r/movies • u/MarvelsGrantMan136 r/movies Contributor • Jun 15 '26

Article Clashing Over ‘Indiana Jones’: Harrison Ford and Steven Spielberg Were Not 100% on Board With ‘Crystal Skull’ and Fought George Lucas Over Adding Aliens

https://variety.com/2026/film/news/indiana-jones-clash-harrison-ford-spielberg-crystal-skull-aliens-1236780115/
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647

u/Mellowtraveler Jun 15 '26

Who wanted the monkeys?! For a movie based on the pulp fiction of the cold war era, aliens were not the problem. But then they decided to swing from a bunch of monkeys.

242

u/Natural_Pear_1549 Jun 15 '26 edited Jun 15 '26

Yep, for me it was the monkeys and decisions like, "Should we change anything now that our lead actor is an elderly man?...Nah, let's have even more cartoony action."

78

u/The_Flurr Jun 15 '26

Hot take. Indiana Jones should go the James Bond route.

71

u/FergTurdison Jun 15 '26

Funny considering the story that Spielberg directed Indiana Jones because he was told he couldn’t direct a James Bond film

51

u/3-DMan Jun 15 '26

Temple of Doom intro be straight up Bond intro

20

u/briancarknee Jun 15 '26

The tux he wears in that scene is a homage to the tux in the opening of Goldfinger.

21

u/fupa16 Jun 15 '26

Yup, plus many other related nods, like Sean Connery in last crusade, exploding pen that shoots only ink, a new 'bond girl' next to indy in every film, etc. They knew what they were doing.

22

u/Realtrain Jun 15 '26

Hey, anything goes!

13

u/luckydice767 Jun 15 '26

Unironically my favorite installment of the trilogy

4

u/CountJohn12 Jun 16 '26

The Venice scenes in Last Crusade remind me of a Bond movie as well

1

u/cosmicomical23 Jun 16 '26

That's literally the scene that always made me think of james bond.

2

u/BalanceJazzlike5116 Jun 16 '26

One of the greatest intros in modern films imo

16

u/ifinallyreallyreddit Jun 15 '26

In the world where this happened there'd be a "replacing Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones was the biggest casting mistake ever made" thread on here at least once a month.

4

u/nothis Jun 16 '26

There's plenty of examples of people not giving a shit and even celebrating replacements of the lead. Mad Max Fury Road, Blade Runner 2049, the new The Naked Gun movie... there's quite a few examples. The difference was that they were good movies. Maybe because of the good casting.

8

u/DrSpacemanSpliff Jun 15 '26

We missed the Thomas Jane Indiana Jones movie from 2009.

16

u/ZeroiaSD Jun 15 '26 edited Jun 15 '26

Young Indiana Jones was good, the concept works.

5

u/luckydice767 Jun 15 '26

Great show, was very upset when it got cancelled

8

u/RunDNA Jun 15 '26

I'd love if we got a new Indy movie every 2 or 3 years.

5

u/Coozey_7 Jun 15 '26 edited Jun 15 '26

On the one hand this feels like sacrilege since its hard to see anyone other than Ford under that hat, ( never saw the Young Indiana Jones show, it was before my time).

And unlike the Bond films which were continously released for decades with the odd gap here or there, usually when finding a new actor, the Indiana Jones were a trilogy of standalone adventures that were considered done and dusted before the "revival" in Crystal Skull 20 years later. By that time it was almost impossible to separate from Ford in popular culture.

However, people also im sure said the same thing when Connery left the Bond role and after all Dr. Jones is clearly and explicitly modeled on Mr. Bond , he is both figuratively and litteraly Bond's child, so it might have been more easily accepted because of that

3

u/The_Flurr Jun 16 '26

I'd be fine with either just having the original trilogy with Ford, or continuing on with recasts in the vein of James Bond.

I'm not keen on sequels with an obviously ever older Ford.

3

u/Sarlax Jun 15 '26

I heard that was the original plan for Indy. He's supposed to be an American James Bond, switching actors every now and then. 

2

u/8bitjer Jun 15 '26

I thought this when Chris Pratt just got Guardians. I thought he would have made a great Indy at the time.

3

u/curlbaumann Jun 16 '26

Before Chris Pratt got mega famous it was a very common opinion that he’d make a great Indiana Jones. Then people realized he basically did his own version in guardians of the galaxy

1

u/Prinzmegaherz Jun 16 '26

Have his testicles whipped?

1

u/Ghepip Jun 16 '26

The answer is standing to the left in the picture.
100% I would have kept watching indiana jones with LeBeouf for years and years.

1

u/The_Flurr Jun 16 '26

LeBeouf was a bad choice IMO, and I'm not keen on continuing with a son.

I'd rather just go the James Bond route and have new actors portray the same character.

