HARRISON Ford may be getting a bit long in the tooth, but there's a very good chance he's about to dust off his whip and hat to play Indiana Jones just one last time.

Ford's role as the title character helped make the Indiana Jones films one of the most celebrated and popular franchises in cinematic history and there's been speculation for years that a fourth instalment will be made.

Visiting actor John Rhys-Davies, who played the major role of Sallah in Raiders of the Lost Ark and reprised it in the third film, The Last Crusade, revealed to Confidential that a new film finally looks set to go ahead.

"I was talking to Steven Spielberg the other day ... we discussed a fourth one," said Rhys-Davies, who is in Australia for a science fiction convention due to his role as Gimli in The Lord of the Rings trilogy.

"We're in with the chance of making something absolutely extraordinary," he added.

It was rumoured that Indiana Jones co-writer and producer George Star Wars Lucas had shelved the project earlier this year, which Rhys-Davies confirmed.

"George Lucas had reservations about the script and he said, 'The only way I can express my reservations is making another pass at the script myself', so it's gone back at least a year.

"It is the intention of these three great filmmakers [Lucas, Spielberg and Ford] to make another one."

"It's been 15 years since the last Indy movie and obviously Harrison has got a lot older but that's not a problem for this movie," a supposed insider says. "Steven doesn't want a middle-aged guy trying to look young - he wants to bring a new type of hero to the screen."

Lucas says that Steven Spielberg informed him that the script was done and he talked about the evolution of the script. "I came up with this idea doing Young Indy, which has got to be about seven or eight years ago, and we've been through a number of scripts--six or eight scripts. Six scripts, two rewrites. So it's been down the path."

Lucas added that Harrison "plays an older person in this" and that it is possible there will be a younger person but "not really to take over". He doesn't expect the younger person will be used to create new movies with. "No, it wasn't meant to be that way. But I guess that's a possibility. It's really to wrap it up. Just desperately trying to put things together that work. You need characters to make the film work. It's not just an adventure story. There's actually got to be human relationships in it."

July 08, 2005 - Steven Spielberg's longtime producing partner, Kathleen Kennedy, says that while Lucas and Spielberg have both approved Jeff Nathanson's latest draft for Indiana Jones IV, there's still work to be done on the script before the project is officially greenlit.

"I know this sounds like something that we've been saying for 15 years, but I'm hoping that we're going to see something in a couple of months," Kennedy told Now Playing Magazine. "Jeff Nathanson is working on the script right now; I will say this: If it comes in and we're all happy with it, it will be more than likely the next thing we do."

Kennedy suggested that while the screenplay is by and large complete, there is still some "finesse" to be added to it. She also did not think that Harrison Ford's age would negatively affect the film. "Certainly we're not writing the script as though [Indiana Jones is] 20 years old. You know, Sean Connery spent a lot of time in the Bond role and whatnot. I think it's great that we can go make another Indiana Jones movie and Indy can be a little older. I think playing with that is a good thing."

Kennedy would not reveal any more details about the story, other than that it takes place in the late '40s. That would make Dr. Jones chronologically about 10 years older than in The Last Crusade. While Ford is actually 18 years older this time around, it shouldn't be impossible to pull off.

August 1, 2005 - An interesting rumor hit the Internet this week by way of an anonymous scooper at AICN. The informant, claiming to work for a major computer game studio, said that his company would be developing several Young Indiana Jones-themed games for LucasArts – timed to coincide with the release of a Young Indiana Jones movie in 2007. These games would bet set in the years 1916 to 1919 and feature the dashing archaeologist-to-be as portrayed in the "Young Indiana Jones" television series.

It's a curious report. Could Lucas have a secret Young Indy motion picture in the works? More likely, the scooper was given slightly inaccurate information, and the new games are going to tie in to Indiana Jones IV, Harrison Ford's last outing as Dr. Jones. That being the case, it's the first real scheduling news to come from LucasFilm, however indirectly.

