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Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)

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Bertinelli Opens Up About Secret Spielberg Romance
25 February 2008 (WENN)
Eddie Van Halen's ex-wife Valerie Bertinelli once romanced movie mogul Steven Spielberg. In an upcoming interview with talk show host Oprah Winfrey, the TV star-turned-weight-loss spokeswoman opens up about dating the director. Bertinelli reveals Spielberg asked her out after she auditioned for his blockbuster Raiders Of The Lost Ark. She says, "I was so wrong for (the role) and the next day I got a call and some flowers... (Spielberg) asked me out. We went out a few times." The actress and Jenny Craig spokeswoman even suggests the romance was more than dinner and flowers, telling Winfrey, "(We) did more." But the romance didn't last - Bertinelli fell for Van Halen and Spielberg wed actress Amy Irving. He has since divorced and is now married to Kate Capshaw. In the interview, which airs on Oprah on Monday, Bertinelli, who is promoting new autobiography Losing It... And Gaining My Life Back One Pound At A Time, also speaks out about cheating on her ex-husband and a lusty lesbian moment, when she kissed another woman.

Movie Reviews: 'National Treasure: Book of Secrets'
21 December 2007 (StudioBriefing)
Jerry Bruckheimer's National Treasure: Book of Secrets is certainly not regarded as any treasure by most critics, but then the name Jerry Bruckheimer in the credits probably makes the film critic-proof. That's something that several critics themselves acknowledge. Writes Roger Ebert in the Chicago Sun-Times: "The person who attends National Treasure: Book of Secrets expecting logic and plausibility is on a fool's mission. This is a Mouth Agape Movie, during which your mouth hangs open in astonishment at one preposterous event after another." Steven Rea in the Philadelphia Inquirer simply dismisses it as "a thumping, gabby slog." Kyle Smith in the New York Post, writes that it's another epic thriller in which all the stars SHOUT a lot. "You may think you've already seen RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK, but you haven't seen anything until you've seen it remade in GLORIOUS MORONORAMA," he remarks. Ann Hornaday in the Washington Post notes, "This is, after all, a film that shows the sign outside the J. Edgar Hoover FBI Building, then self-importantly types out the same words at the bottom of the screen." However, she adds, "if viewers can overlook some of the more blatant dumb-isms, Book of Secrets provides its own good-natured brand of pulp pleasure" Claudia Puig in USA Today thinks it's all calculated by Bruckheimer, who, she says, has "cleverly hit on a hit formula: old-fashioned entertainment with modern production values and underlying themes of patriotism and family loyalty." Peter Hartlaub in the San Francisco Chronicle makes a similar point when he notes, "everyone involved with the movie seems completely aware of the ridiculousness and embraces it with little jokes and other nods."

'Superman' Costume Sells at Auction for $115,000
9 April 2007 (WENN)
Late actor Christopher Reeve's Superman costume has sold at auction for $115,000 on website eBay.com. The red and blue ensemble, worn by Reeve in the 1978 movie, had been expected to fetch between $50,000 and $70,000. It was one of numerous items being sold by memorabilia firm Profiles In History, including H.R. Giger's creature suit from the 1979 film Alien, which sold for $126,500. Marilyn Monroe's gown from There's No Business Like Show Business and Val Kilmer's Batman costume from Batman Forever fetched $92,000 and $63,250 respectively. Elsewhere, the golden headpiece of the "Staff Of Ra" from Raiders Of The Lost Ark took $69,000.

Lucas Sets Indiana Jones Shoot Date
2 January 2007 (WENN)
The much-anticipated fourth Indiana Jones installment will be filmed this year, writer/producer George Lucas confirms. The filmmaker promises the sequel will be the most exciting chapter to date after finalizing the script with director Steven Spielberg. He says, "It's going to be fantastic. It's going to be the best one yet." He adds the film will be a "character piece" and see Harrison Ford reprise his role as the titular hero. Ford played Indiana Jones in 1981's Raiders Of The Lost Ark, 1984's Indiana Jones and the Temple Of Doom and 1989's Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, which also featured Sean Connery.

