Indiana Jones 5 Officially Begins Filming

 

Indiana Jones 5 officially began filming earlier this week, and just in time as Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) celebrates its 40th anniversary this weekend. Harrison Ford returns to the role of Indiana Jones and the actor turning 79 next month will be 80 years upon the release of the film in theatres on July 28, 2022. This sequel has been mired by constant delays and it rivals The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008) in terms of the longest time gap in between installments in the franchise with the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull being released 19 years after The Last Crusade (1989), and Indiana Jones 5 (2022) being released 14 years after the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Steven Spielberg the iconic director of the first 4 Indiana Jones movies will not be directing this entry, and instead Ford V. Ferrari director James Mangold will be at the reins of this one, with Spielberg remaining aboard in a key producer capacity. Harrison Ford will be joined by Phoebe Waller-Bridge (Bond scribe and highly-acclaimed TV actress) as the main female heroine and Mads Mikkelsen (Casino Royale, Doctor Strange) as Jones’s dangerous antagonist. 

 

 

 

 

Some may question the practicality of Harrison Ford playing Indiana Jones at the age of 80 but his age isn’t really as much an obstacle as some might think as he keeps himself in great shape as proved by photos released online showing Ford taking a break from filming Indiana Jones 5 to go biking and the pictures show Ford is as fit as a nearly 80-year-old man can possibly be in addition to the fact that the script co-written by Mangold and his Ford V. Ferrari collaborators Jez and John-Henry Butterworth will most likely take Ford’s age into account and tone down his action in the movie. The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull was set in 1957 during the Cold War so Indiana Jones 5 coming out 14 years after its predecessor could take place in the early 70s, or they could even acknowledge the real passage of time between Raiders of the Lost Ark in 1981 to Indiana Jones 5’s release in the summer of 2022 and set the film in the late 70s but my guess is that Mangold will want to tell a story set in the late 60s to be able to capture that swinging 60s London vibe as the movie is filming in the UK, and to take full advantage of the setting of the Cold War and the rumored Space Race theme in the movie. Regardless the Indiana Jones character will probably be portrayed as at least in his later sixties and Ford who has one of those faces that doesn’t really age, it just gets more lines on it has always seemed to be able to pass for 10 years younger than his actual age so playing Indiana Jones closer to 70 rather this actual 80 years of age should be no problem for him. As for how much action will he be able to handle? Well look, back when The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull was released in 2008, Ford was 66 and many thought he was over the hill then but he was still able to carry his weight in the action scenes and the same should apply here considering he’s kept himself in great shape. However, just as in The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull he wasn’t able to do as much action as he did in the 80s Ford probably will be able to do even less action in this one, but that doesn’t mean that the story can’t be inventive and find ways to showcase Indiana Jones’s abilities even so. In addition to the fight scenes, Ford may still be able to pull off, the story by Mangold and his collaborators could possibly implement a more emphasized focus on Indiana Jones’s detective skills as well as his skills with a gun. I’ve always considered Mark Harmon of NCIS to be the TV equivalent of Harrison Ford and on that show, 99% of Mark Harmon’s action is executed via his character Gibbs using his firearm to clear a room and point and shoot at his enemies. It can be as simple as that and just as Gibbs practically intimidates his enemies into submission a lot of the time, the same can be true of Jones. Also let’s not forget that scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark when Indy was faced with the prospect of a terrifying sword fight with that evil sword expert and Jones decided to cut to the chase and shoot down his foe. The same logic could be applied here and it could work wonders in the storytelling accompanied by the occasional fistfight Ford will undoubtedly be up to the task to carry out. Also, Jones will have a strong female ally in Phoebe Waller-Bridge at his side, who may very well end up being a female version of Indiana Jones. So the potential for action is high and not limited in the least based on all these elements that could bring the film together quite nicely. 

 

 

A set video surfaced online showcasing a Nazi train that will be utilized in the movie alongside a stunt man driving a motorcycle and wearing a young Harrison Ford face mask indicating that Indiana Jones 5 will feature a flashback scene with a digitally de-aged Harrison Ford. The scene could take place in the 1930s during the days of the original trilogy or even the early 1940s during World War 2 with Jones’s war days having been alluded to in the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Marvel has certainly been making waves in the digitally de-aging world lately improving the technology onscreen vastly from what it once was and Indiana Jones under the same ownership umbrella as Marvel in Disney may very well be receiving the same pristine treatment. It would be exciting to see Harrison Ford young again on-screen and depending on the importance of the flashback sequence it may be pivotal to the events of the film. It would be epic to see this flashback sequence open the film before jumping to the present day of the story in the same vein as The Last Crusade from the opening train sequence with teenage Indiana Jones in 1912 to Harrison Ford caught in the thick of it onboard a ship caught between a storm and some henchmen in the late 1930s. The Last Crusade's flashback sequence effectively established the core of Indiana Jones's character in his determination and resolve for justice throughout his adventurous pursuits which translated into the adult Indiana Jones and the same could be true in Indiana Jones 5 with a 1930s/1940s opening sequence reminding us of what made the young Indiana Jones of the original trilogy great which would continue to translate with the advanced-aged Indiana Jones character but in service of further progressing the character.

