Harrison Ford has made a lot of noise about reprising his iconic Indiana Jones role for the last time at age 80, but he’ll look a lot younger.
The fifth installment of the “Indiana Jones” franchise opens in 1944 — eight years after the events of 1981’s “Raiders of the Lost Ark.”
Four decades have passed since Ford first played the legendary adventurer, and the octogenarian doesn’t look exactly the same as he did long ago, but moviegoers will still see Indiana Jones in his prime.
The public will see an aging Ford thanks to visual effects and Industrial Light & Magic software, according to an upcoming issue of Empire Magazine.
Using the special effects company’s computer software, old footage of Ford from previous films was compared and added to new footage shot for the troubled production, which has survived several Ford stunt injuries and the death of a crew member.
“My hope is that even though technology will be talked about, you just look at it and say, ‘Oh my God, they just found footage. This was something they recorded 40 years ago,'” producer Kathleen Kennedy said. to Empire.
“We drop you into an adventure, something Indy is looking for, and you immediately feel like, ‘I’m in an Indiana Jones movie.’ “
The technology is only used in the film’s opening scene, where Indiana Jones battles Nazis in a castle.
“Then we get into a fight and you end up in 1969,” said director James Mangold. “So that the audience does not experience the change between the 1940s and 1960s as intellectual conceit, but literally experiences the buccaneer spirit of those early days. . . and then the beginning of now.”
“I wanted the chance to dive into these old George and Steven pictures and give the audience an adrenaline rush,” explains Mangold, who takes over filming duties from Steven Spielberg.
Ford admitted it was “a little spooky” to see a younger version of himself.
“This is the first time I see it where I believe it. . . I don’t think I want to know how it works,’ he said. “It doesn’t make me want to be young though. I am happy that I have earned my age.”
The original jacket Ford wore in “Raiders” was also taken out of storage and replicated for the upcoming movie.
Harrison Ford (from left), Antonio Banderas and Phoebe Waller-Bridge are seen on the set of “Indiana Jones 5” in Sicily on Oct. 18, 2021.
Harrison Ford and Phoebe Waller-Bridge are seen on the set of “Indiana Jones 5” in Sicily on October 18, 2021 in Castellammare del Golfo.
Harrison Ford and Phoebe Waller-Bridge are seen on the set of “Indiana Jones 5” on October 19, 2021 in Temple of Segesta, Sicily, Italy.
Although the film’s opening is set in 1944, most of “Indiana Jones 5” is set in 1969 – with Ford as his current 80-year-old self – and is set against spaceflight.
“Indiana Jones 5” will hit theaters on June 30, 2023. It comes 15 years after the last movie of the franchise, 2008’s “The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull”.
