Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny is now just hours away from its domestic release domestically, with many international audiences already enjoying its swashbuckling action. The movie is a long goodbye to one of the most beloved heroes in cinema history, with the now octogenarian Harrison Ford cracking the whip one last time.
This is also the first Indiana Jones movie not to be directed by Steven Spielberg, who bowed out in 2020 as he wanted a fresh perspective on the franchise. He was replaced by Logan‘s James Mangold, who’d previously worked with Ford on 2020’s The Call of the Wild.
Mangold seems like a consummate Hollywood professional, but he’s also a huge Star Wars and Indiana Jones fan… so who among us could resist asking Ford a few questions about his most famous roles? Speaking to Screen Rant, Mangold said he couldn’t resist trying to get some gossip out of Ford, never knowing he’d eventually be taking the reins on Dial of Destiny:
“Obviously, you can’t be doing all night shoots in the middle of the Santa Clarita Valley, waiting for lighting setups to be completed and not start interviewing Harrison Ford with crazy Star Wars questions and Indy questions. Somewhere around 2 a.m. he’d start telling stories about what they were thinking of next and what they’re working on. Little did I know it would end up being me.”
Principal photography for Call of the Wild took place in 2018, so it’s likely that Ford was at least partly aware he’d be reprising Han Solo one final time in The Rise of Skywalker. Beyond that what eventually become Dial of Destiny had been being worked on since 2015, so Ford would have been able to drop some gossip to Mangold about pre-production.
It’s got to be wild to go from being hungry for tidbits of info from a movie to actually directing the thing, but it’s clear Mangold at least had the passion necessary to make an Indiana Jones movie.
Audiences will find out very soon whether Indy’s final adventure is a hit or a hash, but whatever the reception is we have to see it simply to pay homage to a true action icon.
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny hits theaters on June 30.