Watch This Before You See Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny

Watch This Before You See Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny

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It's time to dust off the  fedora and crack the whip one   more time! As our favorite globetrotting  archaeologist returns to the big screen,   here's everything you need to know about  Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny. The last time we saw Indiana Jones, he was  exploring the jungles of South America,   avoiding killer ants, and hanging out with  a greaser sidekick played by Shia LaBeouf.   Kingdom of the Crystal Skull hit theaters all the  way back in 2008, and it was actually the second   highest-grossing film of that year worldwide, but  it's not exactly beloved by hardcore Indy fans. So the stakes are pretty high for Dial of Destiny,   which is set to land in theaters a little  over 15 years after the last adventure. It   was originally supposed to be released in  July 2019, but two additional release date   changes and one pandemic later, it's finally  scheduled to hit theaters on June 30, 2023.

Indiana Jones has faced his fair share of  bad guys over the years. In Crystal Skull,   he was up against a group  of Soviets in South America,   and he narrowly avoided having a heart to  heart with a cult leader in Temple of Doom.   But there's one particular group of baddies  who cross Indy's path again and again: Nazis. As it turns out, Indy's not done with the Third  Reich just yet, as he'll be butting heads with   some sinister Nazi faithful in The Dial of  Destiny. According to an exclusive report  

from Empire Magazine, the film will be set in  1969 during the height of the Space Race. In   both the film and in real life, the American  government employed multiple Nazi scientists   to beat the Russians to the moon. In Dial of  Destiny, one of them is the nefarious Voller,   whose loyalty to Hitler's regime remains strong.  According to Mads Mikkelsen, who plays Voller, "He's a man who would like to correct some of  the mistakes of the past. There is something   that could make the world a much better place to  live in. He would love to get his hands on it." We're assuming that that something is the Dial of  Destiny, which Indy will need to find first with   the help of his goddaughter Helena. The story  will also focus on Indy truly growing old and  

getting ready to take off his fedora for good. As  writer-director James Mangold explained to Empire, "It became really important to me to figure out  how to make this a movie about a hero at sunset." We'll also get some clarification on what's going   on with Shia LaBeouf's Mutt Williams.  While the actor won't appear in the film,   Mangold told Entertainment Weekly that  we'll indeed learn what happened to him.

You simply can't think of Harrison Ford  without also thinking of Indiana Jones,   and vice versa. And Ford seems to genuinely love  playing Indy. So even though he's 80 years old,   he'll be stepping onto screens for  one more go-round as Dr. Jones. "I'd always wanted to see Indiana  Jones at the end of his career,   towards the end of his life, when  everything catches up to him." John Rhys-Davies will also be returning to  play Indy's best friend Sallah. Outside of   this franchise, Rhys-Davies is probably  best known as the ax-wielding dwarf Gimli   in the Lord of the Rings. Indy will also  be teaming up with a new character in the   form of his goddaughter Helena, whom James  Mangold described to Empire as "slippery,   charming, the girl next door" and "a grifter."  She'll be played by Phoebe Waller-Bridge,  

who's best known as the creator  and star of the sitcom Fleabag. As for the big bad, it'll be Mads Mikkelsen as  Nazi scientist Voller, who's tricked the U.S.   government into thinking he's abandoned his  old ways. Mikkelsen is no stranger to playing   antagonists, as he's delivered villainous turns  in the likes of Casino Royale, Fantastic Beasts:   The Secrets of Dumbledore, Doctor Strange,  and as the title cannibal on NBC's Hannibal.   Voller's murderous enforcer Klaber will be played  by Boyd Holbrook, another actor who specializes   in scary roles, like Commander Donald Pierce  in Logan and the Corinthian in The Sandman. In addition to those big names, Antonio Banderas  is set to show up in a cameo role. Plus,  

Toby Jones will play Helena's dad Basil.  The cast will be rounded out by Shaunette   Renée Wilson, Thomas Kretschmann,  and bodybuilder Olivier Richters. When you think of the behind-the-scenes  talent of Indiana Jones, obviously Steven   Spielberg springs to mind. The celebrated  filmmaker directed the first four Indy films,  

and it's almost impossible to imagine the  franchise moving on without him. However,   Dial of Destiny won't see Spielberg calling the  shots. While he will remain on hand as a producer,   he stepped away from the director's chair so  that a younger filmmaker could take the reins.

