Filmstalker: Indiana Jones IV to be controversial?

George Lucas, Steven Spielberg and Harrison Ford have talked about Indiana Jones IV and have revealed the most information to date on what we will expect, as well as a pretty strong assurance of a scheduled date.

The interview is with Empire Magazine, and their online side has some of the more interesting parts.

"We’re basically going to do The Phantom Menace", says Lucas..."People’s expectations are way higher than you can deliver. You could just get killed for the whole thing…We would do it for fun and just take the hit with the critics and the fans...But nobody wants to get into it unless they are really happy with it"...
..."I discovered a McGuffin," continues Lucas, still reluctant to name said McGuffin. "I told the guys about it and they were a little dubious about it, but it’s the best one we’ve ever found… Unfortunately, it was a little too ‘connected’ for the others. They were afraid of what the critics would think. They said, "Can’t we do it with a different McGuffin? Can’t we do this?" and I said "No". So we pottered around with that for a couple of years. And then Harrison really wanted to do it and Steve said, "Okay". I said, "We’ll have to go back to that original MacGuffin and take out the offending parts of it and we’ll still use that area of the supernatural do deal with it".

Eh? Did you understand any of that? I have my ideas of what the McGuffin might be, and they are hidden around in this post should you want to see for yourself. If you want to discuss that idea further feel free in the comments, but everyone else please be aware that there will be wild speculation following on...hopefully. Actually thinking on it now I don't think my McGuffin is anywhere near the right one...what's yours?

Ford goes onto say that with the superstar status of everyone it's going to be difficult to get schedules together, but they are going to try. So everyone's positive and Lucas is talking 2008, but frankly I think that's pushing it - have you seen these guys schedules? Oh, and it better be Spielberg directing!

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Comments

I am clueless about that McGuffin. It must be something religious, if it´s considered to be offensive and supernatural at the same time.

Funny what Lucas says about Phantom Menace. I don´t think the Indiana Jones IV is a great idea, on my side the expectations are not too high.

The incredible process of making this movie has been so long that has created expectations itself. Everybody wants to check what the result can be.

And consider the new FX. I don´t know. But I can´t be cynical about that: I will be among the first on queue to watch it.

Posted by: Peter | August 21, 2023 6:51 PM

Richard? please get me going here...
...what's a McGuffin? IE why would Lucas be using this term to describe "X" or "Y"?

Posted by: mogulus | August 22, 2023 10:28 AM

I stopped reading the article after I read "we'e basically doing The Phantom Menace". I'll get back to the McGuffin at a later post.

Let's go back to 1999 shall we, the year TPM was released after much hype and expectation, I am sure you all still remember how the fans took to that film? They hated it! Oh they absolutely wanted to kill Lucas, words like "Lucas raped my childhood!" was the common cry of most SW geeks, but not me. I thought it was a brilliant beginning to a saga, quite serious, and not as much fun as the OT, this is what he meant when he said these words, to do a Phantom Menace, using it to describe the arduous process of coming with an Indy 4 and how it will be accepted by the fanbase.

I can see it now, when this project starts happening, then its released, people will want to hate it, it will divide the fans, it will ruin the legacy of the unspoilt Indiana. I am sick of this Spielberg-Lucas bashing, go on George and Steven, make Indiana Jones IV damn brilliant, that will shock/stun/amaze all of us, and the rest of the unbelievers should shut up and go hang themselves.

Their lack of faith is disturbing.

Oh, at least Filmstalker is accurate on quoting their sources. Well done as always Rich! ;D

Posted by: Simone | August 22, 2023 11:20 AM

A MacGuffin (sometimes McGuffin or Maguffin) is a plot device that motivates the characters and advances the story, but has little other relevance to the story itself.

The director and producer Alfred Hitchcock popularized both the term "MacGuffin" and the technique.

Interviewed in 1966 by François Truffaut, Hitchcock illustrated the term "MacGuffin" with this story:

"It might be a Scottish name, taken from a story about two men in a train. One man says, 'What's that package up there in the baggage rack?' And the other answers, 'Oh that's a McGuffin.' The first one asks 'What's a McGuffin?' 'Well' the other man says, 'It's an apparatus for trapping lions in the Scottish Highlands.' The first man says, 'But there are no lions in the Scottish Highlands,' and the other one answers 'Well, then that's no McGuffin!' So you see, a McGuffin is nothing at all."

(From WikiPedia)

Hahaha... wasn´t Hitchcock the best?

About this movie. To see Lucas and Spielberg work together again is reason enough to see this movie. Though we know we worked together in Sith ;)

Posted by: Peter | August 22, 2023 2:28 PM

Some things are best left alone. Examples?

The original Star Wars trilogy.
The first "Matrix".
The first two "Alien" movies.

And let's add Indiana Jones to that list.

Vic

Posted by: Screen Rant | August 22, 2023 2:31 PM

Come on Vic, can you really honestly say you dont want to see another Indy?

Peter, well done for your research! ;P

Posted by: Simone | August 22, 2023 2:35 PM

I like Alien 3!!! It´s almost my favourite! Maybe because it´s insane and Fincher directs it. I agree with Matrix, though.

Posted by: Peter | August 22, 2023 2:41 PM

Oh and Richard, I think I saw it! ;P

You're referring to Indy's daughter are ya?

Posted by: Simone | August 22, 2023 3:47 PM

I have no plans to get excited about the project unless it actually starts to happen. All this go around talk is making me dizzy.

Frankly, I don't believe it will ever happen and I can say I'm not terribly disappointed.

Posted by: Meli | August 22, 2023 5:36 PM

Thanks, man...I had been thinking it meant "actor"...thanks for saving me further embarasement.

Simone...you echoed my sentiments on TPM perfectly. A wonderful movie. Now if people would just stop comparing it to the OT, they could see the gold that it is.

And I had thought Ridley Scott directed Alien 3? damn. the world just fell out from under me!!!!!!

ok...about Indy 4, I had heard they were going to base it on the story "Indiana Jones and the Spear of Destiny"...but am not sure if that's still true.

I'd like to see how they plan on pulling off an "aged" indy without taking him out of that wonderful wonderful Anti-Nazi time period. I just can't imagine Indy fighting anyone without a red armband.

Posted by: mogulus | August 23, 2023 6:43 AM

Mogulus, if you lived nearby I would have treated you to a Jawa juice! MTFBWY! ;D

Posted by: Simone | August 23, 2023 3:44 PM