INDIANA JONES & THE SEARCH FOR A SCREENPLAY - David Koepp Quits

[Paul MacLean]

The man who really needs to be on board is Lawrence Kasdan. Of course Lucas, Harrison Ford, John Williams and especially Spielberg all did their part in making Raiders of the Lost a great film, but the reason Raiders is the best of the Indiana Jones films is because of Kasdan's script.

[AndyDursin]

The man who really needs to be on board is Lawrence Kasdan. Of course Lucas, Harrison Ford, John Williams and especially Spielberg all did their part in making Raiders of the Lost a great film, but the reason Raiders is the best of the Indiana Jones films is because of Kasdan's script.

Have to remember Kasdan also wrote THE FORCE AWAKENS with Abrams, though...lol

He's yet another talent whose best work came back in the '80s, and who hasn't produced anything in years of note (Though DREAMCATCHER has its rewards of a different kind, lol).

[Paul MacLean]

Have to remember Kasdan also wrote THE FORCE AWAKENS with Abrams, though...lol

Touché!

But I still think Raiders has the strongest script of all the Indiana Jones films, by a significant margin (tho Last Crusade -- despite some uneven aspects -- has moments that come close).

[AndyDursin]

Good news! They're getting the guy fresh off SOLO's big success to touch up the script!

Hopefully production will be delayed....forever?

https://variety.com/2018/film/news/indi ... 202861005/

Indiana Jones will not be riding back into theaters on July 10, 2020.

The fifth film in the adventure series will miss its original release date, Variety has learned. Filming was supposed to begin in April of 2019 in the United Kingdom, but sources close to the production say that shooting will no longer start next spring and will have to be pushed back by months, if not a year. Potential crew members have already been informed of the delay.

Part of the issue is that the key members of the creative team have yet to sign off on a finished script. Collider reported on Thursday that Jonathan Kasdan, son of “Raiders of the Lost Ark” scribe Lawrence Kasdan, has been enlisted to deliver a new draft. A deal has yet to close to bring the writer on board, but it looks as though he will soon join the project. David Koepp (“Jurassic Park”) took the first pass at the script. At one point, the fifth Indiana Jones was supposed to hit theaters in 2019.

Insiders stress that both Steven Spielberg and Harrison Ford remain committed to revisiting the beloved franchise about the globe-trotting archaeologist. Spielberg, however, has a full dance card of projects in development and it’s possible one of them will slide in front of the “Indiana Jones” sequel. The Oscar-winning director is in pre-production on a remake of “West Side Story” and is also toying with making “The Kidnapping of Edgardo Mortara,” a historical drama with Mark Rylance.

Ford will next be part of the voice cast for “Secret Life of Pets 2.”

Disney, the studio that’s releasing the fifth Indiana Jones movie, declined to comment. The studio has yet to officially pull “Indiana Jones 5” from the release calendar or announce a new date.

[Eric W.]

Good news! They're getting the guy fresh off SOLO's big success to touch up the script!

Hopefully production will be delayed....forever?

Yes, please.

[AndyDursin]

Anyone want to join the "writer's room" where they are trying to come up with a viable idea for this unwanted sequel? Oh forget it -- let's just hire the guy who writes THIS IS US!

Good news though -- Disney's got another release date before they even have a STORY CONCEPT for this film.

https://www.slashfilm.com/indiana-jones ... cQlaiY2drE

[mkaroly]

I wish they would let this franchise go...as it stands it ended with CRYSTAL SKULL which is bad enough!

[Edmund Kattak]

I guess they're going to have to use the Marvel de-aging process on Ford at this point.

[AndyDursin]

Harrison's clearly had enough of reboot city. Good for him, screw Disney!



https://www.elledecor.com/life-culture/ ... es-reboot/

[Paul MacLean]

Unlike Star Wars, I don't really object to perpetuating the Indiana Jones franchise.

I always felt the Jones series better lent itself to "passing the torch". Unlike Star Wars it is not "episodic"; each Jones adventure is self-contained. Rather than try to make every movie themselves, I think Lucas and Spielberg ought to have made one or two, then sat back and produced, hiring new writers and directors (and when the time came, even a new actor).

Certainly Jones-esque knock-offs (Romancing The Stone, The Mummy, National Treasure Laura Croft, etc.) found audiences and proved there were other filmmakers with a handle on the genre. I think in the right hands -- i.e. not Disney (and not Lucas either, after his Young Indiana Jones Chronicles essentially turned the character into Wishbone) you might have something.

And Harrison Ford can say "I'm Indiana Jones" -- but he was a last-minute replacement for Tom Sellick, for whom the part was actually written.

[Monterey Jack]

And Harrison Ford can say "I'm Indiana Jones" -- but he was a last-minute replacement for Tom Sellick, for whom the part was actually written.

Not to mention that Indy's entire "look" and cocksure attitude was cribbed from Charlton Heston in Secret Of The Incas.

[AndyDursin]

Yes, it's that easy -- just get the costume out and anyone can play Indiana Jones!! I don't see any Heston in Ford's actual performance either. I do think Selleck could've been a strong Indiana Jones, but these are actors we're talking about with charisma that someone like Chris Pratt (or Pine or whoever) couldn't even begin to approximate.

Personally I don't want another

a) dumb
b) hackneyed
d) soulless

Disney rehash like their STAR WARS movies. Why not move on and start a new, brainless modern franchise? Of course we know the brand recognition, but when Lucas and Spielberg themselves showed they had nothing left in the tank with the putrid CRYSTAL SKULL, it's likely a sign it's a franchise that just needs to retire. Start your own series loosely based on it -- whatever. Besides, the Indy films don't generate STAR WARS dollars, so it's not like Disney is going to be leaving as much money on the table.

Either way, the fact they keep pushing the release date off another 2 years (which they've done now twice I believe) means it's never happening until Ford and Spielberg are retired from moviemaking. Disney isn't going to cross Steven with a Ford-less reboot unless it carries their blessing, which it doesn't sound as if they want to support. And just maybe after making his money with THE FORCE AWAKENS, Ford knows this stuff is crap that's soiling their legacy (which Crystal Skull did by itself), and is drawing the line....maybe. lol

[AndyDursin]

David Koepp is back on the project, and doesn't exactly give a ringing endorsement about its status...

"I actually am again. I’m working on it again. We’re still trying. And I think we’ve got a good idea this time. We’ll see."

Koepp's never been a favorite screenwriter of mine, but he has some interesting things to say about the Disney/Sony SPIDER-MAN relationship I completely agree with in this wide-ranging interview:

I understand both sides. Disney wants what it wants, and obviously it’s used to acquiring and controlling. But I understand Sony’s point of view better: "But wait, it’s ours. We own it. You can’t just have half of it. You can’t just take it."

So it’s a tough situation. And I think certainly the last couple of Spider-Man movies have been terrific. But the animated film that they did without Disney’s involvement was, you know, even more terrific.

What’s weird to me is those Marvel movie fans who are quick to spring to Disney’s defence like they’re a plucky underdog who needs to be defended. [laughs] They are not a plucky underdog.

https://www.denofgeek.com/uk/movies/674 ... ebut-novel

[Monterey Jack]

I'm convinced that "David Koepp" is an Alan Smithee-style pseudonym used when a half-dozen screenplay drafts by different writers need to be Frankenstein'd together to meet a release date.

[mkaroly]

Again, I hope Sony sticks to its guns and does not give in to Disney's wishes. As for the Indiana Jones movie...enough is enough. No interest in another one here...LAST CRUSADE was the final film for me, with CRYSTAL SKULL standing as an epilogue of sorts.