‘Indiana Jones 5’ Is About ‘A Hero at Sunset,’ Director James Mangold Says

“Indiana Jones 5” director James Mangold hinted at what fans can expect from Harrison Ford’s swan song, which debuts in theaters on June 30, 2023.

“It became really important to me to figure out how to make this a movie about a hero at sunset,” Mangold said in an interview with Empire.

In taking the reins from Steven Spielberg, who directed the first four installments in the franchise, Mangold wanted to address the character’s age (Ford turned 80 this year) head-on.

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“The issues I brought up about Indy’s age were not things I thought were being addressed in the material being developed at the time. There were ‘old’ jokes, but the material itself wasn’t about it,” Mangold explained. “To me, whatever your greatest liability, you should fly straight towards that. If you try to pretend it’s not there, you end up getting slings and arrows the whole way.”

Ford assured that the upcoming film will be full of the “adventure,” “laughs” and “real emotion” fans have come to associate with his heroic archaeologist over the past four decades.

“And it’s complex and it’s sneaky,” Ford said in the same interview. “Stepping back into the world of Indy was no mean feat. The shooting of it was tough and long and arduous. But I’m very happy with the film that we have.”

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At Disney’s D23 Expo in September, Mangold and Ford premiered the first trailer for the still-untitled film to a wildly enthusiastic audience. After the clip concluded, an emotional Ford took the stage and thanked both Mangold and Phoebe Waller-Bridge, who plays Indy’s goddaughter Helena.

“Indiana Jones movies are about mystery and adventure but they’re also about heart,” Ford told the crowd. “I’m really, really happy that we have a really human story to tell as well as a movie that will kick your ass.”

“Indiana Jones 5” also stars Mads Mikkelson (as a villain, of course), John Rhys-Davies, Antonio Banderas, Thomas Kretschmann, Boyd Holbrook, and Shaunette Renée Wilson. It was written by Mangold and Jez and John-Henry Butterworth, and produced by Steven Spielberg, Kathleen Kennedy, Frank Marshall and Simon Emanuel.

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