American Flag Removed From Intl. 'Indy 4' Trailer

Posted Feb 16th 2008 2:02PM by Ryan Stewart
Filed under: Action, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Paramount, Celebrities and Controversy, Fandom, George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, Politics, Remakes and Sequels

There's been a lot of talk about Ray Winstone's magical pants since the trailer for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of The Crystal Skull first appeared on February 14. At around the one minute mark, we see Winstone and Indy surrounded by Russian soldiers and Indy utters his line "Not as easy as it used to be," and if you look closely you can see some CGI weirdness going on there, as if something has been cut out of the scene. Well, turns out it was -- in the international trailer for the film, now available online, the Russian heavies are pointing some giant machine guns at our heroes, not just standing there giving them dirty looks. Also, when the trailer transitions from the (too long) memory lane montage to the original footage, the American trailer shows an American flag fluttering in the breeze, with May 22 overlapped. The international trailer still has the May date titled on there, but there is no flag to be found. I find this offensive not for any patriotic reason, but only as someone who doesn't appreciate such crass, Spielbergian manipulation.

In other news, Winstone is out doing some talking about the film -- according to Showbiz Spy, he recently praised Cate Blanchett's performance in the film, saying "To me she's the greatest actor in the world. She really pushes the boat out in this one. She looks great." He also complains about pulling a hamstring during the making of the film when he had to run up and down the stairs of that giant temple, and he says that he's tiring of the action parts he's receiving as he gets older, and he'd rather take on more romantic parts. When other, more substantial news on the film comes along, you'll know where to find it.

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Reader Comments

(Page 1)

1. Yes, I heard he broke his left arm in three places doing some stunts on Beowulf...

Posted at 2:14PM on Feb 16th 2008 by JFK

2. here's a better indy teaser...
http://youtube.com/watch?v=qNUwcsOhvVoAINTI

Posted at 2:22PM on Feb 16th 2008 by Pukenshette

3. I still don' t get what the problem is...

Posted at 3:36PM on Feb 16th 2008 by Mr. R

4. Thank God it was removed. It made me cringe.

Posted at 4:02PM on Feb 16th 2008 by Kokolo

5. it took me a LONG time to figure out what everyone was complaining about. I read the article over at AICN, and it was so poorly written, I couldn't figure out what they were talking about.

Here's the deal though. In one shot (the one where Indy says "harder than it used to be") a few things have been changed. Two men with guns have been removed and 2 guys who used to have their guns pointing at Indy now have the guns that they are just holding and not pointing directly at Indy.

Not a big deal, and I fail to see how this is "crass Speilbergian manipulation." If you want to sell a movie, probably not a good idea to plaster the flag of another country over the trailer.

Posted at 4:04PM on Feb 16th 2008 by uforeader

6. Yea I don't find this to be a major issue. Certainly the movie and series takes place all over the world, and you wouldn't want to pigeonhole yourself by pushing this as a solely American movie.

Posted at 4:17PM on Feb 16th 2008 by Philip

7. I fail to see how a brief shot of the American flag waving is offensive in the slightest, much less manipulation on the part of Spielberg. Could you elaborate on that ad hominem attack, or are you just falling in line with the other liberals who hate America just because? I truly would expect more from Cinematical.
These movies have always been American. Indiana Jones is famous world wide, but he's grounded in American culture and sensibilities.
Not to mention, considering this is indeed a trailer, what we saw was probably an out-of-context establishing shot, no reason for the liberal sheep to get up in arms, I'm sure Spielberg hasn't shifted to the right.

Posted at 5:02PM on Feb 16th 2008 by Ryan

8. How funny that Ryan assumes that the people complaining are liberals just because they don't like manipulative ret-conning. Spouting party lines like "liberals hate America"? Sounds like you're the sheep, Ryan.

Posted at 5:56PM on Feb 16th 2008 by Lola

9. Started, the Flame Wars have.

Posted at 6:28PM on Feb 16th 2008 by Philip

10. Sad to say... for the international audience, the site of the American flag makes one think "the bad guys flag". I reckon that's why it was removed. And I can't think Spielberg would be happy about that, unless someone researched it for him and he agreed this was the case.

