Indy 4 News - tiny spoilers/pics

[Jobydrone]

Loved the trailer!  Getting more and more excited about this movie. 

[Geekyfanboy]

Ford Still Has It for All Age Groups

There was a time when Harrison Ford was the most successful actor in the world. He also was the most recognized face on the globe and held the record of being the highest paid, and busiest actor for a full decade.

Now Ford is 65 years old and many were wondering if he still had the chops to play such an aggressive action-hero like Indiana Jones, especially after 27 years of first wearing that famous hat or cracking his equally famous whip.

Well, if the new trailer for the George Lucas/Steven Spielberg creation "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" is any indication then Ford still has it in spades.

The film will be officially launched in theaters on May 22, 2008, but the trailer has been out for two weeks now making its rounds in theaters across the country and early indications are it is absolutely wowing the audiences who view it. They are actually cheering upon seeing the 65-year old Ford, as Indiana Jones, flying through the air and landing on trucks and fighting the bad guys as if time has stood still for the legendary actor and they are seeing him in his prime.

However, the real clue if this film will be a rousing success can be measured by the more younger, online savvy audience who have been following the trailer on the net. The result? Overwhelming enthusiasm from the younger set who weren't even a twinkle in their old man's eye when Ford first hit the silver screen as the famous action hero archeaologist back in 1981 in "Raiders of the Lost Ark." In fact, for many even their fathers weren't old enough to go to a theater without adult supervision. Most in that age group are calling this the most anticipated film for 2008.

"The trailer caught on like wildfire, around the world, in all mediums," said Gerry Rich, Paramount's president of worldwide marketing. "From 8 to 80. The response has been sensational and it shows what technology can do when you have material that is so appealing to audiences."

While Paramount is happy that its older audiences are happy to see another Indy film, what thrills the studio most however is its prime ticket-buying demographic, the younger viewers, who are also thrilled and ready to spend money to see it. What also makes studio execs smile is that if this movie does as well as expected with younger moviegoers it can justify continuing the Jones saga with actor Shia LeBeouf, who can go on with the series for a new generation as the son of Indiana Jones, following in the adventureous footsteps of his legendary father. This explains their aggressive online campaign. Paramount says that there has been a record 4.1 million views on the Yahoo movie site in the first week of the trailer's release and 2.6 million on the official IndianaJones.com site, according to a report in Yahoo News. This record setter is the most online hits ever for the studio's new trailer release.

"It looks to be THE highly anticipated movie of the summer," said Mark Mazrimas, marketing manager for independent theater chain Classic Cinemas. However, "this hasn't been on the screen for so long, [it] is capturing the youth."

[Rico]

There's a new special edition set of Indy movie DVD's coming out on May 13th too.  But not a hi-def version.  Bahh!  :(

[Ktrek]

Here's a new poster. Looks like aliens are involved in this plot:



Kevin

[Meds]

Poster has a classic Indy feel to it.

[Rico]

Great poster!  I'll have to buy a copy of that one.

[Locutus]

And it's so close to my birthday! (May 10, so you have plenty of time to pick out that perfect present.)

Definitely looking forward to this one!

Aliens!

[Rico]

New TV spot.  Mostly bits from the trailer, but some new stuff.
Details on high def versions here:  http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=43482

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7Bau6ZnNO4

[Meds]

Oh I'm so looking forward to this film. Even contemplating taking the day off work. Now I've got my hat made by Steven Delks (man responsible for making and suppling the new Indy Hat in the film (see collectibles for pictures of my hat)) i may even wear it for the showing.

[Locutus]

Don't know what we're gonna do with the kinder, but we are seeing this flick when it comes out. Period.

[Meds]

The new issue of Empire Magazine (i don't know if you guys over the water have the same issue as us) is a Indy special with 14 pages devoted to the new film and there is also a special pull out called the Indiana Jones diaries packed with new photo's and interviews.

[Geekyfanboy]

Indy 4, Dark Knight will run long

Better make sure you get the super-sized soda and popcorn as you head into Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and The Dark Knight this summer.  According to reports on Dark Horizons, both summer blockbusters will have long running times.

The latest installment of the Indiana Jones series is reported to run 140 minutes by Hollywood Elsewhere and confirmed by composer John Williams.  Williams said his working print of the film took seven cases.  Each case held about 20 minutes of the movie.

Test screenings for Indy 4 are being kept under tight wraps.  There has reportedly been one test screening of the film.  Indy 4 will play for studio execs next week and then debut at Cannes.

[Rico]

I'm happy to hear that, especially for Indy.  I like longer movies.

[Rico]

Good story on Harrison Ford and a new picture....

Harrison Ford is a portrait of rugged individualism
By Anthony Breznican, USA TODAY
SANTA MONICA, Calif. — Indiana Jones always finds what he's looking for in isolated, faraway places. The same could be said of Harrison Ford.