Roger Moore In Appeal To Save Historic U.K. Studio
15 November 2006 (StudioBriefing)
Former 007 Roger Moore has made a plea for a buyer to come forth to save the 80-year-old Elstree Film Studios. The historic studios, where Alfred Hitchcock directed some of his more famous mysteries and where the Indiana Jones and Star Wars films were produced, were purchased by Hertsmere Borough Council in 1996 when no other buyer turned up. Today's (Wednesday) Guardian newspaper quoted Moore as saying, "Hertsmere Council extended it a lifeline when it needed it most, and invested heavily. Now that they are seeking to pass on the ownership, I hope that an equally passionate and caring owner can be found; and help take the studio into one of the most exciting periods of film and new media production." A spokesman for the Hertsmere Council said that it was selling the property because it needs a serious injection of cash to modernize it and keep it going.

No Redemption for 'Indy 4' Writer
8 November 2006 (StudioBriefing)
The latest effort to bring back Indiana Jones appears doomed, according to writer-director Frank Darabont (The Shawshank Redemption). Darabont told a movie website that focuses on films in development that although Steven Spielberg had praised his script for Indiana Jones 4 as "the best draft of anything since Raiders of the Lost Ark, " his excitement was not shared by fellow producer George Lucas. In the interview with Devin Faraci of CHUD.com, Darabont said Spielberg's praise "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." Asked whether he believes Indy 4 will ever be filmed, Darabont replied, "I don't think so. ... I just think it's fantastically bizarre that for a project that people have been trying to crack for ten years and have a writer come in and finally crack it and then ... [for Lucas to] say, 'No, I don't think so...' It's just bizarre to me. I can't get into George's head."

Arnie Stuns at Stunt Awards But It's Tarantino's Big Night
27 September 2005 (WENN)
California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger stunned fans at the Taurus World Stunt Awards in Hollywood on Sunday night when he showed up to present pal, stuntman icon Vic Armstrong, with a Lifetime Achievement prize. Movie veteran Armstrong, whose film credits include Raiders Of The Lost Ark and War Of The Worlds, took a break from making Mission: Impossible 3 with Tom Cruise to accept his honor. Schwarzenegger's Planet Hollywood pal Sylvester Stallone also made an appearance - to pick up the night's Honorary Action Star award and movie-maker Quentin Tarantino took home the award for Best Action Movie Director. Meanwhile's Tarantino's fight sequence between Uma Thurman and Daryl Hannah in Kill Bill Vol 2 claimed the fifth annual prize's Best Fight honors, while the film's stand-ins Zoe Bell and Monica Staggs took home the Best Stuntwoman prize.

Lucas Reflects on the Dark Side of Filmmaking
30 June 2005 (StudioBriefing)
George Lucas has predicted the imminent demise of big-budget epics like the Star Wars and Indiana Jones movies with which he is associated. The online edition of Wired magazine quotes him as saying, "The big tent-pole movies will be the first victim of the rapid technological changes we're seeing now. ... We're just not going to see those being made anymore." Internet piracy was one of the factors influencing change, Lucas observed. "Why pay for something when you can get it for free on opening day? ... If they don't solve this problem of how to sell over the internet, the business is going to shrink, and what's produced will be more like TV movies. They'll be low budget, and there won't be as many of them." Another factor, he said, was the growth of home entertainment systems. "There is a difference between how you make things for big screen and small screen," he said. "When you're designing for DVD, you tend to end up with more close-ups, and your wide shots aren't so wide. I don't subscribe to that stylistic shift, but a lot of kids making movies now grew up on TV and DVDs -- not films in theaters -- so that's how they make movies."

Filmmakers Lucas and Spielberg To Be Subject of TV Drama
21 April 2005 (StudioBriefing)
The A&E Channel is expected to announce today (Thursday) that it will produce a two-hour drama about the relationship between filmmakers George Lucas and Steven Spielberg. According to Daily Variety, the biopic, tentatively titled Celluloid Titans, is being exec produced by Granada America's Jody Brockway (Rudy: The Rudy Giuliani Story). A&E programming chief Bob DeBitetto compared the project with TNT's Pirates of Silicon Valley, which portrayed the rivalry between Apple's Steve Jobs and Microsoft's Bill Gates. "In this case, these two really did have a friendship. They compared notes. When Spielberg was having travails about Jaws, Lucas was talking about Star Wars," he said. The two also collaborated on the Indiana Jones movies.

