Steven Spielberg’s Original ‘Indiana Jones 4’ Movie Went ‘Down in Flames’ Because of George Lucas
Steven Spielberg and George Lucas both pooled their talents together to deliver the Indiana Jones franchise. But when it came to developing the fourth film, Lucas and Spielberg didn’t exactly see eye to eye on the movie’s script.
Steven Spielberg’s original ‘Indiana Jones 4’ film went down in flames because of George Lucas
Steven Spielberg and George Lucas have been known to disagree on the Indiana Jones franchise ever since Raiders of the Lost Ark. Their arguments have led to both Spielberg’s and Lucas’ ideas either being tossed out or implemented through compromise. With Harrison Ford’s fourth Indiana Jones film, it was Lucas who ended up mostly having his way.
The Indiana Jones film which would eventually become 2008’s Kingdom of the Crystal Skull originally looked much different in earlier drafts. Screenwriter Frank Darabont collaborated with Spielberg on the Crystal Skull script. But after penning a story that Spielberg was satisfied with, Darabont found his efforts wasted with Lucas’ input.
“It showed me how badly things can go. I spent a year of very determined effort on something I was very excited about, working very closely with Steven Spielberg and coming up with a result that I and he felt was terrific. He wanted to direct it as his next movie, and then suddenly the whole thing goes down in flames because George Lucas doesn’t like the script,” Darabont once told MTV News.
Although Darabont presented his feelings towards Lucas, Lucas still disagreed with the screenwriter.
“I told him he was crazy. I said, ‘You have a fantastic script. I think you’re insane, George.’ You can say things like that to George, and he doesn’t even blink. He’s one of the most stubborn men I know,” Darabont said.
Darabont would’ve loved to release an unofficial Indiana Jones 4 script for the public to see. But he refrained from doing so out of respect to Spielberg.
“At this point, I don’t give much of a damn what George thinks, but I wouldn’t want to harm my friendship with Steven,” he said.
Steven Spielberg deferred to George Lucas for the fourth ‘Indiana Jones’ movie
The third sequel to the Indiana Jones franchise would evolve into Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. The movie would go down a different path than Darabont’s draft. But there were a few issues with Lucas’ version that Spielberg wasn’t a fan of.
“I sympathize with people who didn’t like the MacGuffin because I never liked the MacGuffin. George and I had big arguments about the MacGuffin,” Spielberg once told Empire (via IndieWire). “I didn’t want these things to be either aliens or inter-dimensional beings.”
Still, Spielberg decided to follow Lucas’ plans for the film for the sake of their partnership.
“But I am loyal to my best friend. When he writes a story he believes in – even if I don’t believe in it – I’m going to shoot the movie the way George envisaged it. I’ll add my own touches, I’ll bring my own cast in, I’ll shoot the way I want to shoot it, but I will always defer to George as the storyteller of the Indy series. I will never fight him on that,” Spielberg said.
Why Steven Spielberg didn’t direct ‘Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny’
After Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, Spielberg asserted that Lucas was hard at work on a fifth Indiana Jones film. But Spielberg presumably had no idea what kind of story Lucas was hashing out.
“George is in charge of breaking the stories. He’s done it on all four movies. Whether I like the stories or not, George has broken all the stories. He is working on Indy V. We haven’t gone to screenplay yet, but he’s working on the story. I’ll leave it to George to come up with a good story,” he said.
But years later, Lucas and Spielberg would only serve as executive producers on the fifth film Dial of Destiny. Spielberg would hand over the reigns of the Indiana Jones franchise to Logan filmmaker James Mangold. According to Variety, leaving the project was Spielberg’s choice, who wanted to pass the baton to a new generation of filmmakers.
