George Lucas Promises 'Crystal Skulls' Will Be As Good As 'Lost Ark'

Indiana Jones creator/producer George Lucas is finally talking about those pesky Crystal Skulls.

"We did 'The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles', and in the process of that, one of the scripts we were working on was about a crystal skull. I became fascinated with it there," Lucas revealed to MTV News on the red carpet for the American Film Institute's 40th anniversary at the ArcLight. "We've been through lots of different versions of 'Indy 4' the last 14 years, with five different writers. But with crystal skulls there's just a lot of aspects that seem to fit into our kind of a movie."

"I think this is actually better, it's up there with the Ark of the Covenant. Sankara Stones and the Holy Grail were a little tough, but I think this time we've really got a great one," said Lucas. "The skulls themselves are real and a lot of the stuff in the movie is real, just like in the other movies. We don't base it on a lot of phony-baloney stuff. It's all based on at least true mythology that exists today that a certain amount of the population actually believes in."

Lucas also said that Indy 4 is shaping up to be the best Indy flick since Raiders of the Lost Ark, calling "Skulls" tonally most like "Raiders." I'll just be happy if it's as good as The Last Crusade. I'm worried about how much supernatural or alien powers may be involved in this new mythology. I think Temple of Doom failed in so many ways because it was so unbelievable. Hopefully Lucas has found the right mythology to make this fourth film.

I also find it interesting that George claims they have been working on the crystal skulls as the McGuffin since the early 90's with The Young Indy television series. The skulls also made a cameo appearance in name on one of the international Indiana Jones rides. In August 2006, Lucas told Empireonline:

"I discovered a McGuffin. I told the guys about it and they were a little dubious about it, but it's the best one we've ever found. Unfortunately, it was a little too 'connected' for the others. They were afraid of what the critics would think. They said, 'Can't we do it with a different McGuffin? Can't we do this?' and I said 'No.' So we pottered around with that for a couple of years. And then Harrison really wanted to do it and Steve said, 'Okay.' I said, 'We'll have to go back to that original McGuffin and take out the offending parts of it and we'll still use that area of the supernatural to deal with it.' "

But what powers will the crystal skulls possess?

"There's several different kinds of skulls, several different kinds of theories, several myths that are surrounding them," Lucas said.

A modern legend claims that there are 13 crystal skulls worldwide, of which five have actually been found, which have mystical powers and are of ancient origin. Such claims remain unproven. They allegedly are endowed with magical powers such as the spontaneous production of holographic images and the emission of weird sounds. And some believe the skulls to be repositories of ancient knowledge (like an Atlantian encyclopedia).

So which theory will be in the Indy 4? Lucas won't say.

"You just have to put all the pieces together, look it up and figure out which one it is. Or just wait until the movie comes out, which is so much easier."

And of course therehave been quite a few reports that claim the 'Found Ark' will also be involved in the story. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is set to hit theaters on May 22nd 2008.

source: VH1