Los Angeles - The trio of Steven Spielberg, director, George Lucas, producer and Harrison Ford, actor, make up a box-office unbeatable team expected to bowl a blockbuster when Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is released on Sunday at the Cannes film festival.
At least Ford, 65, has it easier than the other two ageing macho men. His character has aged 20 years since his last adventure and has a young sidekick to help him with physical challenges. But as always, his main weapon is not his fighting prowess but his wit, irony, derring-do and, most of all, his incredible luck.
The film revives the series which has lain dormant for 20 years.
Steven Spielberg, sometimes called the King of Blockbusters, is the most successful director in Hollywood history. His films have broken the record for highest grossing film on three occasions, and he is the highest earning filmmaker of all time.
His success is so enormous that it's hard to identify him with any one of his movies.
Films like E.T., Jurassic Park, Jaws, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and the Indiana Jones series have been touchstones that were enormously influential on the popular culture. More serious movies like Schindler's List and Saving Private Ryan made sure that Spielberg also put his stamp on history and earned some Oscar kudos too.
Born in Cincinnati, Ohio to Jewish parents in 1946, Spielberg made short films as a kid, but had to trick his way into an entry-level position at Universal Studios, where his talent was soon recognized.
His second movie Jaws in 1975 made him a household name and ensured he could take his pick of future projects. He made Raiders of the Lost Ark in 1981 as a homage to the swashbuckling adventures of the 1930's and 1940's, following it up with another record-breaking film E.T., The Extra Terrestial.
The movies showcased his crowd-pleasing eye, his masterful manipulations of emotions and his love of special effects - all of which are also on display in the fourth Indiana Jones movie, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, which makes its debut Sunday at the film festival in Cannes, France.
George Lucas has mastered a merchandising strategy that has made him billions.
It may be hard to tell from a career defined by films that seem firmly seated in the mainstream, but Lucas' first love of films was not the classic American genre but experimental avante-garde films from artists in France, Canada and the US.
Lucas is best known for creating the Star Wars and the Indiana Jones franchises, which until Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter came along were the film world's most successful products.
But he is also a powerful pioneer of cinema technology, especially computer animation and special effects. Skywalker Sound and Industrial Light and Magic, which are the sound and visual effects divisions of LucasFilms, are industry leaders.
He also started the special effects firm which would become the dominant animation studio Pixar.
Lucas was the first person to realize the incredible earning power of movie merchandising. He decided to forego an upfront director's fee for Star Wars in return for the licensing rights. The huge success of the film and its merchandise has helped him nab a coveted spot on the Forbes list of the world's richest billionaires.
Nevertheless, it is his devotion to timeless story-telling and his celebration of individual potential that make his films memorable.
Lucas himself is relatively modest about the success of Indiana Jones - for a world famous billionaire that is.
'Saturday matinee serial - that was the initial thought,' he says. 'With a little more care, better production values, and a dash of irony, this type of thing could be transformed into something of interest for a 1980s audience.'
Harrison Ford has mastered the genre of Everyman as superhero.
After Sylvester Stallone revived Rambo and Rocky, and Bruce Willis revived his tough cop hero John McClane in Die Hard, it's now Harrison Ford's turn to revive Indiana Jones.
But at least Ford, 65, has it easier than the other two ageing macho men. His character has aged 20 years since his last adventure and has a young sidekick to help him with physical challenges. But as always, his main weapon is not his fighting prowess but his wit, irony, derring-do and, most of all, his incredible luck.
'Harrison plays that part really well and can play it with a certain amount of humour, which makes it really charming,' says Lucas. 'Indiana Jones gets in over his head and he can't handle it. It's only by sheer, last-second skill, or luck, or whatever, that he actually gets himself out of it.
'You can't create a character like that without knowing that someone like Harrison can have the right, befuddled, oh-my-God-I'm- gonna-die look. And you're right there with him. He's Everyman. He's us.'
Born in 1942, Ford has been named as one of the 100 greatest movie stars of all time, with unforgettable roles in movie like Star Wars, Blade Runner from 1982, the Witness from 1985 and The Fugitive from 1993. His movies have earned over 3 billion dollars, but his most memorable role will always be Indie.
'There's something about the character that I guess is a good fit for me,' he told Vanity Fair, 'because the minute I put the costume on, I recognize the tone that we need, and I feel confident and clear about the character.'
© Deutsche Presse-Agentur
There are currently no comments for this article. Be the first to comment! (no registration required)