The leading man of Star Wars, The Fugitive, Witness and Air Force One— and of course Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, coming May 22 — is happiest in the private 800-acre woodlands around his Wyoming home or soaring over the American landscape in one of his many private aircraft.

WALKING IN HIS SHOES: Harrison Ford's career path in pictures
SEE THE TRAILER: An early heads-up on 'Crystal Skull'
ACTING BREAKTHROUGH: Writing was on the wall with 'American Graffiti'

But he also sees the pleasure in a simple California day hike. Today, he's tackling the trailways of Temescal Canyon, a public park tucked into the oceanside mountains of the Pacific Palisades just outside Santa Monica.

In a grassy area at the start of the trailhead, the 65-year-old actor hops down with ease after posing for photographs atop a massive tree trunk. He's eager to get into the steep hike, though he jokes: "There'd better be a bar and restaurant at the end."

No such luck. The trail is a loop that winds up into rolling mountains, lush at this time of year because of recent rains. Passing around a hairpin turn on the trail, Ford mentions he hasn't seen Crystal Skull in its finished form, just the dailies during shooting. But he's sure he'll see it before it premieres at the Cannes Film Festival on May 18.

Many of the plotlines of Crystal Skull are still secret, but Ford says the movie will try to give new perspectives on his globe-trotting, fist-fighting archaeologist. Jones happens to be among Ford's favorite characters, and he has put his own curmudgeonly rogue qualities into him.

"He's a guy who is pretty clear from the beginning," Ford says. "He has not changed so much between films. But we've learned more about him, through various plot devices, such as the introduction of his father. And we'll learn something more about him in this film. I think it's required. If you're going to bring back a character, you'll have to supply the audience with something more and different.

"The adventure is very, very important. But it's interesting to discover a facet of the character that perhaps you hadn't explored before."

One of those things is age, which is apt, considering some wonder whether the actor is getting too up in years to play the action hero.

"I think it's an interesting element to take advantage of," Ford says. "Clearly, it's another challenge that he faces."

Ford's challenge of the moment is scaling a rocky slope beneath low branches. As he navigates the terrain, it's easy to imagine a bit of Indiana Jones swagger seeping into Ford's mild manner. But he says it doesn't work that way.

"My actual true life has dynamics to it that are as interesting to me as Indiana Jones' life," he says. "It's not so enmeshed in fantasy."

Keep acting, keep smiling

It has been almost 20 years since he last played Jones in 1989's The Last Crusade and nearly 27 years since he first played the character in 1981's Raiders of the Lost Ark. But getting back was "really easy," he says. "It's as though you put on that hat, the leather jacket, the bag, the whip, the gun — or even the schoolteacher's suit — and it comes back to you."

As he ascends the hills, assorted day-hikers come stomping down from the trail ahead, crashing through the surrounding brush. Stunned smiles appear when they realize whom they've just come face to face with, and Ford grins and says hello to each one, breaking stride only to let them pass.

One man asks if he's having a good hike or a great hike.

"Great hike," Ford says, and the man hands him a card that reads: KEEP SMILING. Ford gives the stranger his signature cocked grin and pockets the card.

He regards being a screen icon with the matter-of-fact attitude of a blue-collar worker. "It's my job," he says. "I think it's the best job in the world. Where else can you go to play with such big toys?"

His own kids were never too dazzled that their old man got to, say, fly spaceships in Star Wars or explore a futuristic L.A. in Blade Runner. "I think they grew up in the store, disabused of the potential for anything more than the understanding that it's the job I do."

His four children (from two marriages that ended in divorce) are grown now, and he has grandchildren, ages 14 and 7. "They know me as Grandpa first," he says. "They know the reality of the business I'm in." Even from a very young age, "they knew Chewbacca was a fiction."

Ford is back to being a dad to 7-year-old Liam, the son of his partner, Calista Flockhart. The Indiana Jones movies can be frightening for children (Temple of Doom helped initiate the PG-13 rating), and Ford says Liam hasn't seen them yet.

Ford is looking forward to that someday, though. "The pleasure of making something is always sharing it, especially with people who are close to you."

No fences for Ford

The path levels out along a bluff, a thin waterfall spills down its face. At the base, a small wooden bridge traverses a wide, rippling pool. Ford rests his elbows on the bridge railing and watches the waterfall in silence for a few moments. "There are tons of these," Ford says. "When you fly around here, you see so much more open land. There are waterfalls everywhere."

Piloting his own airplanes is a special passion for the star, and he maintains several aircraft at a hangar in Santa Monica. Flying smaller aircraft is something special. "A commercial airliner is so unlike flying. You're in a huge machine, insulated against the aerodynamic effects, and you're at 35,000 feet looking out. You don't have the same kind of emotional contact of what's happening around you."

