopping $787 million around the world. LaBeouf is back on the Croisette this weekend to flog "Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps," another revival of a classic from several decades ago. But he's not willing to forget about what he says were rampant problems with Indy 4 -- and he doesn't expect fans to, either.

"I feel like I dropped the ball on the legacy that people loved and cherished," LaBeouf said, explaining that this upped the ante for him before he began shooting the "Wall Street" sequel. "If I was going to do it twice, my career was over. So this was fight-or-flight for me."

Meeting with reporters Saturday on a terrace at the Hotel du Cap, he had some strong, confessional words about his acting in the film, which he said he felt didn't convince anyone that he was the action hero the movie claimed him to be. "You get to monkey-swinging and things like that and you can blame it on the writer and you can blame it on Steven [Spielberg, who directed]. But the actor's job is to make it come alive and make it work, and I couldn't do it. So that's my fault. Simple."

LaBeouf said that he could have kept quiet, especially given the movie's blockbuster status, but didn't think the film had fooled anyone. "I think the audience is pretty intelligent. I think they know when you've made ... . And I think if you don't acknowledge it, then why do they trust you the next time you're promoting a movie." LaBeouf went on to say he wasn't the only star on the film who felt that way. "We [Harrison Ford and LaBeouf] had major discussions. He wasn't happy with it either. Look, the movie could have been updated. There was a reason it wasn't universally accepted."

LaBeouf added, "We need to be able to satiate the appetite," he said. "I think we just misinterpreted what we were trying to satiate."

Asked whether this was difficult to say, given his deep relationship with Spielberg, LaBeouf continued with the directness.

"I'll probably get a call. But he needs to hear this. I love him. I love Steven. I have a relationship with Steven that supersedes our business work. And believe me, I talk to him often enough to know that I'm not out of line. And I would never disrespect the man. I think he's a genius, and he's given me my whole life. He's done so much great work that there's no need for him to feel vulnerable about one film. But when you drop the ball you drop the ball."

Of course the internetz are praising his candor and refreshing honesty in biting a big hand that fed him. If he really felt that way, he should have said so years ago, not two years after the film comes out. There's nothing that I hate more than actors (especially actors) and people associated with a film going on about how pleased they're with it and it's so awesome, blah blah blah and turn around and call it crap when it doesn't do well. Except in this case, Indy IV did do well but wussy lil' Shia couldn't take all of the mean things they were saying in the entertainment media and by the internet Neanderthals. So he decides to pull a Megan Fox with Steven Spielberg and in a classier move, drags in Harrison Ford. Ford was on Jay Leno prior to the film's release and told Leno he absolutely loved the film. So is LaBeouf calling Ford a liar? I imagine if this Wall Street flick doesn't fly, he'll just throw the blame on Oliver Stone and Michael Douglas.

What a drunk driving douchebag.

TFN posted a story from the BBC where Harrison Ford reveals that he, Steven Spielberg, and Papa George have agreed on a proposed storyline for a fifth Indiana Jones flick.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/hi/entertainment/newsid_10050000/newsid_10058500/10058528.stm

Okay, so it is merely a "germ of an idea," but this is further than they got between 1989 and 2007. Let me guess what the story will be...

Indiana Jones and the Cheeseburger of Legend

The intrepid Dr. Jones learns about a cheeseburger in a far off land so delicious, it promises eternal youth and yumminess. He embarks on a private plane in a search for this tasty treasure that ends up being fraught with adventure and danger! The evil counters of carbon plot to stop him at all costs, as do the fanatical cult of non-meat and dairy eaters, and former Marshall College students who had to sit through his eco-rants during class. Can Indy make it to Cheeseburger Paradise in one piece? Can Mutt read the frickin' map right? Will Indy and Marion stop bickering about whether to ask for directions? Just how good are the fries? Find out as you join Indy, his friends, and special guest star Jimmy Buffett in Indiana Jones and the Cheeseburger of Legend, served to you in 2012!

Dang, I'm hungry.

*starwars.com literally just posted that McDonalds will run another Clone Wars/Star Wars promotion beginning February 26 (they ran one in '08 to coincide with the CW movie). There will be more toys (choose from four) and vehicles, along with cool new boxes. Great, just after I lose 17 pounds :P.

*Amazon.com is taking pre-orders for the coffee table book Star Wars: Visions, due out in October.

*Harrison Ford is still saying he'd love to do another Indiana Jones, provided it's soon ;). In the meantime, J Crew is selling a replica of Indiana Jones's shoes made by Alden For J Crew for a mere $450:

http://www.jcrew.com/AST/Browse/MensBrowse/Men_Shop_By_Category/shoes/AldenForJCrew/PRDOVR~18428/18428.jsp

Conveniently linked from starwars.com (!) is a ridiculous piece that originated on Film.com on how the Indiana Jones series can be "saved."

Naturally, its salvation can only come from a bunch of changes suggested by some random person on the internet. What are these changes? Reduce Ford's role to cameo status, fix up Shia LeBeouf with a chick, fix LeBeouf up with a dude (no, not THAT way), "scrap the mythology" (which the author really means is "no more sci-fi"), and make it darker and more cynical to please today's fanboys.