Movie Reviews: 'Sahara'
8 April 2005 (StudioBriefing)
The buzz about Sahara was that it was not so hot and was likely to fizzle at the box office this weekend. Nevertheless, some critics are greeting it warmly. Carrie Rickey in the Philadelphia Inquirer calls it, "Spectacularly silly and perversely entertaining." Similarly Eleanor Ringel Gillespie in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution describes it as "raucously nimble and cheerfully silly." Stephen Holden in the New York Times, while noting that it is not another Raiders of the Lost Ark, writes that it nevertheless "is a movie that keeps half a brain in its head while adopting the amused, cocky smirk of the Indiana Jones romps." Still, most critics are giving it the cold shoulder. Comments Peter Howell in the Toronto Star: "There's nothing here to engage the brain along with the eyeballs." "Sahara is a mediocrity wrapped inside a banality, toasted in a nice, fresh cliché," writes Stephen Hunter in the Washington Post, paraphrasing Churchill. Noting that the film is directed by Breck Eisner, the son of Disney chief Michael Eisner, Janice Page in the Boston Globe comments, "Sahara isn't going to make him a mogul anytime soon." And Jan Stuart in Newsday concludes, "Sahara feels as plodding and fruitless as trekking the length of a desert on a pogo stick with a busted spring."

Spielberg Donates $1.5 Million to Tsunami Victims
6 January 2005 (WENN)
Hollywood director Steven Spielberg is donating $1.5 million to the post-tsunami relief effort, and hopes his actions will encourage other wealthy celebrities to do the same. The Raiders Of The Lost Ark filmmaker's cash pledge will be split between charities Care, Save The Children and Oxfam. Generous Spielberg usually keeps his charity donations a secret, but wanted this contribution to be announced in a bid to persuade others to donate, his publicist says. The news comes two days after Speed actress Sandra Bullock revealed she's giving $1 million to help the humanitarian crisis in south-east Asia.

Movie Reviews: 'National Treasure'
19 November 2004 (StudioBriefing)
Most critics seem to agree that National Treasure is not. Jami Bernard in the New York Daily News figures that it's not much more than a "pedestrian ripoff of Raiders of the Lost Ark." (Several other reviewers refer to it as a ripoff of the best-seller, The Da Vinci Code.) Bob Townsend in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, referring to the film's allusions to American historical events, comments, "It fakes high concept, but turns into a whole lot of hooey." On the other hand, Bob Strauss in the Los Angeles Daily News calls it "state-of-the-art Jerry Bruckheimer entertainment. It combines elements of the industry's top producer's most interesting recent efforts."

Ford Creates Elk Refuge
26 October 2004 (WENN)
Movie legend Harrison Ford is protesting against American officials' attempts to deplete the elk population - by banning hunters from killing the animals at his ranch. The Raiders Of The Lost Ark star is furious Wyoming residents are being encouraged to cull elks, over concerns the beasts will spread diseases among cattle. He discovered 5,100 elk living near his South Park, Wyoming ranch exceed the state's population objective of 4,400 animals, so has created an elk refuge by forbidding hunting on his property. Mark Gocke, spokesman for the Wyoming Game And Fish Department complains, "The problem is that a lot of landowners don't allow permission to hunt. That's why this particular herd segment has grown so much." Ford's ranch manager John Kelly explains, "(Ford) doesn't want any hunting to take place on his property. He told me that if I caught anyone to turn them in."

Ford Dumps Flockhart – In Garbage Can
23 September 2004 (WENN)
Hollywood legend Harrison Ford stunned onlookers in the Spanish city of Barcelona when he attempted to dump his girlfriend Calista Flockhart in a waste disposal bin. Indiana Jones star Ford and his Ally McBeal actress lover engaged in the high jinx as they made their way back to their hotel, following dinner at a restaurant in the city, where Flockhart is filming upcoming movie Fragile. An onlooker, who witnessed 62-year-old Ford's bizarre stunt, says, "They were laughing and joking like a young couple in love. She was squealing and begging him to put her down, but he kept saying he was going to put her in the bin. Harrison was showing off like a crazy teenager rather than a guy approaching his pension."

