Harrison Ford is having one heck of a year. After being stuck at home during the pandemic, the legendary actor was eager to get back to work and threw himself into a slew of projects. He’s currently starring in the Yellowstone prequel, 1923, and the new Apple TV series, Shrinking. On top of joining the world of prestige TV dramas, the actor will reprise one of his most iconic roles in Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, which is set to hit theaters this summer.
Of course, with Ford returning to his classic Indy role, there’s the unavoidable issue about the actor’s age. There was already significant criticism for 2008’s Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, and well, Ford hasn’t gotten any younger in the 15 years since. However, this time around, Ford and director James Mangold are leaning into the age issue, but they won’t be doing it with the “old Indy” jokes that plagued Crystal Skull.
Here’s what Ford recently told The Hollywood Reporter:
In [Dial of Destiny] there were a lot of old jokes in the script. We took them all out. There is a moment where he observes himself in this situation and says, “What the f*ck am I doing in here?” But I hate what I call “talking about the story.” I want to see circumstances in which the audience gets a chance to experience the story, not to be led through the nose with highlights pointed out to them. I’d rather create behavior that is the joke of age rather than talk about it.
Ford also opened up about Dial of Destiny‘s opening flashback sequence, which uses de-aging technology to make the actor look like he’s appearing in a scene that closely matches the aesthetics of the original Indiana Jones films from the ’80s. At first, Ford was also hesitant about the controversial CGI filming technique until Lucasfilm walked him through their own unique process.
“I never loved the idea until I saw how it was accomplished in this case — which is very different than the way it’s been done in other films I’ve seen,” Ford said. “They’ve got every frame of film, either printed or unprinted, of me during 40 years of working with Lucasfilm on various stuff. I can act the scene and they sort through with AI every f*cking foot of film to find me in that same angle and light. It’s bizarre and it works and it is my face.”
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny whips into theaters on June 30.
(Via The Hollywood Reporter)