Die-hard film fans are overjoyed that Harrison Ford is about to return to the big-screen as the rumpled hat-wearing archaeologist/adventurer Indiana Jones in Steven Spielberg’s Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, the fourth film in the blockbuster series.
However, before production began, studio insiders-and countless bloggers-questioned whether Ford still had the “pep” to play the character.
Though Spielberg and Producer George Lucas signed a five-picture Indiana Jones deal with Paramount back in the 1970s, the series effectively ended after
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989) because Spielberg felt that there were no further plot devices remaining to propel the story forward. Additionally, Lucas stated that he wanted to devote his attention to the
Star Wars prequels.
While it is unlikely that Spielberg and Lucas would have ever cast another actor in the role, a recent shot of Gerard Butler from the set of
Nim’s Island gives fandom a look at what a replacement for Indy might have looked like.
Also starring
Abigail Breslin and
Jodi Foster, Nim’s Island is based on the book by Wendy Orr.
Nim’s Island synopsis, courtesy of the
themovieinsider.com:
A heartfelt and hilarious adventure that chronicles the exploits of Nim, a young girl living a high-tech Robinson Crusoe existence on an unspoiled tropical island with her scientist father and her best friends—a motherly sea lion, a rambunctious iguana, and a sea turtle. When Nim's father embarks on a day of research at sea, she begins an unlikely e-mail communication with an agoraphobic novelist who lives in New York City. When a storm prevents her father's return and unpredictable dangers confront Nim and the Island, she must find the resources to survive. At the same time, the novelist begins to realize that her pen pal is not a scientist, but a little girl who is alone and in trouble, she also has to dig down for the courage to leave her safe haven and rescue Nim.
Nim’s Island is scheduled to be released April 25, 2008.
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is scheduled for a May 22, 2008 release.