Harrison Ford explains why 'Indiana Jones 5' took 15 years to make after the poor reception to 'Kingdom of the Crystal Skull'
- Harrison Ford has addressed the 15-year gap between the fourth and fifth "Indiana Jones" films.
- He told Digital Spy that after the widely derided fourth movie, there were no plans for a followup.
Harrison Ford has addressed the long wait fans have faced in getting the fifth and final film, "Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny."
The film, set to be released in theaters on June 30, marks Ford's final farewell to the franchise and comes 15 years after "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull."
Speaking to Digital Spy, Ford addressed the 15-year gap between the fourth and fifth "Indiana Jones" films, revealing that there weren't immediate plans for a followup after "Crystal Skull" was released in 2008.
"Well, it wasn't as though we sat around for 10 years waiting to come up with an idea," he said.
"When we finished the last film, I don't think anybody thought about going and doing another film for some time."
"Crystal Skull" is considered by many to be the worst film in the franchise and currently holds a 53% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes. Adjusted for inflation, it has the lowest box office gross of any movie in the franchise, according to Box Office Mojo.
The 80-year-old actor said that in the last few years, "there were some interesting ideas that were floated" for a fifth movie, but ultimately they "didn't quite gel over a period of time."
"And then we found an idea, and a script, and a strong story that we wanted to tell," he said of "Dial of Destiny" which is directed by James Mangold and cowritten by Mangold, Jez Butterworth, John-Henry Butterworth, and David Koepp.
Ford said that he was "very happy" with the story of the new film in which the archaeologist adventurer is joined by his goddaughter, Helena Shaw (Phoebe Waller-Bridge), in a race against time to retrieve a legendary dial that can change the course of history.
Taking place against the backdrop of the 1960s space race, the sequel sees Indy going head-to-head with a former Nazi scientist (Mads Mikkelsen) and also stars "Raiders of the Lost Ark" alumni John Rhys-Davies and Karen Allen.
Ford said: "We're coming to the end of Indiana Jones's time on the planet, and I wanted to see a conclusion of his story that accommodated the reality of his age, and what that effect has on this person that we've come to know over the years."
He added that when it came time to hang up Indy's iconic fedora and whip for the last time, he "felt a sense of peace, a sense of contentment."
"The feeling I had is the feeling you have when you've made something, and you can look at it, or you can remember having made it, the satisfaction of putting work in, and getting something worthy out of it," he said, adding that the story has "concluded in a way that really felt satisfying to me."
"It is my hope that others find it as satisfying as I did," he added.