Director James Mangold reflects on Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny, and the response to the film.
I’d be two-faced if I said I was a fan of last year’s Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny, to my eyes an anti-climactic send-off for a cinematic hero. But I’m a fan of its director, James Mangold, who’s made a whole bunch of films I really like. He talked about some of them in this podcast episode here.
Mangold is currently promoting his new film, the Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown, that appears to have put Timothee Chalamet at the heart of the Best Actor Oscar race.
Still, in a conversation with Deadline, Mangold has been reflecting on the hostile response to Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny in a rare moment of candour so close to a movie’s release.
Mangold was picked by Steven Spielberg, Harrison Ford and producer Kathleen Kennedy to direct the film when A Complete Unknown was held up. Mangold opted to lean into Harrison Ford’s age for the picture too, but as he questions, “I’m making a movie about this guy in his eighties, but his audience on one other level doesn’t want to confront their hero at that age. And I am like, I’m good with it.”
Still: “how would anything have made the audience happy with that, other than having to start over again with a new guy?”
I’m really not convinced that the problem with Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny was to do with Harrison Ford’s age personally, but Mangold has the microphone here. When quizzed about how he reflects on the film, he admits it was a “joyous experience, but it hurt.”
You can read more of his words here.
Presumably part of his Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny deal meant he could definitely get A Complete Unknown off the ground. Mangold certainly has form there, using his cachet from Logan to finally get Le Mans ’66 moving. Always respected that.
As for Indiana Jones? His cinematic journey remains over. For Mangold though, it seems the wounds are still a little sore.
You have a wonderful, brilliant actor who’s in his eighties. So I’m making a movie about this guy in his eighties, but his audience on one other level doesn’t want to confront their hero at that age. And I am like, I’m good with it. We made the movie. But the question is, how would anything have made the audience happy with that, other than having to start over again with a new guy?”