Movie Reviews: 'Sky Captain ...'
17 September 2004 (StudioBriefing)
Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow is carrying a lot of mostly happy critics aboard its maiden flight. Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Time appears to be the happiest of them all. Awarding the movie a four-star rating, Ebert writes: "In its heedless energy and joy, it reminded me of how I felt the first time I saw Raiders of the Lost Ark. It's like a film that escaped from the imagination directly onto the screen, without having to pass through reality along the way." Nearly all of the critics praise the look of the film. (It was shot almost entirely in front of a blue screen, with backgrounds added in post production, something Stephen Holden in the New York Times describes as "a landmark in computer-generated imagery.") Jack Mathews in the New York Daily News remarks: "It's like nothing you've seen before because nothing quite like it has been attempted before." Lou Lumenick in the New York Post finds the plot second rate. "But that hardly matters," he writes. "Sky Captain is a collection of such dazzling digital illusions you can't wait for it to hit DVD so you can freeze individual images." But ABC's Joel Siegel counters: "It's technically a watershed, but movies are about story-telling and Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow doesn't tell one." Joe Morgenstern in the Wall Street Journal likewise maintains that beautiful images do not a movie make. "The best way to see Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow -- if you see it at all -- is as an interesting experiment that failed," he writes. Stephen Hunter in the Washington Post calls it a "$70-million novelty item." And Rick Groen in the Toronto Globe and Mail comments that the imaginative images simply aren't enough to sustain an unimaginative script, and so "what begins as childlike and filled with wonder ends as childish and fraught with tedium."

Movie-Trailer Mogul Kuehn Dead at 66
2 February 2004 (StudioBriefing)
Andrew J. Kuehn, who was credited with coming up with the line "Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water" for the Jaws 2 trailer and who developed trailers for the original Jaws, the Indiana Jones films, E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial, Schindler's List, The Lost World: Jurassic Park, Star Wars, Aliens, and Top Gun, died Thursday at the age of 66, the Los Angeles Times reported today (Monday). In an interview with the newspaper, Bob Harper, vice chairman of Fox Filmed Entertainment, remarked, "[Kuehn] came into the world of previews when they were done very conventionally, and he reinvented them. He pioneered the idea of previews as a stand-alone piece of entertainment."

Ford in Biggest Divorce Settlement
19 January 2004 (WENN)
Movie star Harrison Ford has reportedly paid his ex-wife a whopping $85 million in a record-breaking divorce settlement. The agreement between the Star Wars star and ex-spouse Melissa Mathison breaks new ground, and leaves the actor free to marry Calista Flockhart. According to British newspaper The Mail On Sunday, the deal not only divides assets the couple shared, but it also entitles Mathison to get back future earnings from films Ford made while they were together. Ford, 61, did not sign a pre-nuptial agreement with his wife and has agreed to split earnings from the royalties, videos and DVDs from films including Air Force One and the Indiana Jones trilogy. Mathison, 53, will also keep all earnings from her screenplay for Steven Spielberg's ET, which she wrote before she wed Ford.

Sigourney Presents 'Aliens' Egg to Museum
15 December 2003 (WENN)
Actress Sigourney Weaver has presented the alien-producing egg from her 1986 movie Aliens to a museum in Washington, DC. Weaver handed the silver egg to the National Museum Of American History on Wednesday, along with an original script and several still photographs from the movie. She says, "It's a great honor for our movie. I also think that people will get a big kick out of getting that close to an egg without a facehugger jumping out at them." The egg will eventually be displayed with other movie memorabilia, such as the Ruby Red slippers Judy Garland wore as Dorothy in the Wizard Of Oz and Harrison Ford's jacket and hat from the Indiana Jones movies. The 1979 thriller Alien, directed by Ridley Scott, launched Weaver's career. She then starred as heroine Ellen Ripley in three more Alien movies - Aliens, Alien 3, and Alien: Resurrection. She's currently in talks with Scott about reprising the role yet again.

New Indiana Jones Movie To Sport Few Special Effects
10 September 2003 (StudioBriefing)
Producer Frank Marshall has told the U.K. website Empire Online that he hopes to keep a "B-movie feel" about Indiana Jones 4, due to start filming next year and open in theaters on the July 4th holiday in 2005. Marshall said that he expects to avoid loading the film with computer effects. "One of the things I enjoy about these movies is that they do recall the old cliffhanger serials of the '30s and '40s," said Marshall. "We didn't have computer effects in those days, we couldn't easily erase things and I think one of the unfortunate by-products of the computer age is that it makes filmmakers lazy. You become more creative. In Raiders of the Lost Ark, that's a real ball rolling behind him so Harrison really is in some danger running in front of that; these are real situations and that adds to the excitement and the creative energy on the set."