On the other hand, why not focus on grown-up Indiana Jones games instead of young Indy? One possibility suggested by fans at the aforementioned website is that the games might instead tie into the upcoming release of "Young Indiana Jones" on DVD. However, that set is probably going to be hitting store shelves around the time of the Indy 4 release (source: TV Shows on DVD.com), and it's the movie that Indy fans will be paying most of their attention to. The release of a TV show on DVD is not a particularly momentous event in any case, but with "Indiana Jones" on everyone's lips, 2007 might be a good time to release games based on both the grown-up adventurer and his younger self.

There's also still a chance that the "Young Indiana Jones" DVD set will be released sooner, perhaps around Christmas, 2006. At any rate, we'll be watching in case word of a new Young Indy project slips out, however unlikely that may be.

August 3, 2005 - More good news is trickling in that should squelch doubts that one more Indiana Jones adventure could find its footing.

SKNR is reporting that "the ball is rolling" (perhaps that same one that chased Indiana in Raiders), and that contract negotiations with all the important people – Lucas, Spielberg, and Ford – are in progress. A certain amount of bargaining is to be expected – the lucrative arrangements that those three ultimately agree to will most likely include a share of the box office and DVD profits.

It is still believed that Sean Connery is not involved in the project at this point.

The Indy Experience adds more details from another source: Lucas and screenwriter Jeff Nathanson should have the current script – which is by and large approved already – tweaked and production-ready by fall; and Spielberg is scheduling Indiana Jones IV to be his next project once Munich is done.

The site hears that February 2007 is the projected release date – a somewhat odd month to choose (Passion of the Christ is the only major blockbuster to ever have opened in February). SKNR suggests Summer 2007 as a more likely window for the next Indiana Jones.

"Fresh off the news that broke last month that "Indy 4" has been approved and is underway comes this tidbit via Moviehole.net and The Indy Experience.

So you know what that means? Yep, blow up the balloons, fling the streamers, tie a party-hat around your noggin - "Indiana Jones 4" is finally getting underway!

TheIndyExperience.com reports that the first female cast member aboard the long-awaited sequel is a Texas model named Laura Dutta.

The 19-year-old stunner, whose role is yet to be revealed, will spend three months on location with star Harrison Ford shooting her scenes.

Dutta won't be the female lead though - that role is yet to be cast. Rumour has it that some of Indy's old flames from the previous films will also make appearances in the film - including Willie Scott (Kate Capshaw) and Marion Ravenwood (Karen Allen).

Meantime, the well-oiled rumour machine is spitting out a whisper that Sean Connery has been roped into reprising his role as Henry Jones, Indy's father, for the impending blockbuster - despite recent claims to the contrary.

Frank Marshall, who produced Disney's upcoming IMAX film Roving Mars and directed the studio's Eight Below, gave IESB.net an update on The Bourne Ultimatum, Indiana Jones 4 and Jurassic Park 4.

Marshall mentioned that the Matt Damon sequel The Bourne Ultimatum will begin shooting on August 1st. "He says it has nothing to do with the book only the title is the same," according to the site. "There may be a relationship starting up between Julia Stiles' character and Matt Damon."

He added that "Indy 4" will happen immediately after "Bourne Ultimatum". He said the fourth film is indeed moving forward and "everyone is happy with what they have read."

He also mentioned that Jurassic Park 4 will begin after "Indy 4".

Indy 4" writer-producer George Lucas says, "We just keep working on it. You know, we just write and write and write and write and write. But we are getting closer, and hopefully this year we will have a start date and we will have a script that we all love and hopefully it will come out next year."

Rush Hour 2 and Catch Me if You Can scribe Jeff Nathanson is the fourth installment's current screenwriter. Harrison Ford will return with Steven Spielberg directing.

Anticipation is mounting for the next "Indiana Jones," but for every year that passes there is some concern that Harrison Ford may not be able to play the role physically.

The 63-year-old actor is frank about his age and doesn't hesitate to point out that he's as physically fit as ever.

"I can't tell you anything about 'Indiana Jones,' but I think you've just seen a film in which I perform physically to an extent [that will be] sufficient for 'Indiana Jones,'".

