Indiana Jones 5 will have scenes featuring its star Harrison Ford de-aged to match looks from previous movies. According to director James Mangold, the upcoming sequel will have a scene that takes place after Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade. The scene happens before the events of Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull. Thus, the character has to appear nearly two decades younger than Ford’s 80 years.
Deadline shares the information from an interview feature of Empire magazine. As the director recounts how they come to the decision for the process, Mangold said:
I wanted the chance to dive into this kind of full-on George-and-Steven old picture and give the audience an adrenaline blast. And then we fall out, and you find yourself in 1969. So that the audience doesn’t experience the change between the ‘40s and ‘60s as an intellectual conceit, but literally experiences the buccaneering spirit of those early days… and then the beginning of now.”
Indiana Jones 5 Features De-Aged Harrison Ford
Image: Lucasfilm
Thanks to present cinematography advances, Ford passed through the “scan of youth”. The actor still performed the scene himself. However, his actions will be mapped and matched with previous shots of his younger self. The production took everything into consideration. In fact, they even recreated the original jacket that Ford wore in Raiders Of The Lost Ark.
As it happens, this won’t be the first time Lucasfilm will be de-aging an actor to like his previously portrayed character. They did this with Mark Hamill for his appearances in The Mandalorian season 2 and The Book Of Boba Fett. There, they featured Hamill in his Star Wars VI: The Return Of The Jedi look. It’s Lucasfilm’s hope that when people see Ford a few years younger, they will connect it to the past movies with appreciation of the story. Empire quoted producer Kathleen Kennedy saying:
My hope is that, although it will be talked about in terms of technology, you just watch it and go, ‘Oh my God, they just found footage. This was a thing they shot 40 years ago. We’re dropping you into an adventure, something Indy is looking for, and instantly you have that feeling, ‘I’m in an Indiana Jones movie.’”
Indiana Jones 5 Features De-Aged Harrison Ford
Image: Lucasfilm
On the other hand, Indiana Jones star Harrison Ford doesn’t want to know how they did it. Even though he does appreciate the technology, he doesn’t actually want to get back to that age for another round. He said:
This is the first time I’ve seen it where I believe it. I’m glad to have earned my age.
Joining Harrison Ford to star in the movie are Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Mads Mikkelsen, Boyd Holbrook, Thomas Kretschmann, Toby Jones, Antonio Banderas and John Rhys-Davies.
The movie open in theaters on June 30, 2023.