 

 

This movie will be a fascinating look into the life of Indiana Jones though as this will no doubt be the last Indiana Jones movie starring Harrison Ford. I think James Mangold is a terrific choice to shepherd the swan song of Indiana Jones as he was able to bring a lot of depth to his 60s set film Ford V. Ferrari and I’m sure the same will be true here. There's a lot of potential dramatic material to be mined here with Indiana Jones being in the third act of his life so to speak and I’m excited to see that play out onscreen. Ford indicated his faith in the material in an interview in early 2020:

“I don’t really want to give them what they want to see, I want to give them something they didn’t anticipate. They are used to a degree of disappointment when you revisit. Certainly, the Marvel movies have made a spectacular example of a success [that] worked the other way around. They killed it! Well, we’re not going to make another Indiana Jones unless we are in a position to kill it. We want it to be the best.”

Originally Indiana Jones 5 was set to begin filming in the summer of 2020 but COVID derailed that plan pushing back filming a whole year, however before that happened while promoting his film The Call of the Wild, he did an interview speaking on his ambition for the character and the story and his desire to provide a high-quality service for his “customers”.

“I’m gonna start doing Indiana Jones in about two months,” he revealed. “I’m always delighted to come back to these characters. We have the opportunity to make another because people have enjoyed them. I feel obliged to make sure that our efforts are as ambitious as they were when it started."

“You have a sense of responsibility to your customers,” the actor continued. “I think of the people who go to my movies more as customers than I do as ‘fans’, ‘fans’ feels kind of weird to me, always has. But the fact that these people support my business, and I’m responsible to them for the quality of the service that I offer.”

Ford is certainly all onboard with his desire to return to the role of Indiana Jones and get it right for his loyal customers and that is what he is doing right now in the UK where filming has officially begun. Indiana Jones 5 has all the ingredients of a masterpiece in the making and if Mangold takes full advantage of the film's likely 1960s setting this would be a prime opportunity for Mangold to have the franchise make a callback to Indy's father in The Last Crusade played by Sean Connery. Connery's character was a quirky and lovable professor who had a deeply complicated relationship with his son but no matter his faults or seeming shortcomings he still had a great heart and the same level of charisma possessed by Bond, Connery having originated the role. The Indiana Jones movies were partially inspired by Bond thus the inspiration to cast James Bond as his father in The Last Crusade and it would only be fitting for some sort of callback to be present to Sean Connery's Bond in the very era he reigned in the 60s. This could be done via Jones making some crack about the Bond character he has seen at the movies in comparison to himself or his late father or perhaps Jones even takes the time to check out one of Connery's Bond films in the theater at some point during the story perhaps in the midst of one his adventures and on the run with just enough time to spare to find the irony in Bond's striking resemblance to his father or the similarity of his fast-paced life to his own. Needless to say this denouement to the Indiana Jones franchise is bursting with potential with legendary action star Harrison Ford donning the fedora once more under the direction of James Mangold who is sure to tell a rich and dramatic but also adventurous in spirit Indiana Jones tale with a formidable foe in Mads Mikkelsen who I’m theorizing may potentially be an underground Nazi intent on resurrecting the Reich, in addition to a dynamic female lead in Phoebe-Waller Bridge. And lets not forget that John Williams who is responsible for the iconic musical theme behind the franchise will be returning to compose Indiana Jones 5 ensuring Indy gets a properly upbeat musical sendoff. Whether Indiana Jones 5 is more action-oriented or more reliant on Indy’s intelligence and wit and courage in the face of fear and impossible odds or is a dynamic combination of both this film is certain to be the ultimate conclusion to over 40 years of Indiana Jones adventures onscreen and with Harrison Ford returning to the role at 80 with the same strong sense of conviction and energy he has always had proving age is certainly just a state of mind and nothing is impossible in the ongoing adventures of our lives.