First of all, if you shove Harrison Ford into the corner, it ceases to be Indiana Jones. It's something else. I liked Mutt but a movie starring him would be a Mutt Williams movie. I think you either bring Ford back for one last outing or you go the route of the Young Indiana Jones series. Or you don't do it at all. It doesn't make any sense at all to advocate expanding Shia LeBeouf's role then say he's overexposed, so he needs current darlings like Rachel McAdams or John Krasinski to help balance him out.

Every Indiana Jones movie has its mythical McGuffin: the Ark of the Covenant, those funky stones, the Holy Grail, and the Crystal Skull. All of those items not only have real world archaeological value, they also have those eerie powers that doom those who mess with them. KOTCS isn't any different from the previous IJ flicks in this respect. KOTCS differs significantly in two ways: it doesn't take place in the 1930s and instead of supernaturalism, there are aliens instead. There's nothing you can do about the former since Ford can't fake being 20 years younger. As for the latter, so what? I'll never understand why people insist you have to strictly follow a formula to the letter every time or it's ur doing it wrong.

As for the last big on advocating Indy go dark and cynical, it has so many contradictory points, I'l have to quote it here:

The original films were silly, a bit campy in their simplistic views of good and evil, but that's what made them great in that time and that place. Things are different now. We're far too cynical as a nation to look upon Indiana Jones with the wide-eyed fervor and adoration that we once mustered. We've given up on ever getting to know our neighbors, and films like that are long departed from our national lexicon. Even James Bond has been forced to streamline and lose the campy factor in favor of a darker Bond. The new Bond is more in touch with our times and the modern mind, something that Crystal Skull failed at miserably. There is a way to reinvent without losing sight of the things that made Indiana Jones great, without destroying the joy and the thrilling adventure of it all, but Crystal Skull felt stuck. They've got to lose the CGI, get back to the basics, and make a film that can stand with the rest of them. Go dark, early and often, Temple of Doom or people's heads on fire (Raiders of the Lost Arc) style. It's the only way to make the light and grinning end worthwhile.

The sort of people who live on the internet ARE too cynical to look upon Indiana Jones with wide-eyed adoration. But they're not the only people in the world who go to the movies. If everyone is so cynical, why did Indy IV do so well? What about movies like Pirates of the Caribbean that was for the most part campy as all get-out? All people want is a good time at these kinds of movies. There's nothing wrong with that.

So Indiana Jones is too old -fashioned. Yet there's also the call to "lose the CGI" and "get back to the basics" (with no specifics). So does the author want an '80s throwback or what?

If there was anything I didn't like about KOTCS it was its anti-anti-Communism but I don't think it deserves the flames it gets from the usual quarters. If you ask me, it has everything to do with a knee-jerk anti-Lucas campaign waged over the past 10 years and nothing much more.

*I've noticed starwars.com has pimped the Fan Club Breakfast at Comic Con several times over the past few weeks. They've never had to do this before. I remember when the event would quickly sell out and now as the deadline is approaching, tickets are still available, despite the price dropping to $55 this year. I guess even con attendees are cutting back these days.

*The rumor mill about Indy V continues to grind along, with a report that the film will shoot next year and be out in 2011, quickly followed by a "never mind" after Popcorn Monster tweeted Frank Marshall about it. This is still a long shot IMO.

*The rumor mill about the live action show continues to grind along as well. The latest is that they have hired at least one Australian t.v. writer, a guy named John Edwards, who is not to be confused with the former presidential candidate or the guy who can talk to dead people. No one has come out yet to deny this and starwars.com linked to both of these stories without a denial. Could it be we're getting closer to something being done? Let's hope for news at Comic Con.

*starwars.com also linked to a story about the University of Illinois acquiring a collection of SW and other media fanzines from a fan named Mariellen "Ming" Wathne, who ran a private library of zines for several years. This is of interest to me because 1) I started during the zine age, 2) I'm acquainted with Ming, though I haven't seen her in a few years and 3) some of the zines in that collection are ones I published or contain stories I wrote. My ticket to immortality!

*TFN has a story about a SW summer camp. Too bad they didn't have 'em when I was kid!

*TFN also has a story about SW author Mike Stackpole advocating in favor of downloading pirated books for free! Actually, I think it's very forward thinking and it does offer an opportunity for newbies to get their work out there.

*And this lovely bit of artwork inspired by the upcoming SW novel Death Trooper....ZOMBIES!!!

http://www.theforce.net/image_popup/image_popup_global.asp?image=http://www.collectinghq.com/im/0016083.jpg

First Shia LeBeouf spills the beans yesterday, now Frank Marshall confirms it today with EmpireOnline: they are working on an Indy V script right as we speak. No word on when they hope to have this thing done but they better not take another 19 years! We have a Grampy Jones as it is :O.