Producer Says 'Indy 4' Will Not Rely on CGI
10 September 2003 (WENN)
Indiana Jones producer Frank Marshall is determined to shun the current trends in movie making - insisting the upcoming fourth installment of the hit franchise will avoid using computer effects. Frank is adamant the sequel to the hit Harrison Ford adventure franchise will retain the tradition of its classic forerunners by utilizing real stunt work instead of high-tech graphics, giving it the feel of a B-movie. He says, "We didn't have computer effects in those days, we couldn't easily erase things and I think one of the unfortunate by-products of the computer age is that it makes filmmakers lazy. You become more creative when you have to hide ramps with a tree rather than erase it later as you can today. In Raiders Of The Lost Ark, that's a real ball rolling behind him so Harrison really is in some danger running in front of that; these are real situations and that adds to the excitement and the creative energy on the set. When you start getting into computers you get fantastical situations like in The Matrix or movies like that. We don't want that, we want exciting heroism, we want seat-of-your-pants, skin-of-your-teeth action. We didn't have all the money in the world on the first films and we want to keep that B-movie feel. We want to make Indiana Jones 4 like we made the first three."

AFI Picks Top Heroes, Villains
4 June 2003 (StudioBriefing)
At ceremonies Tuesday night, the American film Institute named the top 100 movie heroes and villains. The top ten on each list:

Heroes: 1. Atticus Finch (Gregory Peck), To Kill a Mockingbird; 2. Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford), Raiders of the Lost Ark; 3. James Bond (Sean Connery), Dr. No; 4. Rick Blaine (Humphrey Bogart), Casablanca; 5. Will Kane (Gary Cooper), High Noon; 6. Clarice Starling (Jodie Foster), The Silence of the Lambs; 7. Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone), Rocky; 8. Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver), Aliens; 9. George Bailey (James Stewart), It's a Wonderful Life; 10. T.E. Lawrence (Peter O'Toole), Lawrence of Arabia.

Villains: 1. Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins), The Silence of the Lambs; 2. Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins), Psycho; 3. Darth Vader (David Prowse, voiced by James Earl Jones), The Empire Strikes Back; 4. The Wicked Witch of the West (Margaret Hamilton), The Wizard of Oz; 5. Nurse Ratched (Louise Fletcher), One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest; 6. Mr. Potter (Lionel Barrymore), It's a Wonderful Life; 7. Alex Forrest (Glenn Close), Fatal Attraction; 8. Phyllis Dietrichson (Barbara Stanwyck), Double Indemnity; 9. Regan MacNeil (Linda Blair), The Exorcist; 10. The Queen (voiced by Lucille LaVerne), Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

Jude and Sadie to Work Together to Save Marriage
28 January 2003 (WENN)
Acting couple Jude Law and Sadie Frost are battling to save their troubled marriage by working together on a movie. The pair will co-produce the big-budget vehicle World Of Tomorrow, in which Jude will also star alongside Gwyneth Paltrow. Friends say it is the couple's last attempt to save their ailing relationship and admit they are concerned for Sadie, who has reportedly been involved in a suicide scare. Their marriage has been beset by problems in recent months. Jude's acting work has kept them apart and the couple have also had a string of rows since their two-year-old daughter Iris needed hospital treatment after eating an ecstasy tablet she allegedly found on the floor at a private party in London's Soho House. Sadie also admitted she was suffering from post-natal depression following the birth of her fourth child, Rudy, in September. Sadie, who was reportedly admitted to hospital in Los Angeles recently with injuries to her wrists, flew back from the US to Britain alone on Sunday. Sadie's spokeswoman Mina Khera says, "There have been problems with their marriage. This is mainly due to the fact that they hardly spent any time at all with each other last year. But they do both want to try to make it work and things have been a lot healthier since they had a holiday in Thailand over Christmas and the new year. Working on a film together is just what they need as they will be able to spend time with each other." World Of Tomorrow, described as a science-fiction answer to Raiders Of The Lost Ark, begins shooting in London in March.

Connery Will Play Jones' Father Again
17 December 2002 (WENN)
Minority Report director Steven Spielberg has ended months of speculation and confirmed that Sean Connery will feature in the new Indiana Jones film - but only "for a few scenes." And the veteran filmmaker is also hoping to reunite the globe trotting archeologist Indy with all his former love interests too. Karen Allen, who played Marion in Raiders Of The Lost Ark, is set to star for "one sound bite." Spielberg adds, "There are other Indy girls who had smaller roles who will come back." However, there may be trouble closer at home as script writer Frank Darabont has warned the Catch Me If You Can director that he may not be able to write in Spielberg's real-life wife Kate Capshaw, who played Willie Scott in Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Doom. Spielberg explains, "Frank Darabont, who is writing the script, called me and said, 'I'm not sure we can work her into the script too.'"

