‘Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny’: Oscars farewell hug for Indy?

Jacob Sarkisian
·10 min read
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“Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” has wrapped things up for the five-film franchise, starring Harrison Ford as one of cinema’s most iconic characters of all time. The film follows Ford as Indy, a world-famous archaeologist, as he goes on a hunt for an ancient artifact that can alter the course of history. Starring alongside him are new faces such as Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Antonio Banderas, Toby Jones, and Mads Mikkelsen, plus returning heroes Karen Allen and John Rhys-Davies.

The first four “Indiana Jones” movies amassed six Oscar wins and 13 nominations between them, with the franchise’s first outing, “Raiders of the Lost” winning four and landing eight nods in total, including bids for Best Picture and Best Director for Steven Spielberg. It’ll be a mighty achievement for “Dial of Destiny” to match this, particularly as the previous installment, “Kingdom of the Crystal Skull,” was snubbed entirely by Academy voters. But, considering this is the last Indy outing for Ford, could nostalgia overcome voters and lead to a number of bids for “Dial of Destiny?” Here’s what we think it could theoretically be nominated for.

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Best Picture
Only the first film in the franchise, “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” has been nominated for Best Picture — that was in 1982, when it lost to “Chariots of Fire.” It would be a big ask for this film to be nominated here, particularly as there are a number of very strong contenders coming up, including “Oppenheimer,” “Barbie,” “Killers of the Flower Moon,” and “Maestro.” However, there are 10 slots open, so it could get ride a wave of nostalgia to fill one of those final spots. It wouldn’t be the only sequel of a classic 1980s movie to earn a Best Picture nomination this decade — “Top Gun: Maverick” was nominated last year. “Dial of Destiny” could follow that pattern.

Best Director — James Mangold
This is the first film in the series that Spielberg hasn’t directed, with “Logan” and “Ford v Ferrari” director James Mangold taking over helming duties. The academy doesn’t really like a series that changes directors, however. That’s why “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy, which were all directed by Peter Jackson, won a total of 17 Oscars, and the “Harry Potter” film series, which had four different directors, never managed a single Best Picture nomination. This would be Mangold’s first-ever Best Director bid and third nomination overall. He was previously nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay for “Logan” in 2018 and Best Picture for “Ford v Ferrari” in 2020.

Best Actor — Harrison Ford
It’s criminal that Ford has never been nominated for an Oscar for his performance as Indy. It’s such an iconic role, brought to life with such easy charm, physicality, and intelligence that his performance has actually been overlooked. Very few actors would be able to pull this off and Ford deserves some recognition, particularly as he has only ever been nominated for an Oscar once before — for Best Actor in 1986 for “Witness.” Plus, the academy does like rewarding veterans in this category. Bill Nighy was nominated last year for “Living,” Anthony Hopkins won in 2021 for “The Father,” and Jonathan Pryce was nominated in 2020 for “The Two Popes.”

Best Supporting Actress — Phoebe Waller-Bridge
Waller-Bridge plays Helena Shaw, Indy’s goddaughter. Waller-Bridge could go lead or supporting but, for this type of role and film, a Supporting Actress bid seems more likely than a Best Actress bid. She brings her trademark wit to this role and helps to elevate the film with her presence. Waller-Bridge has never been nominated for an Oscar before, although surely that will happen at some point for this highly-popular and uber-talented multi-hyphenate. Voters have previously nominated younger actresses in more “fun” roles before — Stephanie Hsu last year for “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” Maria Bakalova in 2021 for “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm,” and Emma Stone in 2018 for “The Favourite.”

Best Supporting Actor — Mads Mikkelsen
Sean Connery, who played Indy’s dad in “The Last Crusade” missed out on an Oscar nomination here after landing a BAFTA bid for Best Supporting Actor in 1990. Now, Mikkelsen will hope to make up for that and land a nomination himself in his role as the villainous Jürgen Voller, a former Nazi now in the employment of NASA. Mikkelsen has never been nominated for an Oscar before but he does feel somewhat overdue. He’s an actor of absolute gravitas and is one of cinema’s favorite villains at the moment, after previously playing bad guys in “Casino Royale,” “Doctor Strange,” and the “Fantastic Beasts” movies. The Oscars love villains in the Supporting Actor category. Tom Hardy was nominated for “The Revenant” in 2016, JK Simmons won for “Whiplash” in 2015, Michael Fassbender (“12 Years a Slave”) and Barkhad Abdi (“Captain Phillips”) were both nominated in 2014, and Christoph Waltz won in 2010 for “Inglourious Basterds,” for playing a Nazi. Mikkelsen could follow.

