Shia LaBeouf regrets ‘Indiana Jones and The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull’
Among Steven Spielberg’s staggering filmography, which includes such classics as Jurassic Park, Jaws and Schindler’s List, is the iconic Indiana Jones trilogy, a globe-trotting adventure series neatly snuggled in the ten years of the 1980s. Starring Harrison Ford as the titular whip-snapping, fedora-wearing archaeologist, the series gained an immediate fanbase upon the release of Raiders of the Lost Ark in 1981.
Take note of the fact that we are carefully avoiding having to reference the fourth instalment of the series that spoiled the trilogy. Critically panned upon its release in 2008, Kingdom of the Crystal Skull saw a grey-haired Ford, who barely had the strength to crack a whip, lead a sorry cast that included the likes of Shia LaBeouf, Cate Blanchett, John Hurt, Ray Winstone and Karen Allen, on a nonsensical journey that culminated in an extra-terrestrial climax.
Whilst, at the start of the film, LaBeouf’s Mutt is a mere motorbike-riding hooligan, by the end, it turns out that he’s the illegitimate son of the title character and Marion Ravenwood, with the story leaning heavily on the idea that he would take over from his father in future instalments. After over a decade since its release, however, it’s clear that the filmmakers would hinge this big casting decision on the reception of the film itself.
The poor critical reception from fans and critics likely meant that producers pulled the plug on LaBeouf taking on the role, with the actor regretting his part in the 2008 movie, as stated in an interview with LA Times.
“I feel like I dropped the ball on the legacy that people loved and cherished,” the actor told the publication. Hinting that Steven Spielberg and writer George Lucas could have done a better job penning the script, the actor admits, “You get to monkey-swinging and things like that and you can blame it on the writer and you can blame it on Steven [Spielberg]. But the actor’s job is to make it come alive and make it work, and I couldn’t do it. So that’s my fault. Simple”.
He wasn’t the only actor who felt like they had let down the fans either, with LaBeouf adding, “We [Harrison Ford and LaBeouf] had major discussions. He wasn’t happy with it either. Look, the movie could have been updated. There was a reason it wasn’t universally accepted”. Continuing, he clarifies, “We need to be able to satiate the appetite,’ he said. ‘I think we just misinterpreted what we were trying to satiate”.
Whilst the majority of die-hard fans of the series would agree that the fourth film in the franchise is the worst, one remarkable name of modern cinema would disagree. Speaking on a recent podcast, filmmaker Quentin Tarantino revealed something so extraordinary that we’d recommend Indy fans fold their wide-brimmed sable fedora over their ears for what’s coming next.
Stating his contrarian opinion on the film, Tarantino claims: “I like Crystal Skull more than the Sean Connery one [The Last Crusade]. I don’t like the Sean Connery one… it’s such a boring one… he’s not an interesting character”.
Let’s just say we respectfully disagree.