Zagat Guide Names 'The Godfather' Number One
23 September 2002 (WENN)
The first Movie Guide compiled by America's top restaurant survey tip book Zagat has named The Godfather as the best film of all time. The 1971 Francis Ford Coppola gangster epic beat Casablanca and Star Wars in the new book, which lists the best 1,000 movies - as rated by over 5,000 polled moviegoers. The movie's sequel also features in the definitive top 10. The book also lists moviegoers' most annoying cinema peeves, with people talking during films and high ticket prices topping the list. The top 10 films in the new Zagat guide are: 1. The Godfather; 2. Casablanca; 3. Star Wars; 4. Gone With The Wind; 5. The Shawshank Redemption; 6. Braveheart; 7. The Lord Of The Rings: The Fellowship Of The Ring; 8. Citizen Kane; 9. Godfather Part II; 10. Raiders Of The Lost Ark.

Harrison And Calista Planning A Christmas Wedding?
24 July 2002 (WENN)
Hollywood lovers Harrison Ford and Calista Flockhart are reportedly planning to marry this Christmas. The couple has been dating for months, although the 60-year-old Indiana Jones star refuses to discuss his relationship with Ally McBeal actress Calista, 37. But Harrison's agent has let slip hints that the couple are very close indeed - and planning to cement their relationship at the end of the year. Pat McQueeney says, "I won't talk about Calista Flockhart because we don't discuss her. But other people tell me not to be surprised if there's a wedding around Christmas."

Pitt and Ford Make Up After Devilish Differences
9 July 2002 (WENN)
Brad Pitt and Harrison Ford have resolved their differences after falling out about movie flop The Devil's Own. The actors teamed up for the movie in which Pitt played an IRA terrorist living with a New York cop, played by Ford. Ford still claims the film is among his favorites, but has come to understand why his co-star was so upset with the finished product that he criticized it in a Newsweek magazine article. The Indiana Jones star says, "He had a different movie in mind. I have enormous respect for him as an actor and as a man - he's a dear, gentle soul and I really like him. It was rougher on him than it was on me, because I was fighting for what I wanted to do and he was just trying to hold on to what he had, this object that was slipping out of his hands. I think the lesson he learned is, you can never let the motherf***ers in the media know what you're really thinking. They'll kill you for it. And they did."

Harrison's Ready For Indy IV - With A Little Help
5 July 2002 (WENN)
Steven Spielberg is convinced Harrison Ford's advancing age won't be a barrier to the upcoming Indiana Jones sequel. The Oscar-winning moviemaker is teaming up with pal George Lucas to make the new adventure flick - over 20 years after the franchise began in 1981 with Raiders Of The Lost Ark and over ten years since the last flick, The Last Crusade (1989). By the time the movie hits theaters in 2005, Ford - who was 38 when the first movie was made - will be 63, but Spielberg isn't worried about the star reprising the swashbuckling role; he has some decidedly low-tech plans to conceal Harrison's advancing years. Spielberg says, "Harrison won't act his age: he'll run: he'll swing, he'll leap, he'll fight. None of that's gonna change. He might 'ooh' and 'aah' a bit more and there might be a few more scenes where he's having Vicks Vapor Rub applied to all the sore spots."

The Movie Spielberg Couldn't Direct
26 June 2002 (StudioBriefing)
Although it is a virtual precept in Hollywood that Steven Spielberg can direct any film he wants, Spielberg himself has revealed to Britain's Empire magazine that he has always wanted to direct a Star Wars film but that George Lucas has turned him down. "I understand why," Spielberg is quoted as saying. "Star Wars is George's baby. George is my best friend and I believe I am his, but we are all competitive." He suggested that he has no hard feelings about being rejected by Lucas. "I believe that this is George's franchise," he said. "It's his cottage industry and it's his fingerprints. He knows I've got Jurassic Park and Raiders. But George has Star Wars and I don't think he feels inclined to share any of it with me." (Note: The original Raiders films were co-produced and co-written by Lucas and the first was advertised as coming from "the creators of Jaws and Star Wars.").