That leaves The Dial of Destiny in the very  capable hands of James Mangold, who should be   a great fit. The story is supposedly about an  aging Indy going on one last adventure before   riding off into the sunset, and Mangold has some  promising experience in that area. He co-wrote and   directed 2017's Logan, which is the acclaimed swan  song to 20th Century Fox's version of Wolverine. "Look. I gotta go."

In addition to Logan, Mangold's credits  include the Western 3:10 to Yuma, the   crime drama Cop Land, the Johnny Cash biopic Walk  the Line, and the sports drama Ford v Ferrari. When it comes to film composers, there's  none more famous than John Williams. Jaws,   Jurassic Park, Star Wars, E.T., Harry  Potter, and Superman are just a sampling   of his iconic pieces. He even came  up with the theme for the Olympics. Williams is also responsible for the rousing  scores that accompany Indiana Jones on each of   his adventures. And he'll be back for Dial  of Destiny, providing music that's sure to  

get the blood pumping as Indy traverses the globe  once again. Interestingly, at one point in time,   Williams implied that The Fabelmans and  Dial of Destiny would be his last projects   before retiring. However, in January 2023, he  walked those statements back, as he explained, "I'll stick around for a while. I can't retire  from music. A day without music is a mistake." The teaser for Indiana Jones and the  Dial of Destiny dropped in December 2022   and promised all sorts of adventures for  our aging hero. When the preview starts,  

it seems that Indy has been living  the quiet life of a college professor,   as an exchange between him and Sallah  makes clear. His old friend laments   that he misses waking up in anticipation of the  exciting adventures promised by each new day. "Those days have come and gone."

"Perhaps. Perhaps not." But while Dr. Jones may be done with adventure,  adventure isn't quite done with Dr. Jones. As   the teaser progresses, we see Indy picking up  his whip, getting in a showdown atop a train,   and exploring ruins filled with Greek  statues. He also makes his way through   a Nazi castle and an exciting chase at  a ticker-tape parade for the Apollo 11   astronauts. The whole time, he regales us  with his unique worldview, as he declares,

"I don't believe in magic, but a few times in my  life, I've seen things, things I can't explain." "And I've come to believe it's not so much what  you believe, it's how hard you believe it." In April 2023, we were finally treated to the full  official trailer, which is scored to the classic   Rolling Stones song "Sympathy for the Devil." That  tune makes it clear that Indy is a man outside of   time in the strange world of the 1960s. Speaking  of time, it's possible that that theme might play  

a big part in the film, as Voller explains why  he wants to get his hands on the Dial of Destiny. "Hitler made mistakes, and with  this, I will correct them all." Could time travel somehow factor into all of this?  Is that why so many people want the Dial? Not only   are the Nazis after it, not only is Indy trying  to get it, but it also looks like Helena has an   agenda of her own, as she too is trying to get  her hands on this precious artifact. This prompts   a three-way chase across the world, complete  with undersea exploration and aerial action,   all in the pursuit of something that could  very well change the course of history. Harrison Ford is obviously a Hollywood legend,  but he's also still just a mortal who ages like   everyone else. He's 80 years old, and  he presumably can't run around beating   up Nazis forever. Plenty of us thought that  he would hang up the fedora for good after  

Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. But here  he goes again, in what surely must be   the final adventure. In an interview with  Total Film in April 2023, Ford revealed, "This is the final film in the series,  and this is the last time I'll play the   character. I anticipate that it will be  the last time that he appears in a film." "For me, this is it."

"Harrison, let me tell you something. You've  told me that two Indiana Joneses ago." Granted, that claim may be a little naive  on Ford's part. If Hollywood can find a   way to reboot this franchise or start  a prequel series, they will. However,  

we do believe Ford when he says that this  is the last time he'll play Indy. And if it   sounds like we're crying, that's just the dust  from all those ancient artifacts in our eyes. De-aging technology is a great tool, but  its uses in film thus far have been a bit   wonky. The Irishman, for example, is a  fantastic movie, with a terrific Robert   De Niro performance. But those scenes with  him as a younger man just look plain weird. However, it sounds like Dial of Destiny is  taking de-aging technology to the next level.  

