IndianaJonesAndTheKingdomOfTheCrystalSkulls Tagged Articles at Cinematical

The other day, Paramount invited a select group of online writers to attend a special luncheon with director Steven Spielberg who wanted to reward them for their help in apprehending the dude who was trying to sell all those stolen Indiana Jones photos. In doing so, the folks in attendance asked Spielberg tons of questions regarding all of his most talked-about projects, including Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skulls, Transformers 2 and Tintin. Of course, when you bring this all-star team of websites together, don't expect a bunch of B.S. questions -- they cut straight to the chase. As far as Indy 4 goes, there's only two days left of shooting, Shia LaBeouf and Harrison Ford have performed most of their own stunts, the flick was shot on film, not digital (with as much practical effects work as possible) and Drew Struzan will be back for the poster.

Additionally, there's been talk about re-releasing the first three Indiana Jones films on the big screen prior to the fourth installment arriving in theaters. No doubt this was George Lucas' idea, and Spielberg said he's not so sure he wants to do it. He'd rather Indiana Jones 4 be the first time folks are seeing Indy on the big screen in 18 years. (Personally, I'd like to see the first three on the big screen at some point -- not long ago, I caught a screening of Raiders and had such a friggin' blast.) As far as Transformers 2 goes, they're working double-time to complete the script and Spielberg said it will be handed in a couple weeks from now, with the potential goal to begin shooting early next year. Spielberg also played coy when folks asked whether Shia LaBeouf would continue the Indy franchise, saying "we will see, he still has multiple Transformers films to do." I suppose that means LaBeouf will stay with the robots through at least a third film.

Finally, for the Tintin news. All three films will indeed be motion capture, with Peter Jackson and Steven Spielberg each directing one installment. The cool news is that if they do not find a director to helm the third installment, Jackson and Spielberg will co-direct. Now if that's not a fanboy's wet dream, I don't know what is. Those interested in reading more about the Spielberg fireside chat, feel free to check out reports from any one of the following sites: IESB, Coming Soon, Latino Review, IGN, CHUD, JoBlo, Slashfilm and AICN.

Throughout my entire life, I've had to deal with people who think they're clever and original when saying: "Oh, Erik Davis ... like the baseball player!" Luckily, there's only one relatively famous man with the same name as I, and even then only hardcore baseball fans know who he is. But it still happens all the time. One day, about 10 years ago, I actually got to meet the baseball player Eric Davis during a Yankees game. It was always a dream of mine to tell him exactly how horrible it was growing up with the same name as him, and when I finally got the chance, he laughed, signed my ticket and high-fived me. Oh well. Anyway, this morning I woke up to a bunch of people IM'ing me with things like, "So, how much were you trying to sell those Indiana Jones photos for?" and "Ooohh, you have to tell me more about those Indiana Jones photos!"

Obviously, I had no idea what they were talking about until my friend sent me a link to that story about the dude who ripped off thousands of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skulls photos. We first told you about the situation the other day, back when IESB had already broke the news that this guy was caught in a sting operation. Well, it took the rest of the world a few days to catch up, and finally the culprit's name has been released to the media: Roderick Eric Davis. Nice. Thankfully, it's spelled with a 'C' and there's that whole 'Roderick' thing in front of the name, but still -- I imagine some folks might glance past the story and say to themselves, "Isn't that the guy who runs Cinematical?" Well, it's not me. And I have no idea who he is. But wouldn't it be wonderful if Eric Davis (the baseball player) woke up this morning to someone asking him about the missing Indiana Jones photos? Mmmm, one can only hope ... high five!

After that big plot leak this morning from an extra, I didn't think I'd ever again see another spoiler about Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skulls. But then, thanks to Movieweb, I came across an interview with George Lucas, himself, at TV Guide.com. And guess what? The Indiana producer shares some new information about the seemingly secreted blockbuster. Mind you, he doesn't really technically share any plot points or spoilers, but he does confirm one major thing: Sean Connery will not be making a cameo. All our hopes that somehow Connery had taken the role without it getting out to the media are now over. Turns out that Connery would rather stay retired and "play golf." But that isn't all. It turns out Lucas actually replaced Connery with another actor.

Say what? Don't worry, Lucas assures us that not only was Connery substituted, but so was his character. So, the replacement isn't Henry Jones (aka Indy's dad), it is some other minor character who somehow fulfills the same narrative role. In the end, Lucas claims it was better this way, because fans would have seen Connery early on and then hoped he was going to appear throughout. The original script, though, had Henry Jones show up only for a short part. Could this substitute character be Jim Broadbent's academic colleague at Yale? Makes sense. Check out Lucas' exact reasoning for why the switch was better in TV Guide's interview.

In more tune with this morning's leak, MTV Movies Blog yesterday posted some words from Cate Blanchett regarding her character. Of course, the actress was more tight-lipped than Tyler Nelson, and only confirmed that regretfully she was not a romantic interest for Indy and nowhere in the script did it call for she and Harrison Ford to share a kiss. So, before today's spoilers, it was already speculated with strong evidence that Blanchett would be playing some sort of villain.