Lucas killed Indiana Jones 4 Posted : November 7, 2006 Writer : Clint Morris If you wanna blame anyone for the tardiness of the fourth “Indiana Jones” film – a film many predict may never happen, if only because its been off and on more times than a kettle – you can probably take aim at George Lucas. According to Screenwriter Frank Darabont (“The Green Mile”), the fourth film was ready to go two years ago – until Lucas decided he didn’t like his script. Considering Steven Spielberg thought the script was the best Jaunt Indy had had since ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’, it sounds like Uncle George needs his head read. “That was terrifically frustrating”, Darabont said in an exclusive interview with CHUD. “I worked for over a year on that; I worked very close with Steven Spielberg. He was ecstatic with the result and was ready to shoot it two years ago. He was very, very happy with the script and said it was the best draft of anything since Raiders of the Lost Ark. That’s really high praise and gave me a real sense of accomplishment, especially when you love the material you’re working on as much as I love the Indiana Jones films.” Lucas then came to Darabont and stuck a stake through his script. “Lucas read it and said, ‘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. You can only waste so much time and so many years of your life on experiences like that, you can only get so emotionally invested and have the rug pulled out from under you before you say enough of that.” The proofs in “The Phantom Menace”, I believe. Throw away the key. LINK TASTE THE SAD!!
Aw that sucks. The next time Lucas learns to write something good maybe he can speak up. Well, he's a billionaire and the franchise is his so he can speak up... but you know what I mean
I don't like sand. It's coarse and rough and irritating and it gets everywhere. Not like here. Here everything is soft and smooth.
from http://www.spielbergfilms.com/indy4/1151 November 7, 2006 UPDATE: Read it and weep In some fans' understandable bad feelings at reading Frank Darabont's forthright quotes about his time on "Indiana Jones 4" (see our original article on today's hot topic below), there's been what I personally feel may be some confusion. Firstly, it's unclear what the exact plot of Darabont's work with Spielberg concerned. For years, there have been rumors online that Indiana Jones would be tracking down extra-terrestrials in the 1950s (You may have heard of the "Indiana Jones and the Saucer Men" drafts floating around online.) Unfortunately, CHUD's article may have exacerbated talk that the extra-terrestrial storyline is what Darabont was at work on, but a closer reading of the article shows that this is just hearsay. CHUD's article specifically states that Darabont's screenplay "supposedly dealt with Indy investigating UFOs in the '50s," but supposedly, and hard fact are worlds apart, especially in the highly speculative world of Indy fandom. Seeing that Indy is an archaeologist, such a storyline doesn't make a lot of sense (unless the E.T. visitations somehow time into our pre-history), but that's not the point. The point is that a screenwriter who worked closely with Steven Spielberg on a screenplay that the director was all set to shoot was 86'd, and said screenwriter was very candid about his thoughts on the project and the future of "Indiana Jones 4." Considering that point, I don't think that fans should lose heart in the project yet, since it's not over until Steven Spielberg says it's over. Spielberg has nothing but praise for Darabont's work, but he also has a long and fruitful relationship with current Indy scripter David Koepp. When SpielbergFilms.com met with Spielberg this summer, he said two very important things for the future of this project, two very encouraging things in my mind. First, he said he would not make this project until and unless he could deliver the best Indiana Jones adventure ever made. Fans should put a hellvua a lot of stock in that directive. Either Spielberg's gonna deliver gangbusters, or he'll leave the project having tried his damnedest. I don't see anything bad in either outcome, all things considered. Second, while the loss of a writer and screenplay (according to Spielberg's assessment) on the level of Frank Darabont's is disappointing, Spielberg has total faith that Koepp will absolutely deliver. Spielberg has said numerous times that Koepp will be the screenplay's "closer." It's on Koepp's shoulders, but he's got the total faith of his director behind him. The trick will of course be again getting Spielberg, George Lucas and Harrison Ford to sign off on what Koepp delivers, but fans should not lose hope before official word from Spielberg, and not Frank Darabont (as much as his opinion should be valued), is officially delivered. Finally, it's very easy to start the litany of "George Lucas is the devil" talk online, and as I predicted (no mean feat, obviously), the chat boards on numerous film sites are already springing to life with it. Fans' passions should never be discounted, but it's honestly a waste of everyone's energy at this stage to spread such pointless negativity, right? Dissapointment is one thing, but calling for the head of another human over an artistic decision helps no one. ORIGINAL ARTICLE: It's easy to throw stones when on the outside of a situation that we may not fully understand to its fullest, but when those on the inside speak in very candid terms, it's easy to share in the frustration. I speak, of course, of the notorious situation surrounding executive producer George Lucas' deep sixing of Frank Darabont's screenplay for "Indiana Jones 4." Word had been that Steven Spielberg was truly enamored with Darabont's work on the screenplay, and as we all know, production was to begin years ago for a 2005 release. As history goes, Lucas killed the screenplay, and between Spielberg's recent admission to SpielbergFilms.com that the screenplay was a "wonderful screenplay," and now, a very telling interview excerpt from Devin Faraci at CHUD in which Darabont lays his feelings on the line, well... expect a lot of venom to be flying online today as this story gets legs. "I worked for over a year on that; I worked very close with Steven Spielberg," Darabont told Faraci. "He was ecstatic with the result and was ready to shoot it two years ago. He was very, very happy with the script and said it was the best draft of anything since 'Raiders of the Lost Ark.' That’s really high praise and gave me a real sense of accomplishment, especially when you love the material you’re working on as much as I love the Indiana Jones films. "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...." Read Darabont's additional comments in this very outright and honest article at CHUD and regret what could have been had Spielberg had the chance to bring Darabont's screenplay to life.
Sounds like an awesome idea for an I. Jones movie ~ uncover an ancient space ship buried at some famous archaeological dig site (Egypt/ Israel/ etc.). It doesn't have to have a moronic ID4 space war -- just that same "raiders of the lost ark" fight to keep it a secret from government agents. The ship has that kind of ultimate power that the ark had etc. -- could be really mysterious and creepy.
Movie plot...how about Indiana Jones battling to save the last wild herds of antelope at the Nkorho Pan water hole in South Africa. PURE GENIUS!!!
1. Darabont directed The Shawshank Redemption. He also wrote the screenplay for it, although credit for that brilliant story obviously goes to Stephen King 2. Lucas is the person responsible for the trash we know as Star Wars: Episode I/II/III These two little facts, coupled with Spielberg's stand on the whole issue, lead me to conclude that George Lucas has been kidnapped by Hutts, shipped to Ryloth as a dancing slave for the Twi'leks, and replaced by a remarkably lifelike bipedal sponge. That, or he's senile.
