Indiana Jones and the Frog-Chinned Naysayer

Indy4, as its come to be known amongst internet movie geeks and fans alike, is looking like its about to get tossed into a pit of seething snakes for ever and ever. But wait, I was under the impression that it was a goer... so what happened?

Well, Harrison Ford was keen, providing the movie could begin shooting in the next year, claiming any longer in pre-prod, and he'd be too old. I'll give him that one. Frank Darabont (Shawshank Redemption) had penned a script he was pleased with ( I think we can cast those rumours that Indy4 was going to be about Indy looking for UFOs or whatever it was into that same pit of snakes)m and Spielberg loved it. He loved it so much in fact, that he said it was the "best draft of anything since Raiders of the Lost Ark.". The only hurdle left to leap, was the frog-chinned wrecker of dreams, George Lucas. Spielberg was set to start shooting, but Lucas had other ideas. Darabont had this to say about when Lucas got the script:

"And then you have George Lucas read it and say, 'Yeah, I don't think so, I don't like it.' And then he resets it to zero when Spielberg is ready to shoot it that coming year, [which] is a real kick to the nuts." No kidding Frank...

So it seems that George Lucas could have killed Indy forever. Pah! He must be getting quite used to approaching these kinds of things with an elitist attitude. That being said, we only have Darabonts view to go on when we assume Indy4 won't be happening, and to be fair, he's probably feeling a little bashful and hurt that his script was tossed aside so wantonly. No doubt he'll be sticking pins in a David Keopp shaped voodoo doll right now, as its alleged he is penning a new draft.

So all hope is not lost, but lost it seems, is the oppertunity to see Indy made with a script from an extremely talented writer, instead, we can only hope we still see Indy one last time, from a slightly lesser writer. Having said that, carlitos Way was excellent, and we can thank Koepp for that screenplay.

Here's hoping they manage to bring Lucas down a peg or two and accept a script in time to make it before Ford gets so wrinkly we can't tell where his face stops and the hat starts!