Indy V

[Myxo]

Just mentioning this quote again for reference below..

I think the audience is pretty intelligent. I think they know when you’ve made (slop). And I think if you don’t acknowledge it, then why do they trust you the next time you’re promoting a movie…We [Harrison Ford and LaBeouf] had major discussions. He wasn’t happy with it either. Look, the movie could have been updated. There was a reason it wasn’t universally accepted….We need to be able to satiate the appetite. I think we just misinterpreted what we were trying to satiate. You get to monkey-swinging and things like that and you can blame it on the writer and you can blame it on Steven [Spielberg, who directed]. But the actor’s job is to make it come alive and make it work, and I couldn’t do it. So that’s my fault. Simple. I’ll probably get a call. But he needs to hear this. I love him. I love Steven. I have a relationship with Steven that supersedes our business work. And believe me, I talk to him often enough to know that I’m not out of line. And I would never disrespect the man. I think he’s a genius, and he’s given me my whole life. He’s done so much great work that there’s no need for him to feel vulnerable about one film. But when you drop the ball you drop the ball.

(I love how he says "the writer" and then mentions Spielberg by name.)

Now if somebody as overrated as Shia LaBeouf had this realization, why the fuck is Harrison Ford STILL wavering? Really? You REALLY think they're just going to get it right this time around? No. A million times no. Look, at some point Hollywood needs to stop raping cherished franchises. But I also realize these movies still make money. For whatever reason the same folks who Shia mentions are "pretty intelligent" were not smart enough to skip the fourth installment off reviews alone. There are fucking aliens at the end of Crystal Skull? FUCKING ALIENS. God please don't make a fifth movie. For the children!

[Sleepless]

Y'all know that Disney bought up the Indiana Jones rights a few months back, right? So the theory goes that they're going to be making a new bunch of films, just like they are with Star Wars. After Crystal Skull, this got lots of people creaming know, but in my opinion they couldn't fuck it up any worse, so why not. And after all, they did the Young Indiana Jones TV show. Despite choruses of "but... but... Harrison Ford is Indiana Jones," there's also been an increased consensus that what worked for James Bond could work for Indiana Jones too. I'm not saying it's the most popular view, but I think there's a growing acceptance that it probably will happen. And it could genuinely work.

Anywho, the Daily Star (bottom of the barrel British tabloid) today reports that the new Indiana Jones could in fact be.... Robert Pattison.

Now, rest assure ye doubters, this will almost certainly not happen. Expect a long and torturous road to official casting just as with Star Wars. And they haven't even officially announced another Indiana Jones movie yet. But you know it's going to happen eventually. Surely within the next five years. And rebooting with a younger Dr. Jones seems like the obvious choice if they're going to recast anyway - and especially after the horrendous debacle that was Crystal Skull.

It's not going to be Robert Pattison. I don't think there's anyway in hell. But you know what? If it was him, I'd be willing to give him a shot. I still think the guy has some potential. Between him and Zach Effron, it seems Pattison is probably the one who has the potential to actually go the distance.

But you know who I think could be awesome? Taylor Kitsch. He's got the charm, the comedic sensibility, yada yada yada. Plus Disney really owe him one after fucking up John Carter.

At least Shia's name is nowhere near this, right???

Thoughts?

[polkablues]

He would be an utterly wrong choice for Indiana Jones, but Robert Pattinson is a legit actor, Twilight be damned. Case in point: http://xixax.com/index.php?topic=12846.0

Taylor Kitsch would be interesting; I'll always root for Tim Riggins.

I've heard Bradley Cooper rumors. Wouldn't be the worst thing in the world.

Fuck it, cast Michael B. Jordan. The internet will implode.

[diggler]

[Sleepless]

New theory:

Jonathan Ke Quan is all grown up, and takes up Indy's position at the university after Indy died a hero in WWII. NOTE: this takes place in an alternative (read: correct) time line where Crystal Skull never happened. At the end of the film, _____ turns up and recruits Short Round to join _______ (????) Goonies 2 happens.

[Jeremy Blackman]

A thousand times yes. Antony Starr would be perfect. He has depth and humor and obviously has the action chops.

[polkablues]

He's a good TV actor, but I don't see him surviving the leap to movies. I don't know what it is; certain actors have a level of gravitas that fills the small screen, but implodes on cinema. Kyle Chandler, Damien Lewis, David Caruso, Hugh Dancy (although he made the move backward from film to TV, he's positively magnetic on TV and utterly forgettable on film). Antony Starr might prove me wrong someday, but I would expect to list him among those ranks.

[Jeremy Blackman]

I don't think his character in Banshee is rich enough for us to know for sure. He has more depth in that show than he should; it's a dumb character with a singular dumb motivation plus a series of dumb sex scenes. I think with actual good writing he could prove you wrong.

Anyway, random note, maybe add Joel Kinnaman to your list. He was perfect in The Killing. I haven't seen Robocop... just going by what I've heard.

[polkablues]

"Prove me wrong, kids. Prove me wrong!"

[Garam]

I've never understood the aliens criticism of Crystal Skull. The climax of the first movie involves a flesh eating supernatural entity. It was never a series grounded in realism.

I also didn't get why criticism was so fierce since the other two sequels were pretty shit too. Raiders is the only good Indy film.

[Sleepless]

I'm sure you can find evidence of me supporting the idea of incorporating aliens into the then-unlikely-to-actually-happen fourth Indy film once upon a time. There was a time when SS and GL proposed changing the genre of the fourth film to more of an out-and-out sci-fi as opposed to adventure to reflect the dominant genre of the decade in which the film would inevitably be set. I'm not 100% convinced that the idea of aliens was out-and-out awful. But the film as a whole was out-and-out awful. It's considered a lazy argument now, but the overuse of CGI in the film is just bad. Sorry, it is. The cartoony gophers. The giant ants. Nuking the fridge. The lame baddies. Shia. What should have been a rollicking adventure had too much family drama and was confused about what it was trying to do - be a decades later bookend to one of the most beloved franchises of all time, or a set up for a new franchise with Shia front and center. It failed on all counts. It is just a bad film. There's nothing more to be said. If anything, when (not if) the new series of IJ films come out, hopefully they will have learned that IJ films have to be set in the relatively innocent era of pre-WWII. That's the time these films work. As for Crystal Skull? It belongs in a museum the trash.

[diggler]

He's a good TV actor, but I don't see him surviving the leap to movies.

Fair enough. The first time I saw Banshee, I kept thinking "this guy belongs in movies". I think he's got it, and has the presence to elevate shallow material. Some of the names you mentioned were just victims of miscasting. Kyle Chandler has been fine in movies, he just accepted he can't carry a film by himself. Caruso was great in King of New York, then somewhere along the line became a walking parody of himself.

While we're fancasting Banshee cast members, how awesome would Kai Proctor be as an Indy villain?

[Jeremy Blackman]

He would make a good Nazi for sure. I think he's close-up dependent, though.

[diggler]

He has many variations of the same face and they're all nihilistically perturbed.