Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Who's The Daddy?

I know a couple of people either close-ish to Indiana Jones IV or very close to people very close to Indiana Jones IV but, by and large, they're not talking. And when they are talking, they are talking pretty cryptically and with strict non-disclosure terms attached. There's no other way to put it: it sucks.

But I can read between the lines, and I can tell certain things for myself, and I can make the odd educated guess and... sometimes, I can get lucky and hear something nobody knows I heard though it's typically about white goods or some such trivia.

But, honestly, compared to the sources Chud have, say, I've got nothing. Zilch. Nada.

Which makes it all the more amazing to me that I have the little crumb I'm about to offer you.

John Hurt has been playing coy about his role in the film. I think I know why. Now, it seems that Hurt is playing Abner Ravenwood, the father of Karen Allen's character - not as otherwise rumoured, Albert Einstein.

Was all of this Abner Ravenwood action in the script just a few months ago? Doesn't look like it. So, what happened? Where did he get such a decent part from?

As far as I can tell from the silly grins, non committal comments and constant hushing, Abner Ravenwood has been given all of the material originally intended for Henry Jones Sr. I'm not sure if he even existed before the contingency was cooked up to ensure the film would survive a Connery refusal.

John Hurt is, quite literally, the daddy now.

I'm going to keep asking questions, and see what else I can dig up. One of you will break... won't you? Please?


3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Abner Ravenwood has been living in Shangri-La for the last thirty years. He finds out the Russians have found a map to it's location.
He sets out to find Indie to help him stop them.
Abner plays a stubborn, old, grumpy Sean Connery caricature and all manner of hilarity ensues.

There! There's your fourth Indiana Jones film, aptly titled Indiana Jones and the Lost Horizon.

Or alternatively they all go on a wild pulpy adventure to stop "evil-doers" from getting hold of Excalibur.

Anonymous said...

Last minute changes not usually beneficial, but I suppose they're not stretching it so far in that the character will still discover he has a grandson, which I would've thought was the main point of having Connery along in the first place; three generations of Joneses. Still have to give him different dialogue and explain where he's been, but it does seem more appropriate if Indy's after (shh) the Arc of the Covenant (shhh!) again.

Anonymous said...

Just had a thought- are they not going to use CGI to make people's faces melt? How unfashionable.