Posted at 10:06PM on Feb 16th 2008 by Plum

11. I doubt very much that Spielberg had anything to do with the decision. Seems like a marketing machine would have made that call, not the director. Either way, I fail to see why this is such a big deal.

Posted at 11:58PM on Feb 16th 2008 by earthlingdave

12. Many people cringe when they see our flag. It only makes sense to edit it out for the international trailer.
It's called business :)

I have international friends that watched the movie "shooter" with me. They couldn't believe the ridiculous shot of the huge American flag in the background and Wahlberg walking in slow motion towards the camera. That shot is LONG. It's a real turn off for many people.

Posted at 2:40AM on Feb 17th 2008 by Leo M.

13. To Lola:
First off, what I objected to in this post was the author's use of the term "crass, Spielbergian manipulation", much more-so than the objection to the flag itself. I don't think Mr. Stewart should be writing about Indiana Jones if he's going to write off Spielberg's work as crass and manipulative, as that statement has virtually no grounding in reality whatsoever

Believe me, I am the biggest bleeding heart there is, but there is nothing manipulative in the slightest about the use of the American flag in this trailer. The people that get revolted by a brief shot of an American flag in a trailer (oh, the inhumanity!) by it are indeed projecting their notions onto what is, putting it simply, just a movie. I'm sorry, people that allow that knee-jerk reaction to be their guiding light are as bad as the people on Fox news who refer to movies like Happy Feet and Brokeback Mountain as "evil and messagey tripe" without even so much as seeing it.

It proves George Lucas was right when he says a fair portion of the fan base will hate this movie if they get up in arms about a two-second shot of their home countries flag. No, that's the kind of hip shallow anti-American liberalism I abandoned when I was 15.

But all this is a moot point, when it comes down to it if you object to the use of the flag in the trailer, which is your right one hundred percent, then I would advise voting with your dollar and not seeing it. I would rather not share the theater with people of that ilk anyway. But I know I'll be first in line, and I'm sure it will be anything but "crass and manipulative".

I apologize for the length of the post, and if you actually read it then I thank you!

Posted at 8:29AM on Feb 17th 2008 by Ryan

14. I WON'T GO TO SEE IT JUST ON GP OF THEM REMOVING FLAG, WAKE UP LIBERALS.

Posted at 8:54AM on Feb 17th 2008 by rboyle3288

15. I can understand why they removed the flag, given the USA's low standing in the world. As for the "magic pants": if you want to blame anybody, blame the MPAA. I don't understand why they insisted that the machine guns be removed (it's not like anyone was being gunned down). However, this is seriously making a mountain out of a molehill.

BTW, rboyle, good bye and good riddance. The Indiana Jones theater experience will be all the more enjoyable.

Posted at 12:48PM on Feb 17th 2008 by elessar

16. elassar: why don't you join the growing list of global-warming loonies who are reducing their carbon footprint by neutering themselves.

That'd be an immediate improvement to the good ole USA.

Which, for the record, I love and have never been ashamed of, for one second in my life.

Posted at 1:41PM on Feb 17th 2008 by Philip

17. They should have replaced the American flag with an Iranian or Iraqi flag. Then you will see the bleeding heart left-wingers attend the film in droves. They would have seen the film as making an anti-war statement and that Islamic terrorists who blow themselves up on school buses are really just misunderstood freedom fighters. These are the same people who loved Brian de Palma's Redacted for being an accurate portrayal of our soldiers in Iraq.

Posted at 5:17PM on Feb 17th 2008 by marty

18. Philip, I agree with you. I have heard that some liberals are having abortions as they don't want to burden the planet with another carbon-emitting human. These are the global-warming loonies that Al Gore targets himself and he is making millions off their fanaticism while they are aborting their kids all in the name of Al Gore.

Posted at 5:49PM on Feb 17th 2008 by marty

19. "Al Gore targets himself and he is making millions off their fanaticism while they are aborting their kids all in the name of Al Gore."

To the author:
This would be the definition of "crass and manipulative".

Posted at 9:21PM on Feb 17th 2008 by Ryan

20. Too bad there's so much nonsense talk about this. Sheesh! Remember all the Nazi flags in "Last Crusade"
It's. A. Movie.
I guess then that a Captain America movie will NEVER be made then! LOL!

Posted at 4:09PM on Feb 18th 2008 by DAVID F

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