The long-awaited return of Dr. Jones

25-05-2008 09:39

On Sunday (18.05.08) 'Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull' took its worldwide bow at the Cannes Film Festival. Just four days later the fourth instalment of Steven Spielberg and George Lucas' much-loved action-adventure franchise will finally hit cinemas all over the globe. It is about time, too. In anyone's book, 19 years (Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade was released in 1989) is a long time to keep fans waiting. With star Harrison Ford already 65, any longer and daredevil archaeologist Dr. Jones would have been performing his trademark stunts with the aid of a Zimmer Frame.Perhaps only Lucas' return to the 'Star Wars' franchise in 1999 has created more fevered speculation and expectation than Indy's comeback. Since shooting began back in June the internet has been rife with plot rumours, two favourites being a storyline about an alien invasion, and the notion that Mutt Williams, played by 21-year-old rising star Shia LaBeouf, will turn out to be Jones' son.Neither possibility can be confirmed or denied for certain, although we do know that Mutt is the son of Jones' love interest from 'Raiders of the Lost Ark', Marion Ravenwood (played by Karen Allen), who also returns for the film. We also know (with a fairly strong hint from the somewhat cumbersome title), that the movie will entail a battle for a crystal skull, which has the ability to instil the person who returns it to its rightful resting place with huge power. Where the first three films saw Jones battling a set of curiously camped-up, pantomime-like Nazis, here - with the action set in 1957, 19 years after the previous film - we are provided with a Cold War backdrop and an instant set of Russian evildoers, headed by Cate Blanchett's special agent Irina Spalko.Beyond these titbits, little of substance is yet known, and it is hardly surprising. Steven Spielberg is obsessed to the point of neurotic paranoia regarding plot leaks. So much so that even LaBeouf was not allowed to have his own copy of the script until shooting began. The actor revealed: "The joke I had was that Steven had snipers following me, and if I ever slipped and gave up any titbits that was the end.''The lengths to which Spielberg went to prevent leaks is also touched upon by John Hurt, the British thespian who portrays an academic by the name of Dr. Oxley.One of the few stars with the audacity to demand to see the script before signing on, Hurt revealed: "It had to be hand delivered from Hollywood. A courier dropped it off at three and picked it up at eight. He was probably outside with an eye on the front door during that time."