Movies - TV
Harrison Ford Made Shia LaBeouf’s Indiana Jones Bike Chase A Struggle
By JOE ROBERTS
In “Kingdom of the Crystal Skull,” Indy (Harrison Ford) flees a Soviet ambush with his son Mutt Williams (Shia LaBeouf) on a motorbike, and LaBeouf struggled shooting the scene.
The then 20-year-old LaBeouf was committed to honoring Ford’s stunt pedigree, and he trained for six weeks to drive the motorbike for the chase scene, but it was a challenge.
Stunt coordinator Gary Powell shared that the bike was a 600-pound Harley, saying, “It’s a very heavy bike, so even if you get off-balance, generally you’re going to the floor.”
In addition to maneuvering the Harley, LaBeouf had to shoot the scene with Ford flailing around on the back of the bike. LaBeouf recalled the struggles that he had.
The actor shared, “The bike was tough, only because when you have somebody moving on the back of a bike, it’s very different than just having someone hold you on the bike.”
LaBeouf added, “Harrison has to animate his character. And we’re on a bike through a lot of it, so a lot of it is the movement. All that stuff was pretty tough.”