Ford is referring to a specific scene in his latest thriller, Firewall, in which he and villain Paul Bettany get into a knock-down, nasty brawl where Ford is thrown through glass and tumbles over a balcony, just for starters.

No word yet on when a final script will be approved for Indiana Jones 4, but Ford is committed to making the movie.

"The audience is there," he said, and, "Everybody involved is anxious to make the film again."

Ford Doing Indiana Jones 4 Next?
Source: Moviehole
February 22, 2006


Moviehole tells us that they caught up with Harrison Ford this morning for a quick chat in Melbourne, Australia:

First bit of news, the science-fiction film he was going to do, "Godspeed," has been canned.

"'Godspeed' is gone, that was a space project with James Cameron," he says of the project, which would have told of a crisis on an international space station.

Rumoured to be his next project is "Manhunt," which is "about the capture of John Wilkes Booth, the assassin of Abraham Lincoln." So is it?

"That would seem to be next," smiles Ford. Um. Seem to be next? Why so tight-lipped...

"[There's] a bunch of other things that have come to fruition... recently," he added.

Sounds like 'The Man in the Hat' – um, that's Indiana Jones for the three up the back – could be ready to go.

March 7, 2006 - Any Indiana Jones fans still holding their breath, go ahead and exhale. It won't be rolling anytime soon. Just when it looked like the long-gestating project was finally coming together, director Steven Spielberg tells Fox News that he's taking a year off.

Spielberg advised Fox 411 columnist Roger Friedman at Sunday night's Academy Governor's Ball that he was taking a break while Jeff Nathanson's Indy IV script, a work that producer George Lucas had previously approved, gets revised. "I have David Koepp on it now, and he's my 'closer,'" Spielberg revealed. "He wrote Spider-Man and War of the Worlds, so he'll get it done."

"(Spielberg's) main work in 2006 will be preparing his Abraham Lincoln film with award-winning author Doris Kearns Goodwin, and acting as a producer, not director, on several other smaller projects," Fox reports.

MTV caught up with producer/director Frank Marshall, who shared a bit more on Jurassic Park 4 and Indiana Jones 4:

"'Jurassic Park 4' is coming to life," he proudly reported. "There's a script, we're getting a director and we're going to get going probably toward the end of this year." Referring to the director of "Park 3," Marshall added that "Joe Johnston could be back. We want to get the script right before we go forward, which is exactly what's [happening with what] your next question is going to be about, 'Indy 4.'" OK then, Frank: What is going on with the next Indiana Jones movie? "We're getting the script right, we're working on it. It's not one of those things that's on the back burner." Grinning, Marshall added that he might try to get both films made by simply combining them. "Indiana Jones goes to the island," he said. "Indy versus the raptors. Get him with that whip."

Now that sounds like an interesting concept!

TheRaider.net tells us that Harrison Ford just talked about Indiana Jones 4 and might have given away a hint, even though he wasn't trying to!

BBC ONE just aired their first episode of a new programme called "Hollywood Greats" tonight. This first episode centered around Harrison Ford's career and included an extended interview with Ford, by British film critic Jonathan Ross.

At the end of the great interview Jonathan asked Ford how much of a chance there was of another Indiana Jones film.

Harrison Ford stalled his answer for a few seconds and then responded that it was "99 and three quarter percent" likely to happen.

Then further asked if Sean Connery would return as Indy's father in Indy IV, Ford declined to make a comment on that. Jonathan Ross responded with "So he's going to be in it, then." and Ford just kind of laughed and didn't say anything.

Steven Spielberg is still attached to direct the fourth installment, with George Lucas and Frank Marshall producing.

Scott Weinberg writes: "While attending a gala event in honor of legendary actor Sean Connery, filmmaker George Lucas told Access Hollywood that he's intent on getting the sly Scotsman to reprise his Henry Jones role for "Indiana Jones 4." No word yet on how interested Connery is, although Lucas seems to think he's game.

From Access Hollywood: "Despite reports that Connery is retired, Lucas told (Access Hollywood), "I would love him to be in the next 'Indiana Jones'…maybe I can push him into it."