While most of the movie will be set during the  late 60s, the opening act will take place during   World War II. This segment will reportedly run  for 25 minutes, which means that James Mangold   must have plenty of faith in the de-aging  tech if we're going to be looking at an   artificially youthful Harrison Ford for nearly  half an hour. As Mangold gushed to Total Film, "It was an incredible technology  [...] The goal was to give the   audience a full-bodied taste  of what they missed so much."

From the clips we've seen of the opening sequence,  Ford looks pretty fantastic, and better even than   recent examples of de-aging like Sean Young in  Blade Runner 2049 or Kurt Russell in Guardians   of the Galaxy Vol. 2. Evidently,  the jump from the 40s to the 60s is going to be   key to the story in Dial of Destiny. The film  will be hopping from an era when it was clear   who the bad guys were to a much more complicated  time. As Mangold told The Hollywood Reporter,

"It's not just a movie about a hero in  his twilight years who is called back into   action. It's more than just that his bones  might ache, it's that his soul might ache,   or that some of his optimism or sense [of]  fitting into the world might have evaporated." Furthermore, Indy will be dealing with a body  that's much older and creakier than before.   Slugging bad guys in the face isn't going to be  as easy as it once was, with Mangold explaining, "It reminds the audience of the contrast between  a hero in his physical prime and a hero at 70.   We're not relying solely on the audience's  memory of the previous films. It reminds   everyone what he's done, what he's survived,  what he's accomplished. By showing him in his  

most hearty and then finding him at 70 in New  York City, it produces for the audience a kind   of wonderful whiplash of how they're going to have  to readjust and retool their brains for this guy." "He's about to retire." "Yes." "From being a professor."

"Yes." "And all hell breaks loose." "It does."

This fifth Indiana Jones film has been in  development for a long time. Even all the   way back in the 1970s, George Lucas and  Steven Spielberg hoped to tell a quintet   of stories about the globe-trotting  adventurer. And after having waited   so long after The Last Crusade to make  Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, it didn't   seem like another big-screen outing could ever  happen. But following Crystal Skull's release,   Lucas began researching possible story  ideas. As he told the Times Online in 2008,

"I'm in the future; Steven's in the past. He's  trying to drag it back to the way they were,   I'm trying to push it to a whole different  place. So, still we have a sort of tension." The project was stuck in development for  years before Lucas sold Lucasfilm to Disney,   who hoped to revive the series without him. At  that point, Spielberg and Crystal Skull writer   David Koepp began working on the script for  what would eventually become Dial of Destiny. By 2018, Spielberg was preoccupied with other  projects, and Koepp was replaced by Solo writer   Jonathan Kasdan, son of Raiders of the Lost Ark  scribe Lawrence Kasdan, before returning quickly   thereafter. Eventually, Spielberg's version of  Indiana Jones 5 failed because he, Harrison Ford,   and Disney couldn't all agree on the script.  When James Mangold took the helm, things  

seemed to be back on track. He rewrote Koepp's  script alongside his Ford v Ferrari writers,   brothers Jez and John-Henry Butterworth, with all  four men receiving final "written by" credits. Following the sale of Lucasfilm, George  Lucas distanced himself from both Star Wars   and Indiana Jones. After Disney declined to use  his treatments for the Star Wars sequel trilogy,  

his involvement in the space opera franchise  has been essentially nonexistent. Besides   visiting the set of The Mandalorian, he's  effectively bid his former glories goodbye. While Lucas wrote and directed Star  Wars during his time as a filmmaker,   he was never actually a credited screenwriter for  any Indiana Jones movie. Instead, he helped craft   the story for each film, served as a producer,  and worked closely with Spielberg to make sure   that their shared vision became a reality.  But while Lucas' involvement in the fifth   Indiana Jones has been diminished following  his sale to Disney, he's still in the loop. According to James Mangold, both Spielberg  and Lucas are involved with Dial of Destiny.  

While they may not be in the director's  chair or receiving any story credit,   these two filmmaking giants just had to be  included in another Indiana Jones picture,   especially if it's going to be the final  one. Serving as executive producers,   Spielberg and Lucas have continued to help curate  Hollywood's most famous archeologist from afar,   which is surely comforting to plenty of loyal  fans. If they trust Mangold to deliver a killer   version of Indiana Jones, then the rest  of us probably shouldn't be too worried. Since he directed the first four Indiana Jones  movies, one can't help but wonder how Steven   Spielberg feels about Dial of Destiny. He's been  the primary creator of the character for decades,   so an Indiana Jones movie without him  is sort of impossible to even imagine. "Oh, dear."

