‘Indiana Jones,’ past and present

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EXCLUSIVE

Is ‘Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull,’ which hits stores today on DVD and Blu-ray, the final adventure for the wise-cracking (and whip-cracking) archaeologist? It sure seemed like it when the movie arrived in theaters in May but then earlier this month a surprisingly enthused Harrison Ford told us that George Lucas is ‘in think mode’ on a suitable story for a fifth Indy film. That’s not sitting well with everyone; there’s a vocal percentage of fans who think the 21st century revisitation of the great screen hero tainted the earlier glory days of the franchise. I have to wonder if director Steven Spielberg, who certainly has plenty of other projects awaiting him, is really in the mood to take on another Indy project after the backlash this time around, which got pretty personal and malicious, especially during a recent ‘South Park’ spoof. Only time will tell ...

To mark the release today of ‘Crystal Skull,’ we bring you two fairly rare movie-set images, one old and one new. Above, a photo shot during an early scene in the classic 1981 film that started it all, ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark.’ That chap in the tan coat standing between the camera and the ‘stunt’ Indy is Douglas Slocombe, the film’s acclaimed director of photography, whose other credits included ‘Close Encounters of the Third Kind,’ ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’ and one of my personal favorites, ‘The Lion in Winter.’ Slocombe, the story goes, never used a light meter on the set of ‘Raiders,’ preferring to trust his own eye instead. It was a good instinct: The Brit picked up his third Oscar nomination for his work on the action classic.

The photo below is from last year during the making of ‘Crystal Skull’ and shows Ford, enjoying a cool drink and light moment with Spielberg. In the background there, wearing the white shirt and blue jeans, is Janusz Kaminski, the director of photography for ‘Crystal Skull’ and a two-time Oscar winner (he won for Spielberg’s two World War II masterpieces, ‘Saving Private Ryan’ and ‘Schindler’s List’). Leave it to two cinematographers to know where to stand when a camera catches a bit of history ...

Thanks to John Singh at Lucasfilm for finding these two great images and sharing them with the Hero Complex. Both photos are property of Lucasfilm, all rights reserved, and they are used here with the company’s permission. To learn about all the extras included on Paramount Home Entertainment’s DVD and Blu-ray of ‘Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull,’ check out the official Indiana Jones website.

-- Geoff Boucher