When asked if he knew whether or not Connery wanted to appear in the film, Lucas said, "I think he does." Lucas jokingly added, "We are writing him in whether he wants to do it or not."

June 20, 2006 - The Licensing 2006 International trade show takes place this week in New York City, with Hollywood and various entertainment companies peddling their stories and characters to merchandise companies of all stripes.

LucasFilm is among the film companies in attendance, says The Hollywood Reporter, and they've announced their current plans for Indiana Jones IV in order to arrange merchandising partners.

Summer 2008 is the rough date chosen for Indy's final adventure — and that date is probably the studio's last crack at the whip if they want to make it before Harrison Ford is too old. That probably also means production will happen in early 2007.

In addition, a new Indiana Jones video game is set for release in 2007 by LucasArts. Expect numerous tie-ins with that as well, as the hype for the movie begins to build.

Empire Magazine talked to the bankable beard, George Lucas, to get an update on “Indiana Jones & the ever-salivating fanboy”.

According to the Lucasfilm big poppa, we’re still in for a bit more of a wait before cameras finally get rolling on that fourth “Indiana Jones” film.

"We’re basically going to do The Phantom Menace”, says Lucas (stay with him here, he’s making a point). “People’s expectations are way higher than you can deliver. You could just get killed for the whole thing…We would do it for fun and just take the hit with the critics and the fans."

Bitch. Moan. Vent. Make of his comments as you will.

In their special ‘Indiana Jones’ themed issue this month, Empire Magazine Australia caught up with team players Harrison Ford, George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, Karen Allen, John Rhys-Davies, Vic Armstrong and Producer Frank Marshall to get the latest – and once again, nothing very special at the update they give – on the sluggishly-moving fourth “Indy” adventure.

Lucas says he never wanted to do a fourth one, because it’s too hard to come up with a MacGuffin, but Spielberg and Ford were dead keen.

Spielberg does state, however, that it still isn’t a sure thing. “Indy has made his mark. It will be said if there is never another Indy Jones movie. But at the same time, if there is, it will be wonderful. If there isn’t, I’m happy with he memories of the last three”.

There is a script though, says Lucas. “I discovered a MacGuffin. So I told the guys and they were a little dubious about it, but it’s the best one we’ve ever found”.

Spielberg and Ford liked Lucas’s idea, but thought it was a bit “too connected”, so it’s been tweaked since. In fact, Spielberg asked Lucas to change the ‘MacGuffin’ at one point, but the former held his ground and won.

The compromise?

“I said, ‘We’ll have to go back to that original MacGuffin, but I’ll take out the offending parts of it and we’ll still use that area of the supernatural”.

Producer Frank Marshall says they’re not going to infest the film – despite it being a supernatural film – with special effects.

“We’re going to shoot them like we did the last three, not jazz up the effects or make them more unbelievable than they were”, he says, adding that Ford will be doing his own stunts in the movie.

Not that there will be a lot of stunts, because Indy will be aged in the movie. “It’s going to be at least 10 years after the last one. I mean, he’s not going to try and play what he was in Last Crusade”.

Vic Armstrong, captain stunts himself, says he’s been contacted about doing “three fantastic stunt sequences” in the film.

Karen Allen, rumoured to be reprising her role as Marion (from “Raiders of the Lost Ark”) for the film, says she thinks there might be something to rumours that Natalie Portman has been asked to play Indy’s daughter in the film. “When my character wakes up on the Pirate ship [in Raiders], it occurred to me they had their wonderful thing in bed…I was thinking, Hmm, she’s dark haired….”.

Rhys-Davies, expected to reprise his role as Sallah, says, “Spielberg, Lucas and Ford are no longer in it just to make money, they’re in it to write another chapter in the history of film. If you hear that the new Indiana Jones is being made, it will because those three men are absolutely committed to the greatest Indiana Jones film of all.”

“Indy 4” – should it happen – will film in 2007, and be released the following year.