Of course, the filmmaker is still involved and  serves as an executive producer alongside George   Lucas, but he isn't working as closely as he used  to this time around. But regardless of his time,   or lack thereof, on set, Spielberg is still  the authority on all things Indiana Jones,   which makes his thoughts on Dial  of Destiny all the more exciting.   After watching the film at a Disney  executive screening, he told Variety, "When the lights came up I just turned to  the group and said, 'Damn! I thought I was   the only one who knew how to make one of these  [...] Everybody loved the movie. It's really,   really a good Indiana Jones film. I'm really  proud of what [Mangold] has done with it." That's high praise coming from the man  who single handedly directed all of this   character's previous on-screen adventures. With  Spielberg clearly on board with this version,   our hopes for Dial of Destiny have only risen,   giving this installment the potential for  this to be one of the best of the series.

With Indy's favorite Egyptian excavator  Sallah returning for Dial of Destiny,   many have wondered if other fan  favorites could return as well.   Among the most requested is Ke Huy Quan's  Short Round from 1984's Temple of Doom. "Okee-dokee, Dr. Jones. Hold on to your potatoes!" Before recently, Quan was best known for his  work as Short Round and as Data in The Goonies,   which was released the following year. But  then in 2022, he returned to international   stardom thanks to the success of the multiversal  action-comedy-drama Everything Everywhere All at   Once. He played Waymond Wang, which earned  him an Academy Award for Best Supporting  

Actor. After years away from the big screen,  Quan is suddenly doing quite well for himself. In 2022, Quan and Harrison Ford shared a tearful  reunion at Disney's D23 convention, but alas, Quan   has insisted that he isn't returning for Dial of  Destiny. He told Entertainment Tonight in April, "I want to say [I'll be in it], but no. Here's the  thing. I don't want to disappoint the fans. I've   joked about it all the time, but reuniting with  Harrison after 38 years, that was very special." With this being Ford's final adventure as Indy,  and Quan unlikely to return as Short Round for   a potential spinoff, it seems like fans will  just have to settle for the off-screen reunion.

As Indy's original love interest, Karen Allen's  Marion Ravenwood is the only recurring female   character in the Indiana Jones chronology.  First appearing in Raiders of the Lost Ark,   she and Dr. Jones share a steamy  romantic history. Upon reuniting,   they resume their previous  affairs, at least for a while. Since Temple of Doom took place a year  before the events of Raiders and The Last   Crusade focused mainly on Indy's relationship  with his father, Marion wasn't in either of   the first two sequels. But then Kingdom of the  Crystal Skull came along, with Allen appearing   with their son and managing to finally put a  ring on the elderly archaeologist's finger.

When Spielberg and Lucas first began  developing the fifth Indiana Jones film,   Allen initially expressed interest in returning  as Marion once more. As she told MovieWeb in 2011, "I mean, we're married now, so it would be  difficult, I think, to move forward without her." But ever since, there's been no official comment  regarding Allen's inclusion in Dial of Destiny.  

Though James Mangold has confirmed that we'll  learn more about what happened to her and   Indy's son Mutt, we've heard nothing more about  her own status. With Allen seemingly radio silent,   we can only speculate about whether or not  she'll show up in the final chapter after all. "Do you and Harrison talk?  Do you stay in contact?" "We talk every now and then." For nearly 30 years, the Indiana Jones series was  distributed by the motion picture giant Paramount   Pictures after Spielberg and Lucas made a deal for  five Indiana Jones pictures with the distributor.   The studio's famous mountain logo has appeared  at the beginning of each Indy flick, from 1981's   Raiders of the Lost Ark all the way to 2008's  Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. It's now pretty  

much synonymous with Harrison Ford's globetrotting  adventures. Alas, nothing in Hollywood lasts   forever. So after Lucasfilm was sold to the Walt  Disney Company in 2012, Paramount's involvement in   any future Indiana Jones installments was subject  to change, and that change has in fact happened. Paramount has retained its initial distribution  rights for the first four films in the series,   which is why they're currently  available on Paramount+ and not   Disney+. But the House of Mouse now owns  distribution rights to any future films.