After a while, he pushes off the railing and looks up the steeply ascending path. "Carry on?" he asks.

His fondness for wilderness came at an early age. A Boy Scout growing up in and around Chicago, he was often sent for week-long visits to farms and campsites.

He lives mainly in Los Angeles these days, to be close to his family. But it's clear he has a deep affection for his woodland home in Jackson, Wyo.

"It was at one time a working cattle ranch, but when I bought it 20-some-odd years ago, the first thing I did was sling the cattle off it and let it go back to the natural environment. It took three or four years for the grasslands to come back and the streams to clear up. Now the cattle have been replaced largely by elk, who use the same food source — grass. And they're much easier on the environment."

'Critters and birds' abound

As for the 800 acres that surround the home: "It's mostly cottonwood trees and river bottom, so it's laced with spring creeks, coyotes and foxes and deer, all kinds of small critters and birds."

After reaching a crest where the full slopes of the canyon come into view, Ford starts back down the mountainside, passing a woman on a narrow section. He says a polite "Hello" and then grumbles, "Nice talking to ya" when she speed-walks by, oblivious.

At this point in his career and with $3.1 billion in box-office revenue, the actor doesn't need to prove anything anymore. But he also hasn't been very prolific lately. He has made only two movies in six years: the crime comedy Hollywood Homicide and the techno-thriller Firewall.

Neither was well-regarded. "But they were adventures," Ford says, referring to the process rather than the story lines. "Once in a while, you take shots on things, and it doesn't work out. I don't think either of them ... well, you might well accuse Hollywood Homicide of a certain lack of ambition. But I don't think Firewall suffers from a lack of ambition. It just suffers from failure to get itself together and be as interesting as it might have been."

After the new Indiana Jones movie, he has a role in the ensemble film Crossing Over (opening Aug. 22) as an immigration agent who tries to help a woman who has crossed the border illegally be reunited with her child.

It's an experiment for Ford, dabbling in lower-budget, art-house fare. "I wanted to do a film where I didn't take responsibility for the screenplay, where I didn't take responsibility for the film, and just played a role in an ensemble."

He's not a movie buff, and his tastes have trended toward pop culture and mass entertainment. "What if we made art and nobody came? That'd be the (pits)," he says with a laugh. "Art can be very self-satisfying, very indulgent."

Some actors of his stature simply decide not to do it anymore. Sean Connery, 77, who played Jones' father in The Last Crusade, said he wouldn't return for Indy IV because he had given up acting.

Does Ford ever think of retiring? "Kick back and work for Scotland's freedom?" Ford jokes, referring to Connery's pet cause of his homeland breaking from the United Kingdom to be an independent nation. "I don't think I'll make that same choice. But sure. I think I might decide to do other things, but I think it's a ways down the line.

"I'm still having as much fun and taking as much pleasure, and I'm as intellectually stimulated by the process, as I ever was."

The actor doesn't rule out working on a film with Flockhart, either, though he doesn't seem eager to mix business with his personal life. "We might do that, but it's not something we're actively seeking."

He also might consider a fifth installment of Indiana Jones, though he hopes it wouldn't take 20 years to pull together.

On the way back down the trail, Ford seems to soften his stance about the differences between his own personality and that of his most famous character: "I think I'm as curious as he is, but much less an academic. I'm less likely to get myself into dramatic situations."

No fistfights with Nazis, then? "No, I stay away from fistfights," he says, laughing. "Anytime I've been in one, I've broken a bone in my hand or finger."

Fans love actors because they project on them their admiration for the on-screen fantasy. Ford says it's just a reach, a hope that there is some measure of reality to the fiction they see at the theater.

In summer 2001, a Boy Scout vanished overnight in Yellowstone National Park. Ford, like many local pilots, volunteered his services. He happened to find the boy while patrolling the Wyoming wilderness in his helicopter, and the incident made headlines — not because it was especially dramatic, but because Ford was the rescuer.

As the Temescal Canyon path winds down to flat land under the cool cover of towering trees, the actor grimaces at the memory. He says it was just a good deed and hardly matinee-style theatrics. "What annoyed me about it all was that I'd pick somebody up off the mountain one day, and two days later they'd be on Good Morning America," Ford says. "I thought, 'It doesn't give credit to all the other people involved.' "

He shakes his head: "Suddenly, I'm swanning around as some kind of (expletive) hero."


Find this article at:
http://www.usatoday.com/life/movies/news/2008-04-16-harrison-ford_N.htm

[Locutus]

You know, I actually liked Hollywood Homicide. It reminded me of all the people I knew in LA and how they were constantly trying to "make it" instead of just doing what they were good at and being happy. Object lesson there, I think.