Reluctant Hero

As part of the Indiana Jones 25th anniversary celebration, (gosh, has it really been that long that the character's been around? Sigh...I feel very old!) Empire Magazine spoke with George Lucas, Steven Spielberg and the man himself Harrison Ford about the first three films in the series and Indy IV. Regarding the long gestating fourth installment, the trio offered up a status report. Garth Franklin of Dark Horizons gives us the highlights:

"We're basically going to do The Phantom Menace. 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" says Lucas

As a result, the trio has come up with an idea for a plot that was originally deemed 'too incendiary' by others. Lucas liked the idea it seems, but the other two were "a little dubious about it" and thought it was a "little too 'connected'" which would cause a critical backlash. This disagreement over the central idea seems to be the reason for the delays in recent years.

Why's it moving again? "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" says Lucas, with Spielberg adding "Hopefully it will be different in all the right ways and the same in all the familiar ways".

"There's a good chance it will happen. There are things left for this character to do" says Ford, whilst a mid-2007 start of shooting date is scheduled (which would put the film on course for a Summer 2008 release.

For more on Indy IV pick up a copy of the new issue (#308) of Empire on sale from August 25th.

'There's a good chance it will happen'. What does that mean? I thought it was a done deal? The article makes it seem like Ford isn't as optimistic about a fourth film as he once was....

I love Lucas talking expectations and referencing Star Wars: Episode I: The Phantom Menace. Priceless!!