While it was definitely fun seeing Harrison Ford back in action as Indy in 2008's Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, watching the older explorer in action didn't quite have the same impact as in those earlier adventures. Now, the actor is heading into Indiana Jones 5 as an 80-year-old, and while he doesn't look it, that rules out any big action set pieces, right?
Not necessarily. Every Indiana Jones movie needs a killer opening sequence, and Empire Online has revealed that director James Mangold has come up with something very special for this fifth instalment.
"I wanted the chance to dive into this kind of full-on George-and-Steven old picture and give the audience an adrenaline blast," the filmmaker explains, confirming we'll be heading back to 1944 to see Indy taking on a castle full of Nazis. "And then we fall out, and you find yourself in 1969."
"So that the audience doesn’t experience the change between the ‘40s and ‘60s as an intellectual conceit, but literally experiences the buccaneering spirit of those early days...and then the beginning of now."
Newly created ILM software was utilised to de-age Ford, and it sounds similar to how Mark Hamill became a young Luke Skywalker again for The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett. Even the actor's original Raiders of the Lost Ark jacket was pulled out of storage before being replicated.
As for Ford, coming face-to-face with his younger self left him fully convinced by the technology.
"This is the first time I’ve seen it where I believe it. It’s a little spooky. I don’t think I even want to know how it works, but it works. [It] doesn’t make me want to be young, though. I’m glad to have earned my age."
We had wondered whether a big chunk of this movie might revolve around a younger Indy, but it's now looking like it will be just this opening sequence. That promises to be a treat for fans, though, and recent comments from Mangold have made it clear the filmmaker put a lot of thought into telling Indy's final story at a later stage of his life.
Indiana Jones 5 is set to be released in theaters on June 30, 2023.