MTV talked to George Lucas about his upcoming CG-animated and live-action "Star Wars" TV series, the status of Indiana Jones 4 and what's happening on Red Tails. Here's a clip on the fourth "Indiana Jones" installment:

Steve and I are still working on the script," Lucas said, but he wouldn't confirm rumors that Indy will have some sort of young apprentice — family member or otherwise — in the flick. "We don't know yet, because we haven't got the script finished yet."

Indy's executive producer did, however, reveal one theme that he's determined to address in the first "Jones" flick since 1989's "The Last Crusade." "Well, he's an old man," Lucas admitted. "That'll be in there."

Movie star Harrison Ford has reassured fans of Indiana Jones he's still fit enough to play the action hero one more time - at 64. The actor was bombarded with questions about the much publicized fourth Indiana Jones movie when he showed up at the inaugural Rome Film Festival in Italy on Friday, and insisted he's "fit to continue" as the movie archaeologist. He said, "We need to move on for artistic reasons and obvious physical reasons (but) I feel fit to continue and bring the same physical action." The fourth Indiana Jones movie has been in development for more than a decade, but the production has recently gained momentum after producer George Lucas revealed he and director Steven Spielberg are working on a script

The question is, will Sean Connery be in the movie?

“Indiana Jones 4” writer [number #552]David Koepp (“War of the Worlds”) dexterously fielded questions from FilmStew.com on what we can expect in the long-awaited fourth (and I’m guessing, final?) jaunt of the audacious Archaeologist.

With his life at stake if he reveals too much, the screenwriter is skimpy on info about the films plot, but does state the following: Indiana will be old in this one. He has to be.

On the other hand, there’s something he had to be wary of. “The worst thing to do would be to have him make reference to things he said in the first movie, like to pun on lines of dialogue,” he argues. “That’s tempting, because you’ve seen the movie a hundred times and you know all the dialogue, but no human being remembers exactly what they said 25 years ago word for word, much less make reference to it. So you try to put aside the other movies and yet be in the spirit of them.”

So…. No Dan Aykroyd greeting Indy at the airport, then?

Probably about as likely to happen as George Clooney sitting down for a nice hot-cooked plate of pot-bellied pig, but nevertheless interesting news from JoBlo.com on who might be joining Harrison Ford and Sean Connery for “Indiana Jones 4”.

Get out your chequebooks Paramount, because Steven Spielberg apparently wants his “Flags of Our Fathers” collaborator, Clint Eastwood, to play a role in the blockbuster sequel.

Yep, Dirty Harry, 007 and Han Solo… all in the one movie. Anyone else need a blow-dryer and new pair of boxers?

Yeah. Well. Um. Can’t see that one coming of… but ya never know. And, well, it would be adequate payment for us fans that have waited so long for the “Indy” film, wouldn’t it?

How terrific would it be to see Eastwood sharing the screen with Connery? Maybe Eastwood could play a fellow archaeologist? Maybe Indy’s brother? (There were, after all, rumours in the 90s that Indy’s brother appeared in one of the earlier versions of the script), or, perhaps, a bad guy?

It’ll probably take some cash to pull it off, but I’m sure Spielberg and Lucas could round up a few bucks for Eastwood if they really wanted to. The question, more likely, will be ‘Does Eastwood wanna play second fiddle to Indiana Jones?’

Probably about as likely to happen as George Clooney sitting down for a nice hot-cooked plate of pot-bellied pig, but nevertheless interesting news from JoBlo.com on who might be joining Harrison Ford and Sean Connery for “Indiana Jones 4”.

Get out your chequebooks Paramount, because Steven Spielberg apparently wants his “Flags of Our Fathers” collaborator, Clint Eastwood, to play a role in the blockbuster sequel.

Yep, Dirty Harry, 007 and Han Solo… all in the one movie. Anyone else need a blow-dryer and new pair of boxers?

Yeah. Well. Um. Can’t see that one coming of… but ya never know. And, well, it would be adequate payment for us fans that have waited so long for the “Indy” film, wouldn’t it?