Best Adapted Screenplay
Written by Jez Butterworth, John-Henry Butterworth, David Koepp, and Mangold, the film could be the first in the Indy series to land a nomination for its writing. The film combines iconic characters with wicked adventures and could follow in the footsteps of previous franchise films to be nominated in this category recently. “Top Gun: Maverick” was nominated last year, “Joker” was nominated in 2020, and “Logan,” which was also co-written by Mangold, was nominated in 2018. “Dial of Destiny” would fit right alongside these films. This would be the first-ever nominations for both Butterworths and Koepp, while Mangold is looking for his third overall bid and second in this category.

Best Original Score
John Williams has created countless iconic earwigs for countless iconic movies and his music for “Indiana Jones” stands out as one of the very best. He returns here again to deliver another musical masterpiece and he has a very good shot at landing another Oscar nomination. Academy voters are always keen to nominate Williams — with 53 nominations to his name, he is the second most-nominated person in Oscars history after only Walt Disney with 59. Three of those 53 bids came for “Indiana Jones” movies — “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” “Temple of Doom,” and “The Last Crusade” — so we know that voters love both Williams and his work on Indy. Plus, Williams previously returned to another franchise he used to work on to great results — he landed nominations for all three of Disney’s “Star Wars” movies in “The Force Awakens,” “The Last Jedi,” and “The Rise of Skywalker.”

Best Cinematography
Phedon Papamichael takes on lensing duties for this one and helps to deliver a smooth ride for Indy and company. Only “Raiders of the Last Ark” has been nominated in this category out of all the movies — when Douglas Slocombe was the cinematographer. Papamichael has a decent track record here — he was nominated for “Nebraska” in 2014 and “The Trial of the Chicago Seven” in 2021.

Best Film Editing
Again, the only Indy movie nominated for this category was “Raiders of the Lost Ark” — that movie actually won this category, for Michael Kahn. Here, Michael McCusker, Andrew Buckland, and Dirk Westervelt hold editing responsibilities as a trio. This would be Westervelt’s first-ever nomination. McCusker and Buckland previously won this category in 2020 for their joint work on Mangold’s “Ford v Ferrari,” while McCusker was also nominated in 2006 for “Walk the Line,” another Mangold movie. This category usually nominates big, bold action movies, so “Dial of Destiny” could be in with some luck. “Top Gun: Maverick” was nominated last year, while “Dune” won in 2022, and “Dunkirk” won in 2018.

Best Production Design
“Raiders of the Lost Ark” was nominated for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration and Adam Stockhausen will be hoping to add to that. He has a good track record in this category with four previous nominations — “12 Years a Slave” in 2014, “The Grand Budapest Hotel” in 2015, “Bridge of Spies” in 2016, and “West Side Story” in 2022. He won for “The Grand Budapest Hotel.” Period films do very well in this category — last year alone, four out five of the nominees went to period movies with “The Fabelmans,” “Elvis,” and “Babylon” earning nominations and “All Quiet on the Western Front” winning. “Mank” and “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” are also two previous period picture winners.

Best Costume Design
No Indy movie has earned a bid for Costume Design but Joanna Johnston will be looking to change that as she seeks her third Oscar nomination after she was previously nominated for “Lincoln” in 2013 and “Allied” in 2017.” Those were both for respected period movies, and Johnston creates a collection of period costumes again for “Dial of Destiny.” Again, period films excel here. “Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris,” “Elvis,” and “Babylon” were all nominated last year, while “Cruella” and “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” were winners in the two respective years prior to that.

Best Visual Effects
“Indiana Jones” movies have a good track record here as “Raiders of the Lost Ark” and “Temple of Doom” both won Best Visual Effects. It’s unclear who exactly would be nominated here but the film has a great chance at a bid as voters like nominating major franchise films in this category. Last year, four out of five nominees went to franchise pictures — “Top Gun: Maverick,” “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,” “The Batman,” and, the winner, “Avatar: The Way of Water.” Other previous nominees include “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker,” “Avengers: Endgame,” and, the 2018 winner, “Blade Runner 2049,” which is another sequel to a 1980s action movie starring Ford.

Best Sound
Finally, we have Best Sound. This is where “Dial of Destiny” probably has the best chance of landing a nomination. This franchise has a rich history in this category. “Raiders of the Lost Ark” won Best Sound, “The Last Crusade” won Best Sound Effects Editing,” and “Raiders” was given a special achievement award for its sound effects editing. Plus, franchise films do well here, too. “Top Gun: Maverick” won last year while “Avatar: The Way of Water” and “The Batman” were also nominated.

In total, “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” could well earn a healthy haul of Oscar nominations, particularly in the below-the-line categories such as the design and technical awards. However, it will be a tough task for the film to match the record of “Raiders of the Lost Ark.” “Dial of Destiny” will hope to add to the respectable total of the “Indiana Jones” franchise — six wins and 13 nominations.

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