Fanboys Anonymous

Some time ago I wrote an article discussing Disney's plans for the Lucasfilm properties they bought from George Lucas—in this particular case, for everyone's favorite adventuring archeologist, Indiana Jones. Now, Latino Review reports a new possibility for the future of the Indiana Jones franchise: Indy may become, as a few have phrased it, an "American James Bond," changing actors as the series continues.

"Jones. Indiana Jones."

There are definite plans to move ahead with the Indiana Jones franchise, but one of the potential pitfalls of a fifth Indiana Jones movie is star Harrison Ford's age. Although he was able to perform just as admirably in Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, at age 60, as he had in the previous installments, even doing his own stunts, by the time cameras start rolling on Indy 5 he'll be well into his 70s. This not only limits what Ford can do, but also limits the believability of what Indy can accomplish.

As such, Latino Review claims that there is a deadline, and if the fifth Indiana Jones movie is not moving along by then, the studio is ready to recast the role younger and begin a new series of films. They liken this to different actors stepping into the Bond role after originator Sean Connery was finished—or aged out. There's another precedent for this move as well: George Lucas pitched Steven Spielberg his ideas for Indiana Jones after Spielberg expressed to him a desire to direct a Bond film. Lucas spun a tale based on the adventure serials of their youth, and the rest is history. This came full circle, in a way, when the two cast Sean Connery as Indy's father, Dr. Henry Jones Sr., in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, as an homage to the main character's roots.

The rumors continue: it's reported that Frank Darabont, who had worked for a long time on the script and story for the fourth Indiana Jones film, pitched a new story to the studio. There is also rumored to be a list of actors wanted for the next Indy, at the top of which is Bradley Cooper. However, Slashfilm, who followed up on the story, has reached out to some of its sources, and those sources have refuted all of these claims. Producer Frank Marshall even tweeted that this story is not true. I'm willing to give Latino Review some benefit of the doubt, though, because their track record for breaking bits of development news is pretty good.

Here's my take: Sooner or later, this plan will be put into action. Disney bought Lucasfilm primarily for Star Wars, no question, but the Indiana Jones franchise is nothing to shake a stick at—although, arguably, a large part of the success is due to Harrison Ford's charisma and total handle on the character. Yet as Latino Review points out, Ford isn't the box-office draw he once was (no star is anymore), and if there is still money to be made by the franchise, you can bet the studio eventually will do exactly what has been reported here. The role would have to be recast, and it would be difficult to find someone who could carry the films to the same degree Ford did. Cooper is not a bad choice for this; he has the same ruggedly American look and is a very physical actor, same as Ford. What I would miss is the (I feel) unique boyish charm with which Ford enlivened the role. Perhaps this is unfair to Cooper, whose work I'm not quite as familiar with, but it's hard to imagine someone else under the fedora.

So what do you think? Are these rumors false, as claimed? If they're true, would Cooper have what it takes to be Indiana Jones? Would anyone else? Do you find this whole thing, to quote Dr. Jones Sr., “intolerable?” Discuss it all below.