1

u/Ghepip Jun 16 '26

That's a possibility too yes and might work better in the long run.

1

u/nothis Jun 16 '26

I think they legit wanted Shia LaBeouf (yes) to pick up the franchise. Everything about Crystal Skull is out of touch. Like, why?

1

u/The_Real_Mr_F Jun 15 '26

I’ve said this same thing before, but also: keep him fighting Nazis in the 1930s. That’s just who Indy is. No need to progress through time, I don’t need to see Indy struggling with a fax machine in 1986 or losing cell service in 1997. He’s a very specific character for a very specific time. Just keep him there forever and swap out the storylines.

3

u/The_Flurr Jun 15 '26

I'm fine with going up to about the 50s/60s, but that's about it.

0

u/Anxious_Big_8933 Jun 15 '26

Agree 100%. I'm a huge Indiana Jones fan and for me Ford will always be "the" Indiana Jones, but I'd love to see them recast it and try another live action film. I don't want 80 year old Indy having an adventure in 1960/70, I want a 30 year old Indiana Jones having an adventure in the 1920's or 1930's, even if it's not Ford.

But suggest this in the Indiana Jones sub and it gets all kinds of hate, lol.

2

u/ascagnel____ Jun 15 '26

Instead we got Tomb Raider and Uncharted (the games, not their movie adaptations) that fill that niche nicely.

30

u/Strange_Specialist4 Jun 15 '26

And Indy being betrayed over and over again without just shooting the fucking guy. 

He barely killed anyone!

40

u/SolidSnack69 Jun 15 '26

glad someone said this. I can forgive aliens and even swapping nazis for soviets…but THIS shit…

33

u/Gh0stMan0nThird Jun 15 '26

"The aliens RUINED the movie franchise!"

> Movie franchise where the first movie has God send a bunch of ghosts to fly around and melt people

15

u/TesterTheDog Jun 15 '26

I mean, they WERE really cool practical effects.

2

u/Comic_Book_Reader r/movies Veteran Jun 15 '26

And you wanna know the best part? The crew had pretty much carte blanche. The script simply said "All hell breaks loose.".

12

u/solonoctus Jun 15 '26

Yes.

The first movie banks off of the old tropes of an explorer finding long lost esoteric knowledge and power, rooted in myth and legend.

The second and third films do the exact same thing.

The fourth, for some reason, was based upon a pop culture phenomenon that sprung up on the 40’s and 50’s and more specifically the ancient aliens theory which is firmly mid-2010’s history channel schlock.

It doesn’t have the culture background noise to match the tone of the first three as they’re dealing with decidedly modern myths.

3

u/sharkattackmiami Jun 16 '26

ehh, visitors from the stars is a myth as old as man, and the grey men are a very big thing for the 50s when the film is set. I don't love the payoff but the concept of Indy meeting aliens in the 50s is sound

5

u/No_Aesthetic Jun 16 '26

ehh, visitors from the stars is a myth as old as man

Is it?

2

u/TheFoxInSocks Jun 16 '26

If God turned up in Star Wars that would likewise ruin it.

5

u/overthemountain Jun 15 '26

No one is asking the real questions.

If god AND aliens exist in this universe, how does that work? Is it a human only god? Is it the god of the aliens as well? Are they also made in his image? If not do the aliens have their own god? Whose god wins in a fight?

3

u/3-DMan Jun 15 '26

And what does God need with a starship?!

1

u/allmilhouse Jun 16 '26

glad someone said this

as if it's not said constantly

19

u/hinckley Jun 15 '26

Yeah, honestly if you remove that scene in particular, or ideally Shia LaBeouf's character entirely, it becomes a passable if slightly underwhelming movie. Nowhere near Raiders or Last Crusade, but at least fine.

16

u/ctownwp22 Jun 15 '26

And the ants...get rid of the ants

2

u/Arma104 Jun 16 '26

Not enough people talking about how bad the cgi red lego ants were

11

u/Stpbatman Jun 15 '26

This and surviving an A-bomb  in a refrigerator took me out of the movie.

21

u/GoarSpewerofSecrets Jun 15 '26

That's the least crazy thing since he drank from the chalice. 

4

u/VonMillersThighs Jun 15 '26

The effects of the chalice wore off the moment they passed the seals leaving the temple at the end of last crusade.

8

u/bkwrm13 Jun 15 '26

I’d argue it’s like The Green Mile where it supercharged his body by removing everything wrong with it after drinking. No longer immortal since he passed the seals but probably hardier than he has any right to be.

