As Empire continues to release articles spotlighting Indiana Jones 5, giving us our first real information about the film, we got another interesting piece of information: the movie will begin with a flashback sequence that will include a de-aged Harrison Ford.
Director James Mangold spoke to Empire about wanting to begin with this scene that would “give the audience an adrenaline blast” frmo the days of George Lucas and Steven Spielberg, adding that the scene will be set in 1944 and take place in a castle filled with Nazis. That means the flashback will be set after The Last Crusade, but still will feel like the similar era for the character. In fact, to bring this about, one of the things the filmmakers did was have Harrison Ford try on the actual jacket he wore for Raiders of the Lost Ark, and then re-create that footage thread-for-thread.
Mangold added that from a narrative perspective, it will help the audience better adjust to the transition from the 40s to the 60s, where the bulk of the film is set, as it will actually show audiences the transition visually. Of course, that will rely heavily on the technology to do so – and ILM has been on the cutting edge of pioneering that technology in recent years.
The company did it with Rogue One in bringing back the characters of Grand Moff Tarkin and Leia Organa, then in The Rise of Skywalker was able to digitally bring Leia into the film using archived footage. But the most significant advancement has come in The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett, with a de-aged Luke Skywalker – portrayed by Mark Hamill – playing a key role. Even witnessing the progression between those two shows, and the ways The Book of Boba Fett improved upon the previous work, was impressive. In many ways, that sounds exactly like what will be needed for Indiana Jones 5: taking an iconic character, played by the original actor who is now much older, back to a place similar to the original films, but a few years in the future (for Indy it’ll be a 6 year jump from The Last Crusade, while for Luke it’s a 5 year jump from Return of the Jedi).
“My hope is that, although it will be talked about in terms of technology, you just watch it and go, ‘Oh my God, they just found footage. This was a thing they shot 40 years ago’,” Lucasfilm president and Indiana Jones producer Kathy Kennedy told Empire. “We’re dropping you into an adventure, something Indy is looking for, and instantly you have that feeling, ‘I’m in an Indiana Jones movie.’”
But while some may criticize the technology, it seems that Harrison Ford is sold. “This is the first time I’ve seen it where I believe it,” he said. And if audiences can agree with him on that, then we’ll surely be in for a thrill seeing Indy in his prime once more.
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