Vanity Fair has a new feature article on Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, which includes a couple new behind the scenes photo shown above and below. Included is the first photo of Cate Blanchett who plays a Russian Agent Spalko. Below you can also find some quotes I’ve highlighted from the article.
“I’m in my second cut, which means I’ve put the movie together and I’ve seen it,” he says. “I usually do about five cuts as a director. The best news is that, when I saw the movie myself the first time, there was nothing I wanted to go back and shoot, nothing I wanted to reshoot, and nothing I wanted to add.”
Spielberg promises no tricky editing for the new one, saying, “I go for geography. I want the audience to know not only which side the good guy’s on and the bad guy’s on, but which side of the screen they’re in, and I want the audience to be able to edit as quickly as they want in a shot that I am loath to cut away from. And that’s been my style with all four of these Indiana Jones pictures. Quick-cutting is very effective in some movies, like the Bourne pictures, but you sacrifice geography when you go for quick-cutting. Which is fine, because audiences get a huge adrenaline rush from a cut every second and a half on The Bourne Ultimatum, and there’s just enough geography for the audience never to be lost, especially in the last Bourne film, which I thought was the best of the three. But, by the same token, Indy is a little more old-fashioned than the modern-day action adventure.”
“The thing about Bourne,” Lucas says, “I would put that on the credible side, because he’s trained in martial arts and all that kind of stuff, and we know that people in martial arts, even little old ladies, can break somebody’s leg. So you kind of say, O.K., that’s possible. But when you get to the next level, whether it’s Tomb Raider or the Die Hard series, where you’ve got one guy with one pistol going up against 50 guys with machine guns, or he jumps in a jet and starts chasing a car down a freeway, you say, I’m not sure I can really buy this. Mission: Impossible’s like that. They do things where you could not survive in the real world. In Indiana Jones, we stay just this side of it.”
Says Spielberg, “Part of the speed is the story,” he says. “If you build a fast engine, you don’t need fast cutting, because the story’s being told fluidly, and the pages are just turning very quickly. You first of all need a script that’s written in the express lane, and if it’s not, there’s nothing you can do in the editing room to make it move faster. You need room for character, you need room for relationships, for personal conflict, you need room for comedy, but that all has to happen on a moving sidewalk.”
Says Harrison Ford, “He’s a stubborn sucker,” the actor says, “and he had an idea that he kept pushing into script form, and then they’d run it by me, and I’d usually rebel, and, finally, you know, one script came along that really struck me as being smart, not working too hard to give reference to the other films, but that carried on the stories we had told so far in a logical way. The character was allowed to age, and we found ourselves in a different period of time, and what I read was a great script, so I said, ‘Let’s go, let’s make this one.’ ”
These last three quotes from Lucas really worry me.
Lucas says. “So that put it in the mid-50s, and the MacGuffin I was looking at was perfect for the mid-50s. I looked around and I said, ‘Well, maybe we shouldn’t do a 30s serial, because now we’re in the 50s. What is the same kind of cheesy-entertainment action movie, what was the secret B movie, of the 50s?’ So instead of doing a 30s Republic serial, we’re doing a B science-fiction movie from the 50s. The ones I’m talking about are, like, The Creature from the Black Lagoon, The Blob, The Thing. So by putting it in that context, it gave me a way of approaching the whole thing.”
Lucas on the critics: “I know the critics are going to hate it. They already hate it. So there’s nothing we can do about that. They hate the idea that we’re making another one. They’ve already made up their minds.”
Lucas on the fans: “The fans are all upset. They’re always going to be upset. ‘Why did he do it like this? And why didn’t he do it like this?’ They write their own movie, and then, if you don’t do their movie, they get upset about it. So you just have to stand by for the bricks and the custard pies, because they’re going to come flying your way.”
You can read the full article on Vanityfair.com. They also have full online exclusive interviews with:
January 2nd, 2008 at 1:44 pm
i’m not surprised by lucas words after the critical mauling he endured after releasing his passion project on the world. that’d make anybody defensive.
but i LOVE the blob! i like that that’s where they’ve gone with the story to fit the time period…and however divergant the story is from the first films at least we can gather from those quotes that speilberg is keeping the direction old-school
January 2nd, 2008 at 2:58 pm
So basically Lucas is saying he knows the critics AND the fans will hate the movie, but he doesn’t care. That’s real encouraging. Lucas has really lost his way. I think it’s time to turn to a younger, less jaded crop of directors who still have the talent, integrity, and desire to make quality entertainment that they can stand behind. I’m looking at you, Christopher Nolan.
January 2nd, 2008 at 3:05 pm
Lucas is saying the fans will hate the movie i strongly disagree, i love Harrison Ford and i love Indiana Jones.
January 2nd, 2008 at 3:10 pm
Lucas has lost ALL clout IMHO and has no credit left creatively. He’s been coasting for 20 years on the surprise success of so-so material. Ed Wood could have made those last star Wars films better than George did. Now he sounds like a defensive little baby. George has turned into everything he hated. Something quite Shakespearian about that.
January 2nd, 2008 at 3:22 pm
I’m Robert, I am so smart and sophisticated. I can call these people by first name because I know them oh so well.
January 2nd, 2008 at 3:33 pm
People like us have been coasting our entire lives.
In summary, people like Robert and I need to keep our mouths shut until we become successful writers/directors/producers for some of the most successful films in history.
January 2nd, 2008 at 8:12 pm
ok, just in case you don’t make a movie like young indiana jones, which would have been good as a prequel prequel, not a nostalgic prequel so many people like to make,
THIS MOVIE IS GOING TO ROCK!!!(and you know it)
January 3rd, 2008 at 8:29 am
I agree with him that cheesy b scifi is the way to take it.
January 3rd, 2008 at 9:34 am
Lucas needs to sign over the rights to the last three Star Wars films to someone with the energy to make them. I think Peter Jackson would rock our world. He needs to hurry though- Carrie Fischer is about 2 doughnuts away from just plain exploding.
January 3rd, 2008 at 1:15 pm
I’m not sure I can really buy this. Mission: Impossible’s like that. They do things where you could not survive in the real world. In Indiana Jones, we stay just this side of it.â€
Does that include jumping out of a crashing plane in a rubber dinghy and landing in the river far below, uninjured? C’mon, give me a break!
January 3rd, 2008 at 3:00 pm
Like the scene in the Phantom Menace where Obi Wan kills Darth Maul with that move he would’ve scene coming a mile away, the same move Anakin attempted on Obi and got his shit completely ruined by doing so.
January 5th, 2008 at 7:48 pm
MI AUNT MERCEDES IS IN THE MOVIE
January 9th, 2008 at 6:24 pm
Come on guys! everyone knows if a critic hates a film, it’s
probably pretty good…I personally have been waiting for this
last Indy film for years and just about did a backflip when I heard
of it’s release. I can’t wait! I love this series of films. And to get
another one is nothing short of a gift. Give Lucas a break, look at the body of work. Have you made a hundred Jillian dollars from your films, stayed clear of the Hollywood Monster? And who wants to tear into Spielburg? Thank you George and Steven for your time.
You’ve made the world a little more bearable with your stories.
Thank you, Bill