Indy 5 Spielberg Not Directing Indy 5- James Mangold in Talks to Replace

This is frustrating. My interest in this movie has now drastically diminished. This is about as smart as doing a Star Wars movie without George Lucas.

Oh wait...

 

My perspective: I don't think this is necessarily a bad decision. I don't know if Spielberg, at 73 and given the kinds of films he's largely been inclined to make for the past couple of decades, is in the head space anymore to do an action-adventure film. That showed in KotCS, which felt a bit slow and sanitized with its action relative to the original three films, and I can't imagine it wouldn't have shown here.

Mangold, on the other hand, proved himself to be adapt at balancing high-intensity action with emotionally charged stories starring older leads with Logan. Is Mangold as good as Spielberg at his absolute best? No, but he's been on a hot streak recently, and if Spielberg will "remain hands-on as a producer" like the article stated, then I suspect we'll still see his influence on the film as a guiding hand.

 

But Disney bad.

 

No Spielberg, no dice. It was already a tough sell with Lucas not being involved, but Spielberg leaving is gonna be the deal breaker.

 

I’ll be honest I think it’s the right decision.

 

Nothing is going to stop me from seeing this film. No pre-conceived ideas about how it should be made or who should make it. I’m going to see Harrison Ford play Indiana Jones in hopefully what will be a good film, so I’ll go and judge it on its own merits. But pretty much this headline has written the reviews already for some i reckon “no Spielberg = a bad film”.

 

From Vanity Fair's write-up:

https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2020/02/spielberg-leaves-indiana-jones-5

 

No Lucas, no Spielberg, no Indy.

 

I mean Harrison is there that’s Indy. Harrison is Indy. Without Harrison than I would agree

 

It's just not the same without all three men: Lucas had the stories, Spielberg had the style, and Ford had the mannerisms. For me, it was already pushing things to exclude Lucas. My fear was that they'd go with another Judeo-Christian artifact to try to "recapture" ROTLA, and that it would be another soft reboot like TFA. But now that Spielberg is out as director, I don't really care what they do. Don't get me wrong, I'll still go see it, but it's not the same.

 

Spielberg: "I think the movie would be better if somebody else makes it, the right thing for me to do is step aside and let some fresh blood take the wheel."

Lucas: "I actually literally do not care at all anymore, I've been retired for eight years."

Fans: "How dare they disrespect Lucas and Spielberg by making this film without them."

 

Trying to troll me? You’ll have to do better than that.

 

It's not about disrespecting anybody. It's about making something that's not really Indy anymore. If Lucas and Spielberg don't want to be involved, then Disney should either leave the franchise be (which they won't), or do another young Indy TV series that is more like the films. The 1920s are ripe for adventures, when Indy is under the tuteladge of Abner Ravenwood. Lucas even has some unused scripts they could mine for ideas.

 

They should hire JJ Abrahams to direct the movie, so he could bring back that Nazi guy who melted away at Raiders of the Lost Ark's end in name of nostalgia.

 

LOL

 

I think it's less that Lucas doesn't care and more that he realizes he would have virtually no real creative freedom. Even after he retired, he always specifically left himself an out for Indy 5. For some mysterious reason, that seems to have changed after the ST story treatment debacle....

Also, just as mysteriously, a little while after saying he would never make an Indy movie without George Lucas, Spielberg has decided not to make an Indy movie without George Lucas.

 

While I would still watch Indy 5 regardless - its not going to be the same without GL or SS involved.

I'm not surprised at SS leaving the project. Exec Producer is just a token role, he wont be involved. I agree that SS isn't in that "headspace" anymore and he is probably scared he will tarnish his name as this movie probably doesn't have a decent script - which is also another possible reason why there has been so much delay and also chasing SS away.

Could it be that....geez....GL was probably the straw the stirred the whole drink to begin with here? I still say yes. He was a student of the arts, history, and mythology. Without his creative involvement - the script is probably very mainstream, repetitive, and unoriginal.

I am ok with Indy now going bye-bye. No need to have a movie at this stage. Saying that however, I am shocked that Disney and LFL having been doing games, novels, comics, and probably best yet...an Indy animated series for Disney +? You would think this would be a no brainer. I think an animated series is the best way to go here. Hell...even an animated movie wide release.

But what will happen?....JJ and Bad Robot get a hold of this thing, coax HF to come back, and like someone said before...Belloq is revealed to be the guy behind the whole thing as Indy once again goes into a cave chasing the Idol, then the cave has child slaves that need rescuing, and then he finds his Dad alive again and rescues him along with the slaves as they escape a Death Star laser in the guise of lens flares.

 

To be clear, I agree with @PymParticles that Spielberg's heart probably wasn't in it and he would rather focus on his other projects. But Spielberg has been publicly talking about Indy 5 for years. It was obviously something he wanted to do. I don't believe it's something he just stopped cared about doing on its own merits. I think that it just stopped being worth it to him when it became just another studio-driven project without his best friend even being there. If it was just him and Lucas and Ford doing it on their own, having one last go of it, I bet he would have made some time. But why would he put his passion projects on hold just to make another franchise entry for Disney? That's a business arrangement, he doesn't actually have to be there making for the movie for that.

 

Repost from an opinion I said on another forum:

 

Disappointing.

 

to restate what I just said: Well if Spielberg walked away on his own without outside pressure, can't really do much about it. I do actually love James Mangold. He isn't the first pick I'd think of to take over Indy, I'd rather think that only Spielberg can do it. But if he's Spielberg's pick and his movies are generally great, I would be okay with that. But, yah, Spielberg not making the movie is pretty heartbreaking, I'd love to see him take a crack at it one more time. Although the piece does note that Spielberg wanted to pass it on to another generation, whatever that means.

Mangold to Spielberg: "So once again, Jones, what was briefly yours is now mine. What a fitting end to your life's pursuits. You're about to become a permanent addition to this archaeological find. Who knows? In a thousand years, even you may be worth something!"

 

What, you mean no JJ Abrams?