Lucas Has Idea for Indiana Jones 5; Spielberg, LaBeouf, and Ford Don’t Rule it Out
Rumors began in July 2007 that Shia LaBeouf signed a contract to reprise his role of Mutt Williams, in a series of Indiana Jones sequels. MTV quickly got a denial from LucasFilm, although it turns out that IESB.net’s source probably wasn’t far off after all. It has now been revealed that George Lucas has an idea to make more Indy films with Mutt as the lead character.
“I haven’t even told Steven or Harrison this,” Lucas told Fox News. “But I have an idea to make Shia [LeBeouf] the lead character next time and have Harrison [Ford] come back like Sean Connery did in the last movie. I can see it working out.”
And I’m betting that like most Hollywood contracts, LaBeouf probably has stipulations which lock him into a sequel/spin-off if Paramount wanted to make one, despite what LucasFilm claimed last year. And LaBeouf says he would be interested.
“I don’t think a Mutt spinoff would be as big as Indiana Jones,” LaBeouf told MTV. “[But] fingers crossed!”
Harrison Ford told USA Today in April that “he also might consider a fifth installment of Indiana Jones, though he hopes it wouldn’t take 20 years to pull together.”
“And it’s not like Harrison is even old,” admits Lucas. “I mean, he’s 65 and he did everything in this movie. The old chemistry is there, and it’s not like he’s an old man. He’s incredibly agile; he looks even better than he did 20 years ago, if you ask me.”
Even director Steven Spielberg admitted a years back while developing Crystal Skull, that he wouldn’t rule out a fifth film.
“Oh, I don’t know,” Spielberg told the Chicago Sun Times. “Of course, I said the third INDY would be the last one. And obviously it’s not. So I can’t even comment whether the fourth will be the last one or not. I’m not looking to redesign the wheel. I just want to continue the saga.”
If Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull does the business that everyone is expecting, I don’t see how they couldn’t launch a sequel/spin-off. What about a storyline where Shia has to find and rescue Indiana Jones, a callback to The Last Crusade.
Harrison Ford Considers Indiana Jones 5; New Indiana Jones 4 Photo
USA Today has published an article on Harrison Ford which features the new photo from Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (as seen above). The article is pretty boring for the most part, except for the one sentence where Harrison Ford tells the newspaper that “he also might consider a fifth installment of Indiana Jones, though he hopes it wouldn’t take 20 years to pull together.” Indiana Jones 5?
Rumor: Shia LaBeouf Signs on to Indiana Jones 5, 6, and 7? City of Aliens?
Steven Spielberg is currently hard at work filming Indiana Jones 4. Could Indiana Jones 5, 6, and 7 be far behind? I kid you not. IESB is reporting that Shia LaBeouf, who plays Indy’s son in the fourth adventure, signed a contract which gives Paramount the option to bring LaBeouf back for three sequels.
I’m assuming that Paramount hopes to continue the franchise after star Harrison Ford retires from action. So is the studio hoping that Shia can carry on the franchise as Indiana Jones Jr? (And since it was revealed that Indiana Jones is actually a Jr., would that make Shia Indiana Jones The Third?) I love LaBeouf. He has never done me wrong in the past. I’m sure he’ll be perfect as the sidekick/son character in this film, but could he become the next Indy?
The site also reports that the City of Gods working title may actually be referring to the aliens (as gods). Let’s hope not.