How terrific would it be to see Eastwood sharing the screen with Connery? Maybe Eastwood could play a fellow archaeologist? Maybe Indy’s brother? (There were, after all, rumours in the 90s that Indy’s brother appeared in one of the earlier versions of the script), or, perhaps, a bad guy?

It’ll probably take some cash to pull it off, but I’m sure Spielberg and Lucas could round up a few bucks for Eastwood if they really wanted to. The question, more likely, will be ‘Does Eastwood wanna play second fiddle to Indiana Jones?’

Box Office Mojo reports that Paramount Pictures has set Thursday, May 22, 2008 as the release for the fourth "Indiana Jones" movie, which the studio is now officially referring to as the Fourth Installment of the Indiana Jones Adventures.

The picture maintains the Memorial Day weekend release strategy of the last two "Indiana Jones" movies, and it mirrors the last two "Star Wars" movies and The Matrix Reloaded with its Thursday launch.

Ain't It Cool News is reporting a rumor that Disturbia and Transformers star Shia LaBeouf might play the role of Indiana Jones' son in the fourth installment:

The thing is, we know Spielberg loves La Beouf right now. DISTURBIA became a pet project for The Beard, and it evidently came out well. TRANSFORMERS is a big deal for the company, and a lot of the weight of that falls squarely on the shoulders of Shia. So as much as I pray that there's no Indy Jr., I’m starting to think that this may in fact be true.

Ain't It Cool News is reporting a rumor that Disturbia and Transformers star Shia LaBeouf might play the role of Indiana Jones' son in the fourth installment:

The thing is, we know Spielberg loves La Beouf right now. DISTURBIA became a pet project for The Beard, and it evidently came out well. TRANSFORMERS is a big deal for the company, and a lot of the weight of that falls squarely on the shoulders of Shia. So as much as I pray that there's no Indy Jr., I’m starting to think that this may in fact be true.

Fox411 talked to Steven Spielberg at the Oscars' Governors Ball who revealed that Indiana Jones 4 starts filming on June 18.

Paramount will release the anticipated film on May 22, 2008. Other than Harrison Ford, no cast members have been officially announced.

I’ve debunked the rumour about twenty-five times now, but seems nobody caught that…. Folks have still been spreading the spurious declaration that Natalie Portman is playing Dr.Jones’s daughter in the next “Indiana” adventure.
Don’t believe me? Well, maybe you’ll believe George Lucas?
Captain Neckless spoke to IESB and was asked point-blank whether the spunky “Star Wars” star would be rejoining him on the forthcoming “Indiana Jones 4”.
“No. Absolutely not."
They’re the words from GL. She’s not in it. OK, so lets move on…
…. To the rumour about Shia LeBeouf playing Indy’s son, perhaps?

Shia LaBeouf is in final talks to star in Steven Spielberg's Indiana Jones 4 as the son of the adventuresome archaeologist to be played once again by Harrison Ford, reports Variety.

Spielberg and George Lucas' Lucasfilm, which is producing the fourth film for Paramount, are keeping the storyline under tight wraps. David Koepp (Spider-Man) wrote the script.

Spielberg is set to begin shooting Indiana Jones 4 in June. The film is scheduled for a May 22, 2008 release, taking advantage of the Memorial Day holiday.

LaBeouf stars in two upcoming DreamWorks pics, Disturbia and Transformers. The actor also provides the lead voice in Sony's upcoming animated film Surf's Up!

Filmick.co.uk, via Slashfilm.com , have heard rumblings that Gong Li (“Miami Vice”) may have received another invitation to another mostly men’s only outing.
In their rundown of recent “Indiana Jones 4” rumours, the former site reports that Li may have been offered a role in the film (this, in addition to the part she has been offered in the next “Mummy” movie with Brendan Fraser). No idea as who... or whether it involves bondage with Sean Connery.
In bigger news, the site seems damn confident in saying that the new film is going to be called “Indiana Jones and the City of Gods”.
Says the site, “This was the title of an older script, not the new one - but it is going to be used as the title of the film, in place of the title on the front page of the new script. Not sure why, but it is apparently 100% true”.
I don't mind that. It kinda works.