Spielberg: Lucas Won't Let Me Direct Star Wars
26 June 2002 (WENN)
Steven Spielberg thinks his "best friend" George Lucas has refused to let him direct a Star Wars movie because he's so competitive. The legendary film-maker first asked Lucas, who created the extraordinarily successful sci-fi franchise, if he could make a Star Wars movie in the eighties, but despite their great friendship, Spielberg's requests have fallen on deaf ears - and the 55-year-old believes it's because Lucas doesn't want to share his success. He says, "I wanted to do one 15 years ago and he didn't want me to do it. I understand why - Star Wars is George's baby. "George is my best friend and I believe I am his, but we are all competitive. "I believe that this is George's franchise. It's his cottage industry and it's his fingerprints. "He knows I've got Jurassic Park and Raiders.... But George has Star Wars and I don't think he feels inclined to share any of it with me."

Harrison Ford Casts Doubt On Indiana Jones Sequel
25 June 2002 (WENN)
Despite official announcements from producer George Lucas about an Indiana Jones sequel - Harrison Ford cannot guarantee the movie will definitely be made. The Hollywood veteran is set to reprise his role as the archeologist in Indiana Jones 4 in 2005 in the Steven Spielberg-directed flick - but Ford admits he's concerned about the script. Harrison explains, "Well, it's official that we have an ambition to make the film, but unless we get a script that we're all happy with, I don't think it's sure that will happen. So, I'm very happy about the fact that we've all committed to a certain idea, and we're developing it and hoping it will be fruitful."

Spielberg: Ford's Not Too Old For Indy Role
6 June 2002 (WENN)
Filmmaking legend Steven Spielberg has hit out at claims Harrison Ford is too old to play Indiana Jones. The Jaws helmer will direct Ford, 59, in the fourth installment of the adventure series in 2004, nearly 25 years after the original, Raiders Of The Lost Ark, was made. But Spielberg says Ford's age is not an important factor. He adds, "Harrison can still kick the s*** out of most people half his age. I think he's in great condition to put the fedora hat and leather jacket back on and crack that bullwhip a few more times."

Stoppard To Pen Indy 4
25 April 2002 (WENN)
Oscar-winning British playwright Tom Stoppard has been called in to write the script for the much-anticipated fourth instalment of the Indiana Jones franchise. The Shakespeare In Love screenwriter is hoping to impress Harrison Ford with a new script for Indiana Jones 4. Ford will be at least 60 years old before cameras ever roll on the movie, but bosses at Paramount are desperate to have him star in a fourth and final instalment. The last instalment, Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade, came out 13 years ago.

Indy May Be Spiffed Up, Too -- Like E.T.
21 February 2002 (StudioBriefing)
Following a screening of a restored and digitally "tweaked" 20th Anniversary Special Edition: E.T. -- The Extra-Terrestrial in Salt Lake City, Frank Marshall, who co-produced the film with his wife, Kathleen Kennedy Marshall, indicated that plans are afoot to similarly renew the Indiana Jones movies, which the Marshalls also co-produced, according to an article appearing on the DreamWorks' fan website (http://dreamworksfansite.com/editorials/E.T._20_Review.php). "We're thinking about doing this with Indy," Marshall was quoted as saying, "bringing it back and spiffing up the effects. Before seeing the new E.T., we would have had mixed feelings about seeing Raiders [of the Lost Ark] touched in any way. Now the prospect is mouth watering."

Indiana Jones And The Search For Geritol?
5 July 2001 (StudioBriefing)
Paramount is hoping to entice George Lucas, Steven Spielberg and Harrison Ford to team up again for a fourth Indiana Jones saga, the New York Post reported today (Thursday), citing an unnamed source. "Paramount had meetings last week about the movie," the source told the newspaper. "They want the original credits." According to the newspaper, the studio is wrestling with the question of how it can make money from a film that is likely to cost $150 million -- especially when the producer, director and star are likely to demand a big piece of the film's box-office take. But one industry exec laughed at the prospect of a new Indiana Jones flick. Noting that Harrison Ford is likely to be in his 60s by the time the movie starts shooting (he turns 59 on July 13), one industry exec told the Post: "What are they going to do -- put Harrison Ford in a walker?"

