[Video]: Harrison Ford Doesn’t Regret Not Making More Indiana Jones Movies: “I Needed To Rest”

“We seem to have reached the age where life stops giving us things and starts taking them away,” one character in 2008’s Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull reminds Harrison Ford’s eponymous character.

It’s a poignant scene where the fedora-wearing, whip-cracking expert on the occult and obtainer of rare antiquities takes a moment to ponder on his legacy, as he realises that there’s more time behind him than in front.

The franchise — that started with 1981’s Raiders of the Lost Ark, followed by 1984’s The Temple of Doom and 1989’s The Last Crusade — could’ve ended there and then, with Indy reconciling with the love of his life (Karen Allen’s Marion Ravenwood) and a son he never knew he had (Shia LeBeouf’s Mutt) after battling Red Menace over a mind-blowing artifact not of this world.

But guess what? Ford wasn’t ready to hang up his spurs. He was still keen to hit the road, so to speak, as Henry Walton Jones Jr again.

Maybe because he wanted to atone for the sins of The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (The CG gopher! The nuke-proof fridge! The vine-swinging monkeys!) and close the chapter on Indiana Jones on a rope-bridge high note.

But fans have to wait for another 15 years for Indy’s next adventure and not only that, it’s one Ford is embarking on without series architects, executive producer George Lucas (retired!) and director Steven Spielberg (busy!).

The result: Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, with James Mangold (Ford v Ferrari, Logan) helming.

It’s 1969. Indy, on the cusp of retirement, is alone, broken and miserable. He’s almost become a relic, the kind he once risked life and limb for. And just when he thinks those treasure-hunting days have come and gone, enter his estranged goddaughter Helena (Phoebe Waller-Bridge), luring him back into the game — in search of the Archimedes Dial, a device that’s purportedly bestowed with powers to locate fissures in time. (Hey, they’ve already dealt with aliens, why not time travel?)

Let’s face it, 15 years is a long — very long — wait. During this time, Daniel Craig made four James Bond movies, while Hugh Jackman brandished his adamatium claws as Wolverine in four features (okay six, if you count his cameos). One can’t help but wonder if Ford, who turns 81 on July 13, wished he’d made more Indiana Jones sequels? “No,” Ford tells us over Zoom. “I needed to rest.”

He adds, “I wanted to tell a story about age. I wanted to tell a story about Indiana Jones towards the end of his life, I wanted to see the result of the way he had conducted his life. I wanted to see him wearing that. I wanted to see him sort out the difficulties in his personal relationship with his wife. I wanted to see him at the end of his academic career. I wanted to see him without the physical strength that he used to have.”

In other words, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny tells the introspective story of “a hero at sunset,” said Mangold in an Entertainment Weekly interview. “What does the hero do when the world no longer has a place for him? I find it really interesting to try to look at classical heroes through the prism of our jaundiced contemporary attitudes.”

Watch our chat with Ford and Mangold below:  

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (PG13 ) is now in cinemas; check out our review on CNA938 Live with Daniel Martin here. The first four Indiana Jones movies are available on Disney+.

Photo: TPG News/Click Photos

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