With the hotly anticipated recent release of Steven Spielberg’s movie Disclosure Day, the esteemed director’s name is everywhere, including a recent Spielberg oral history piece published by Vulture. Indiana Jones franchise producer Kathleen Kennedy revealed how Spielberg and George Lucas had a creative clash over Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.
Lucas wanted it to be a ‘War of the Worlds’ type movie, which Spielberg and protagonist Harrison Ford both opposed, citing that they didn’t want to do another science-fiction film.
Kennedy revealed how Spielberg and Ford were “not 100 per cent on board” with the creative direction that Crystal Skull was taking, and went on to suggest that this difference of opinion is why it’s the weakest of the four movies that Spielberg directed in the Indiana Jones franchise.
She said, “Steven was struggling with that movie. Harrison was struggling with the movie. They didn’t want to do a ‘Raiders’ movie that involved aliens, and they kind of got into a fight with George [Lucas] about it”
Lucas himself also added to the discussion, saying it was just:
“I wanted it to be kind of a War of the Worlds sort of thing. Harrison said, ‘I’m not going to do another science-fiction movie.’ And Steven said, ‘I’m not going to do another science-fiction movie.’ I said, ‘Steven, this is perfect because it’s the 1950s, when flying saucers were a whole thing,’ but he said ‘no.’ We did about five scripts, and finally Steve and I compromised: ‘Look, what if they’re not aliens but from another dimension.’”
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is the fourth instalment in the five-film franchise, arriving on our screens 19 years after the success of 1989’s The Last Crusade. Set in 1957, Ford reprises his role as the adventure-loving archaeologist, facing off against Soviet KGB in the hunt for a telepathic crystal skull. It was a major box office hit, grossing $786 million worldwide, and was received with mixed reviews by critics.
In 2023, Ford returned yet again as the titular character in Indiana Jones: Dial of Destiny, the only Indiana Jones movie not to be directed by Spielberg. Instead, James Mangold (Ford v Ferrari) stepped up to direct the film, which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival on May 18th, 2023.
Despite a reported $419 million production budget, Dial of Destiny grossed $384 million at the box office and was not well received by critics or cinema-goers.
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