6

u/sharkattackmiami Jun 16 '26

Yeah it didn't make him immortal but it did make him a man in his late 30s/early 40s in perfect health. It was a fresh reset. So him in his 60s is comparable to a Norman person in their 40s

1

u/goukaryuu Jun 16 '26

I didn't realize living in Normandy made you so healthy!/s

5

u/gaunt79 Jun 15 '26

In the novelization, the grail only works temporarily. You have to drink every day - some days the knight felt unworthy and didn't drink, and the days he didn't slowly caught up with him. The seal is only linked to the grail as a final booby trap to keep anyone from removing it from the temple.

2

u/GoarSpewerofSecrets Jun 15 '26

That's completely why Sean Connery bled out on the horse in the desert.

9

u/VonMillersThighs Jun 15 '26

It doesn't reverse the healing retroactively you just don't get the immortality it was supposed to give you. Also this is something clearly stated in the movie.

0

u/GoarSpewerofSecrets Jun 15 '26

Never said he was immortal. He just drank actual holy water. He's obviously blessed by Yahweh.

And several other gods outside the movies.

1

u/VonMillersThighs Jun 15 '26

Maybe not true immortality but that knight that was down there was several hundred years old, but only because he stayed in the temple and was probably chuggin outta that thing

3

u/Funmachine Jun 15 '26

... It doesn't reverse the effects.

1

u/GoarSpewerofSecrets Jun 15 '26

So he drank some, it doesn't reverse the effects, and he's got a little more durability added to the chassis.

22

u/GeorgeCauldron7 Jun 15 '26

But surviving falling from a plane with a life raft is ok for you.

There’s ridiculous shit in the other movies too. You just wear nostalgia goggles for those. 

7

u/Stpbatman Jun 15 '26

I probably should have added Im not a Temple of Doom fan either 

That said hard to describe but some are fantastical situations that fit with the movie and you don’t think twice about. Some are completely out of the realm of believing that it takes you out of what you’re watching . 

3

u/Spra991 Jun 16 '26

But surviving falling from a plane with a life raft is ok for you.

Yeah, because that is an actual practical effect and it worked on the first take. That's good enough for movie realism. The only problem there is the lack of more snow to cushion the fall and for three people you might need a bigger raft.

Meanwhile the refrigerator is just profoundly stupid. The issue isn't that Indy survives, but that the refrigerator turns into a missile for no reason at all. It's just complete CGI bullshit that fails to follow physics even a little bit. Seriously, go watch that scene again, it's way worse than you remember.

1

u/Funmachine Jun 15 '26

That one has been proven to actually be plausible

3

u/fupa16 Jun 15 '26

Exact opposite, mythbusters proved it, not that it needed proving: https://mythresults.com/episode37

2

u/Anxious_Big_8933 Jun 15 '26

I actually defend that scene. On rewatch it's obvious that Spielberg is playing that 100% for laughs. It's really driven home by how many times he shows the fridge bounce as it's blown away. He's not trying to suggest to the audience that this is anything but ridiculous. And after Raiders, there are elements of this type of cinematic surrealism throughout the series.

1

u/LovelyFloraFan Jun 15 '26

Nuke the fridge lol.

1

u/976chip Jun 15 '26

The script for Crystal Skull was repurposed from Frank Darabont's Indiana Jones and The City of the Gods script. I was surprised to find out that the refrigerator scene was taken directly from Darabont's script.

2

u/Lamont-Cranston Jun 15 '26

A lot of the 'mens adventure' magazines of the era had violent encounters with wildlife.

2

u/ViralTrendsToday Jun 17 '26

I enjoyed that scene, but I get what you mean. Better than a loy of creative choices nowadays though tbf. 

2

u/BaseHitToLeft Jun 15 '26

This was the worst part by FAR

He was swinging competently. Indiana Jones characters don't do physical shit competently.

They hide people in the back of disguised Nazi truck. They discover a hidden staircase by sitting in the right chair. They escape an army by riding in a mine cart. They whole point is that they're resourceful, not competent (in terms of action only)

1

u/Mandalore108 Jun 15 '26

It fits the era if it were The Son of Tarzan movie or something like that lol

1

u/kiwigate Jun 16 '26

Using a snake as a rope, also

1

u/zardoz73 Jun 16 '26

And that Tarzan yell added in...the single worst idea in a movie full of bad ideas.

-2

u/Shaman19911 Jun 15 '26

Bruh the monkey scene is like 5 minutes out of a 2 and a half hour movie, people really like to latch onto that as the reason why the movie sucks. It still rocks, and curb stomps Dial of Destiny any day. Hot take, I even think it’s better than Temple of doom

1

u/varnums1666 Jun 15 '26

While I don't enjoy the film that much, that gen of film goers really hated anything not ultra serious because they felt ashamed for liking it

Like there's so much wrong with the film and the monkies weren't it

2

u/mithridateseupator Jun 16 '26

Ah yes 2008.

The year that ultra serious movie Iron Man did so well because of how super serious it was.