Dial of Destiny is a co-production between  Lucasfilm and Disney, making it the first Indiana   Jones film not solely produced by Lucasfilm. But  Paramount has received an "associate credit" on   this latest picture, with an undisclosed financial  participation as well. How this all works behind   the scenes is a bit of a mystery, but it's  clear that the cooperation between Disney   and Paramount has only helped Indiana Jones going  forward. Still, replacing the snow-capped mountain  

with the Disneyland castle will surely be  pretty hard for moviegoers to adjust to. Unlike a lot of other action films, the  Indiana Jones series wasn't released in   strict chronological order. While Dial of  Destiny is the final feature in the saga,   parts of it fit between some of  Indy's other earlier adventures. The first film chronologically in  the Indy timeline is Temple of Doom,   which takes place in 1935. Only a year later,  the events of Raiders of the Lost Ark unfold,   which see Indy and Marion fight a group of Nazis  in search of the Old Testament relic known as   the Ark of the Covenant. The Last Crusade  takes place a few years after that in 1939,  

but not before a flashback to Indy's time as  a young man played by River Phoenix set in   1912. This is as far back in the past that  the feature films have ventured thus far. "This should be in a museum." Kingdom of the Crystal Skull was released  in 2008, but it takes place in 1957 during   the Cold War. A somewhat older Indy finds  his long-lost son Mutt, marries Marion,   and discovers the existence of extraterrestrial,  or rather interdimensional, creatures. As for Dial   of Destiny, though there will be flashbacks  to 1944, it will reportedly mostly be set in   1969. Thus, it will be the farthest forward  Indy has ever ventured in the 20th century.

Described by director James Mangold as "a  hero at sunset," Indy's fifth and final   big-screen adventure is set to be his swan  song. And while that's sad on some level,   there's plenty of mystery and excitement  with such a promise. Mangold is possibly   best known for directing the final two  installments of Fox's Wolverine trilogy,   so he's no stranger to telling  an action hero's final tale. 2017's Logan closed the book on Hugh Jackman's  long-running turn as the iconic X-Man,   at least until Marvel Studios introduced  the idea of him returning again. That film   pretty much told the definitive  Wolverine story for a generation,   so fans are anxious to see if Dial of  Destiny will employ the same tone and   effectively serve as Indy's version of Logan. As  Mangold rhetorically asked Entertainment Weekly, "What does the hero do when the world no longer  has a place for him? I find it really interesting   to try to look at classical heroes through the  prism of our jaundiced contemporary attitudes."

"The best version of this movie was the one that  didn't do everything like all the other movies."  Mangold also compared Dial of Destiny  to Logan, while reassuring fans that   the film's tone would remain faithful to  the Indian Jones mythos. He further noted, "I am under no illusions that my job making  an Indiana Jones film was to suddenly beat   the humor out of it and turn it into some  kind of dirge. I think that what we're   trying to do is balance both an accurate and  realistic appraisal of where this character   would be at this time in his life, and do that  honestly [...] This is an Indiana Jones film."

After Disney bought Lucasfilm in 2012,  fans wondered how the House of Mouse would   continue the Indiana Jones franchise. While  Star Wars has been Disney's main LucasFilm   priority following the sale, projects  like Dial of Destiny and the Disney+   series Willow prove that there's more to  Lucasfilm's catalog than just Star Wars. After Dial of Destiny was greenlit and it  was announced that this would be Harrison   Ford's last outing, many speculated that Disney  would attempt to reboot the franchise through a   series of prequels. And for a while,  that looked like a real possibility. In 2022, Variety reported that a prequel  series set before the events of Raiders   of the Lost Ark and probably Temple of Doom  was in the works at Disney+. But by 2023,  

other sources implied that the series,  which would've been the first Indy   prequel since The Young Indiana Jones  Chronicles, had been scrapped entirely. Then in April, ScreenRant reported that Dial of  Destiny would close out the franchise for good.   While this news sounds pretty final, recent  years have proven that nothing is permanent   in Hollywood. And while we shouldn't expect  a reboot any time soon, it would actually be   surprising if Disney and Lucasfilm never returned  to the world of Indiana Jones ever again.

2023-05-06 15:31

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