Steven Spielberg talks INDIANA JONES 4 and 5, plus JURASSIC PARK 4

Steven Spielberg talks INDIANA JONES 4 and 5, plus JURASSIC PARK 4

Love it or hate it, INDIANA JONES AND THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL made a crapload of money, and it’s definitely a safe bet that we’ll eventually see at least one more film involving Harrison Ford as the whip-weilding hero. But outside of just saying things like “We’re working on it” or “it’s probably gonna happen”, the principal players haven’t said too terribly much about where exactly things stand on a sequel. In a recent interview with Empire (brought to our attention by the fine folks at Screenrant) promoting THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN: THE SECRET OF THE UNICORN, Spielberg opened up a bit on his feelings on INDY 4 and a possible fifth movie… putting a bulk of the delay blame on good ol’ George Lucas.

In regards to INDY 5 he stated:

“You have to ask George Lucas. George is in charge of breaking the stories. He’s done it on all four movies. Whether I like the stories or not, George has broken all the stories. He is working on Indy V. We haven’t gone to screenplay yet, but he’s working on the story. I’ll leave it to George to come up with a good story.”

The only thing that bothers me about this statement is why Steven feels George has to be the driving force on this – why not make it more collaborative, especially this late in the game. Obviously things weren’t ideal with the fourth outing, so putting their heads together a bit more on the script’s inception could actually prove to be a good thing… am I right? As to how Spielberg himself felt about the fourth outing:

“I’m very happy with the movie. I always have been… I sympathize with people who didn’t like the MacGuffin because I never liked the MacGuffin. George and I had big arguments about the MacGuffin. I didn’t want these things to be either aliens or inter-dimensional beings. But I am loyal to my best friend. When he writes a story he believes in – even if I don’t believe in it – I’m going to shoot the movie the way George envisaged it. I’ll add my own touches, I’ll bring my own cast in, I’ll shoot the way I want to shoot it, but I will always defer to George as the storyteller of the Indy series. I will never fight him on that.”

It’s particularly worthy of note that Steven says “even if I don’t believe in it” above, as that insinuates he’s likely done a lot of the Indy stuff perhaps against his own better judgement. It’s been a popular belief that George Lucas was the bad element in the creative process on the fourth INDY film, but up until now there was no way to confirm that for certain. Spielberg saying what he’s said there definitely leads one to question how much of the annoying stuff in INDY 4 was in fact George’s doing. But before you yell out “It’s all George’s fault!” you should read this next part, as he even took time to comment on the CGI gophers, and helping bring the expression “Nuke the fridge” into popular nerd vernacular:

“The gopher was good. I have the stand-in one at home. What people really jumped out was Indy climbing into a refrigerator and getting blown into the sky by an atom-bomb blast. Blame me. Don’t blame George. That was my silly idea. People stopped saying ‘jump the shark.’ They now say, ‘nuked the fridge.’ I’m proud of that. I’m glad I was able to bring that into popular culture.”

Then there’s the matter of the long-rumored and fan-anticipated JURASSIC PARK 4, for which Spielberg allowed:

“The screenplay is being written right now by Mark Protosevich. I’m hoping that will come out in the next couple of years. We have a good story. We have a better story for four than we had for three…”

So we should be seeing some quality dinosaur action back on the big screen soon enough. Are you excited about more JURASSIC PARK in theaters? How about a fifth INDIANA JONES outing? Tell us your thoughts in the comments.

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About the Author

Born and raised in Dallas, Mark has been a movie critic since 1994, with reviews featured in print, radio and National TV. In 2001 he started the Entertainment section of the Herorealm website, where he contributed film reviews and celebrity interviews until 2004. After three years of service there, he started Bigfanboy.com, which has become one of the Dallas film community's leading information websites. Bigfanboy hosts several movie screenings in the Texas area, and works closely with film and TV studios and promotional partners to host exciting events and contests. The site also features a variety of rare celebrity and filmmaker interviews, and Bigfanboy.com regularly covers the film festival circuit as well. In addition to Hollywood reporting, Mark has worked for many years as an advertising and sci-fi/comic book artist. Clients have included Lucasfilm Ltd., Topps Trading Cards, The Dallas Mavericks and The Dallas Stars. From 2002 until 2015 he managed the Dallas Comic Con, Sci-Fi Expo and Fan Days events in the DFW area. He currently catalogs rare comic books and movie memorabilia for Heritage Auctions, and runs the Dallas Comic Show conventions, but remains an avid moviegoer and cinema buff.