Indiana Jones 4 - The Movie

[CHEWIE]

I think Lucas has some skills left too.  AOTC wasn't bad by any means and ROTS was outstanding.  I'd hardly say that he's no longer talented.

As for Ford, he'll always be Han Solo/Indiana Jones.  So no role he really does after those movies will ever live up to what he did before.

Bring on Indy 4.

 

[Matt]

If you think the work that any of these guys are doing today is as good as the work they were doing twenty-five and thirty years ago, you need to have your head examined.

[Famine]

If you think the work that any of these guys are doing today is as good as the work they were doing twenty-five and thirty years ago, you need to have your head examined.

What if you think it's better? I certainly think that Sith was a better picture than say Jedi, or American Graffiti.

Kevin

[Matt]

What if you think it's better?

Easy.

Full-scale lobotomy.

[Angry Ewok]

Gotta agree with Matt - you guys are absolutely bars-in-the-window pyscho if you think Lucas has gotten better as he's gotten older. If anything, the projects he's given up to the people surrounding him are usually better off (Empire Strikes Back, Indiana Jones, and Revenge of the Sith, for example?)...

Spielberg is much, much more debatable, considering he's always been relatively reliable as a film maker. While his classics are untouchable, just about anything he works on is pretty good in my opinion... Munich, War of the Worlds, The Terminal, Catch me if you Can, Minority Report, AI, Saving Private Ryan, Schindler's List, Jurassic Park, Hook, Indiana Jones, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Jaws, etc.

His filmography is a stark contrast to someone who is connected to major motion picture contributions such as Howard the Duck and The Phantom Menace.


Back to the Indy 4 discussion...


Sorry, I just don't see this film ever happening. I hope it does, even though my expectations would be very low.

[Matt]

Spielberg, Ford and Lucas on Indy IV

Getting one of the Indiana Jones triumvirate to talk about the fourth sequel is a rare opportunity, but getting George Lucas, Steven Spielberg and Harrison Ford to spill at the same time is as infrequent as finding a needle in a haystack under some hen's teeth on a blue moony night at the end of a month of Sundays.

But Empire was lucky enough to speak with the trio as part of our massive Indiana Jones 25th anniversary celebrations and it seems that Indy IV is going to be a tad controversial.

“We’re basically going to do The Phantom Menace”, says Lucas (stay with him here, he’s making a point). “People’s expectations are way higher than you can deliver. You could just get killed for the whole thing…We would do it for fun and just take the hit with the critics and the fans...But nobody wants to get into it unless they are really happy with it”.

The ‘damned if you do, damned if you don’t’ situation has freed up an idea for a plot that was originally deemed too incendiary.

“I discovered a McGuffin,” continues Lucas, still reluctant to name said McGuffin. “I told the guys about it and they were a little dubious about it, but it’s the best one we’ve ever found… Unfortunately, it was a little too ‘connected’ for the others. They were afraid of what the critics would think. They said, “Can’t we do it with a different McGuffin? Can’t we do this?” and I said “No”. So we pottered around with that for a couple of years. And then Harrison really wanted to do it and Steve said, “Okay”. I said, “We’ll have to go back to that original MacGuffin and take out the offending parts of it and we’ll still use that area of the supernatural do deal with it”.

“Hopefully it will be different in all the right ways and the same in all the familiar ways,” adds Spielberg.

As for timing, Lucas says that filming is scheduled for mid-2007, for a 2008 release but getting the gang back together is a tricky proposition. “Before I was just working with Steven and Harrison. Now everybody’s a superstar, so it’s a little bit more difficult than it was then”. “But there’s a good chance it will happen,” assures Ford. “There are things left for this character to do”.

[Rob]

**** it.

I'm excited and am going to cross my fingers in hope that it might be good.

[ruiner]

Will McGuffin be CGI or a real actor?

That's the million dollar question.

[Matt]

Will McGuffin be CGI or a real actor?

That's the million dollar question.

I think you just discovered the name of the newest baddie in the Indiana Jones series.

Will McGuffin--it's got a good ring to it.

[mousedroid]

“We’re basically going to do The Phantom Menace”, says Lucas (stay with him here, he’s making a point). “People’s expectations are way higher than you can deliver. You could just get killed for the whole thing…We would do it for fun and just take the hit with the critics and the fans...But nobody wants to get into it unless they are really happy with it”.

What a freaking cop-out.  It's not impossible to make  Indiana Jones 4 a good movie.  Maybe for the hack Lucas has become it is, but not for someone with talent.  Sure, if you have Indy team up with a talking kangaroo and make endless poop and pee-pee jokes, it's going to suck, so DON'T DO THAT! 

Just make a good movie.  Not one that you think your kids would have giggled at when they were 10, but one that is true to the character and mythos of Indiana Jones. 

“We’ll have to go back to that original MacGuffin and take out the offending parts of it and we’ll still use that area of the supernatural do deal with it”.

Who are they afraid of offending?  The American Family Values coalition?  Those nutjobs are offended by everything.  On the other hand, if you're afraid that you'll offend the fans by revealing that Indy is actually a robot powered by demonic bacteria, then yeah, you should take that part out.

I'll tell ya, it does not bode well when a filmmaker starts hedging his bets and making excuses a year before production even begins.

[Darth Slothus]

I'll tell ya, it does not bode well when a filmmaker starts hedging his bets and making excuses a year before production even begins.

Agreed, I feel like he was taking a Jab, like his EGO is still bruised from his TPM 'bashings'.

DS

[name]

They said, “Can’t we do it with a different McGuffin? Can’t we do this?” and I said “No”. So we pottered around with that for a couple of years. And then Harrison really wanted to do it and Steve said, “Okay”. I said, “We’ll have to go back to that original MacGuffin and take out the offending parts of it and we’ll still use that area of the supernatural do deal with it”.

So basically this is saying..."We could have done this thing at least two years ago if I would have budged even a little on the idea that the other two collaborators thought was bad, but I wouldn't.  Now that Harrison is realizing that he's getting too old to wait much longer on Indy, he's more willing to accept my idea.  So I win.  Nyah Nyah Nyah."


What really makes it ridiculous is that a MacGuffin, by definition, should be completely interchangeable.  Substitute jewels for the cash or a smoking monkey for a maltese falcon and it shouldn't matter.

I'm really starting to believe that history will look back on Lucas as a dumbass who managed to hit a wild winning streak for about 10 years in the late 70's/early 80's.

[Angry Ewok]

I'm really starting to believe that history will look back on Lucas as a dumbass who managed to hit a wild winning streak for about 10 years in the late 70's/early 80's.

I think 10 years is a little generous.

[BrentS]

Can some explain to me what  a "McGuffin" is.  Maybe I'm just clueless but I don't understand.

[Matt]

A MacGuffin (sometimes McGuffin or Maguffin) is a plot device that motivates the characters and advances the story, but has little other relevance to the story itself.

The Indy movies are full of them--the headpiece for the Staff of Ra, the Ark of the Covenant, the Sankara Stones, the Cross of Coronado, and the Holy Grail.

More at Wikipedia