Thriller?
13 June 2001 (StudioBriefing)
The American Film Institute released its list of the "100 Most Thrilling American Films" Tuesday, and, like similar lists the AFI has issued in recent years, this one drew immediate criticism. New York Daily News film critic Jack Mathews commented that the main problem with the list is its definition of "thriller." Although finding no fault with the list's top ten, Mathews questions the inclusion of such films as High Noon, Lawrence of Arabia and The Wizard of Oz in the top 100, noting that they should more reasonably be included in a list of the best Westerns, biographical dramas, and children's movies. "Essentially, the institute has redefined the thriller, broadened it and, in the process, made the term -- and the new list -- moot."

The top thirty films on the AFI's "thriller" list: 1. Psycho; 2. Jaws; 3. The Exorcist; 4. North by Northwest; 5. The Silence of the Lambs; 6. Alien; 7. The Birds; 8. The French Connection; 9. Rosemary's Baby; 10. Raiders of the Lost Ark; 11. The Godfather; 12. King Kong; 13. Bonnie and Clyde; 14. Rear Window; 15. Deliverance; 16. Chinatown; 17. The Manchurian Candidate; 18 Vertigo; 19. The Great Escape; 20. High Noon; 21. A Clockwork Orange; 22. Taxi Driver; 23. Lawrence of Arabia; 24. Double Indemnity; 25. Titanic; 26. The Maltese Falcon; 27. Star Wars; 28. Fatal Attraction; 29. The Shining; 30. The Deer Hunter.

Weisz: I'll Never Do Another Mummy
6 June 2001 (WENN)
Stunning actress Rachel Weisz has refused point blank to ever return to The Mummy movies. Despite the fact that The Mummy Returns is currently making pots of money, Weisz says she's got nothing left to offer in the role. She says, "I wouldn't even do another film for $200 million. I don't do this for money, and I'm not for sale. I've played the character, and I have nothing left to add to her. Two Mummy movies is enough. I did it because I thought it was a fantastic role for a woman, and it reminded me of Raiders Of The Lost Ark and Romancing The Stone."

Movie Reviews: The Mummy
7 May 1999 (StudioBriefing)
Syndicated columnist Liz Smith took the wraps off Mummy, The (1999) on Thursday by praising it as "the hands-down-all-out-fun techno-miracle of 1999." She added: "I suppose Star Wars will top it, but for the next couple of weeks, I can't see how Mummy, The (1999) won't rule the box office." While the folks at Universal, whose parent, Seagram, released another horror story in a quarterly earnings report Thursday (see separate item), must be praying that she is right, many movie critics are not equally enthusiastic.

Stephen Hunter in the Washington Post notes that the film's principal villain is "a bald guy." He adds that in movies, "I don't know why, your bald guy is usually a strangler. That's what you find in the all-but-mummyless Mummy. Almost no mummies, one very large bald guy. Still, it's difficult to hold this against Universal Studios. How well would you expect a movie called Bald Guy to do? These people are not in business to lose money." He describes the film as "fast and furious, shallow, empty, casually racist, merry, jaunty, silly and utterly weightless." MSNBC's Joe Leydon comments: "The movie is extremely loud and indefatigably busy, but that's not quite the same thing as being exciting and entertaining. It's worth seeing only if you absolutely must have a quick fantasy-action fix to tide you over during the wait for The Phantom Menace." Stephen Holden in the New York Times calls it "a gaudy comic video game splashed onto the screen. Think Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) with cartoon characters, no coherent story line and lavish but cheesy special effects." Peter Howell in the Toronto Star figures the filmmakers "don't know horror from hokey." Steve Murray in the Atlanta Journal dismisses the film as "a petrified mixture of retro adventure, clumsy slapstick and minimal chills." But Mummy, The (1999) does have several critics rooting for it. Jonathan Foreman in the New York Post describes it as "cheerful, slightly cheesy entertainment that uses the latest special-effects techniques to breathe life into a venerable film tradition." Jack Mathews in the New York Daily News adds: "Even if Mummy, The (1999) is imitation Spielberg, it offers more bang for the buck than we're used to getting. And the film maker went out of his way to shape a horror film for the whole family." Roger Ebert in the Chicago Sun-Times pays the movie this most left-handed of compliments: "There is hardly a thing I can say in its favor, except that I was cheered by nearly every minute of it. I cannot argue for the script, the direction, the acting or even the mummy, but I can say that I was not bored and sometimes I was unreasonably pleased."