Following rumors about Indiana Jones 5 featuring a digitally de-aged Harrison Ford, after the actor was spotted wearing motion capture dots on his face during the production of the movie, we now have confirmation of just what exactly that will entail, thanks to a recent report by Empire.
As any fan of Indy knows, the movies need to have an explosive opening sequence, going all the way back to Raiders of the Lost Ark, with the bag of sand, the booby-trapped cave, and of course, the iconic, gigantic, rolling boulder chasing Indy in one of the most famous scenes in film history. For Indy 5, the solution was simple enough. A set-piece was drawn up that pits Indy in a castle in 1944, surrounded by Nazis. With this film the first not to be directed by Steven Spielberg or produced by George Lucas, incoming director James Mangold has a lot to live up to – including that opening sequence, and the Logan director has come up with a novel idea – take Indy back to his prime.
“And then we fall out, and you find yourself in 1969, so that the audience doesn’t experience the change between the ‘40s and ‘60s as an intellectual conceit, but literally experiences the buccaneering spirit of those early days… and then the beginning of now.” Producer Kathleen Kennedy adds: “‘Oh my God, they just found footage. This was a thing they shot 40 years ago. We’re dropping you into an adventure, something Indy is looking for, and instantly you have that feeling, ‘I’m in an Indiana Jones movie.’”
“I wanted the chance to dive into this kind of full-on George-and-Steven old picture and give the audience an adrenaline blast,” said Mangold. Empire reports that various techniques were used in order to successfully execute the idea, including newly developed software from ILM which would scan archived footage of Ford in his younger days, before matching it to the footage shot in present-day. Apparently, even his original jacket from Raiders was brought out of cold storage and worn by Ford, before a replica was made.
For Ford, the feeling of seeing his younger self on screen was uncanny, but the actor admits he was utterly convinced by what he saw. “This is the first time I’ve seen it where I believe it,” said Ford. “It’s a little spooky. I don’t think I even want to know how it works, but it works.” Not that he’s pining to return to the time of the original Indy movies. “Doesn’t make me want to be young, though. I’m glad to have earned my age.”
Indiana Jones 5 opens in cinemas on 30 June 2023.