Because drinking from the Holy Grail, returning the Sankara Stones, fighting fascists and Nazis, and even facing snakes wasn’t enough for Indiana Jones, he is returning for a fifth and final film. Dr. Jones himself, actor Harrison Ford, promised audiences this will be a goodbye to remember.
Ford spoke with Empire Magazine giving them the first look at the highly anticipated upcoming film. He stated: “It’s full of adventure, full of laughs, full of real emotion. And it’s complex and it’s sneaky.”
He goes on to say that just because this film is good does not mean it was easy for him to make but it was certainly worth it. “The shooting of it was tough and long and arduous. But I’m very happy with the film that we have,” Ford stated.
Audiences last saw Indy in the 2008 film Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull, which could have ended the franchise with his marriage to Marion Ravenwood and the revelation of his son, Henry Walton Jones III. Ford thought there was an opening for another film so he patiently waited for the perfect script. “I just thought it would be nice to see one where Indiana Jones was at the end of his journey. If a script came along that I felt gave me a way to extend the character,” Ford mused.
Ford found his script in James Mangold, Jez Butterworth and John-Henry Butterworth’s screenplay. Mangold also took over the reins from Steven Spielberg to direct the movie. Spielberg is staying on as a producer of the film.
Mangold is up for the challenge. “It became really important to me to figure out how to make this a movie about a hero at sunset,” he stated. “The issues I brought up about Indy’s age were not things I thought were being addressed in the material being developed at the time. There were ‘old’ jokes, but the material itself wasn’t about it. To me, whatever you greatest liability, you should fly straight towards that. If you try to pretend it’s not there, you end up getting slings and arrows the whole way.”
Indiana Jones 5, as it is being called for now until the official title is released, is scheduled to hit theaters on June 30, 2023. Audiences have time until then to dust off their whips, fedoras, and leather jackets.