Who should be Indy's next nemesis, besides time? We've already done Russkies and space aliens. In the Making of Indiana Jones book, one idea George Lucas toyed with repeatedly but never used was the idea of a haunted house and having Indy play ghostbuster. With the popularity of all things paranormal these days, why not go for it? Maybe he can battle vampires or something. Everybody likes vampires. What do you all think?

The Saturn Awards, which is supposed to be about genre films but has been increasingly making weird choices in its awards, announced their nominees today. Naturally The Dark Knight was the Slumdog Millionaire of the bunch but KOTCS got five nominations while CW got a nod for Best Animated Movie (will get beat by Wall-E) and a nod for Best Cable/Syndicated series. Unfortunately, the latter category is in the Group of Death: its fellow nominees are fan/critic darlings like Battlestar Galactica, True Blood, and The Closer.

Here's the full list of nominees:

http://www.saturnawards.org/nominations.html

darth_pipes sent a link to this blog piece about the suddenly-discovered story conferences among George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, and screenwriter Lawrence Kasdan. The blog article is mostly about why they succeeded with the movie but it has some, er, interesting tidbits such as Lucas's crackpot suggestion Indiana Jones's affair with Marion started when she was 11:

http://mysterymanonfilm.blogspot.com/2009/03/raiders-story-conference.html

I'm sure everyone would've loved Indy the Pedophile! It's also worth pointing out this was before Lucas adopted any kids ;).

While The Dark Knight was the top grossing film for 2008 in North America, KOTCS was the top grossing film in international markets (though TDK's domestic and international gross combined still tops KOTCS). Indiana Jones raked in $469 million overseas, $4 million more than Batman. Not bad for a movie from a series dormant for 19 years and starring a 65-year-old guy. No wonder Lucas is thinking about another one.

Rumblings of a fifth Indiana Jones movie get a little louder with this Harrison Ford interview posted on MTV News.com:

http://www.theforce.net/latestnews/story/Ford_Says_Indy_5_In_Primary_Stages_119200.asp

When your last movie makes over $300 million, why the hell not?

Don't forget, KOTCS is out on DVD and Blu-Ray tomorrow! Revel in every fridge-nuking moment!

I bought the actual hardcopy Clone Wars DVD today, on sale at Target for $11.98. Downloading it on iTunes would have been cheaper but you don't get a free poster ;)! In any case, there are 32 tracks! And it's just for the movie, not the series in general.

And for those of you who didn't hear/read it yet, Indiana Jones will be in your hot little hands on October 14. This will be the first Lucasfilm production available on Blu-Ray as well as DVD (R.I.P. HD-DVD). This adds fire to the rumor that Clone Wars will be issued on Blu-Ray whenever it comes out.

Friday July 25 is SW Day and it looks like it's a full roster of stuff to see, including lots of stuff about Clone Wars and a little about Indiana Jones. They're going to hog Room 7AB most of the day, until the annual Hall H presentation at 4. Yeah, we'll see if it actually starts at 4 :P.

This is a bit of a pickle for me because I want to get my exclusives on Friday because it'll be better than getting them on Hell Day, known as Saturday. And I usually go to Hall H at least 2 hours or so early to get a good seat. On the other hand, I'd love to see most of those panels. What to do :(?

It bears noting that little arthouse flick starring a 65-year-old action hero reached $290 million domestically and continues to perform well at the North American box office. In fact, KOTCS performed better than other films that opened after it, including Sex and the City and You Don't Mess With The Zohan. Internationally, KOTCS crept back up to the #1 spot as it opened in Japan, putting it ahead of the U.S. #1 film, Get Smart. Its grand total gross is now $650 million, about what AOTC grossed worldwide six years ago, and its b.o. run isn't yet done. I'm predicting $750 million worldwide, about $310 million domestic when all's said and done. Not bad for a franchise that had been dormant 19 years!

The majority of you think KOTCS is very good and at least as good as the Indy sequels (or, really one prequel and one sequel). My brother, who is probably a bigger Indy fan than I am, also really enjoyed it. He's the expert, so there!

I really want to see it again, preferably in digital format. Maybe this weekend ;).

( Enter the Temple of Spoilery Doom )

I'll post the results on Tuesday May 27:

[Poll #1192425]

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lazypadawan's Holocron

For people who actually like the Star Wars Saga

Entries tagged with indiana jones

For The First Time In A Long Time, I Agree With Ford

30 Years of "Raiders of the Lost Ark"

The Indiana Jones V Rumor Mill Continues...

Stay Classy, Shia

Indy 5's Principals Agree To A Story

Short Takes 2/2

Those Who Can Do, Those Who Can't Whine On The Internet

Short Takes

Indiana Jones To The World: I'll Sleep When I'm Dead!

Saturn noms for KOTCS, CW

The strange but true Raiders of the Lost Ark story conference...

KOTCS tops international b.o. for 2008

Too legit to quit?

KOTCS DVD/Blu-Ray out tomorrow!

CW music & Indiana Jones on DVD/Blu-Ray

SW fun and games at Comic Con

Indiana Jones rocks the show worldwide

Indy poll results

A Touch of Grey: lazypadawan's review of Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull

Special Indy poll