Indiana Jones Won’t Just Be Old In His New Movie, He’ll Also Be Depressed
James Mangold revealed Indiana Jones is going to be aware of his age and depressed because of that.
No matter what we do, time comes for us all, and that is certainly the case for both Indiana Jones and Harrison Ford. Director of Indiana Jones 5, James Mangold, revealed to Deadline some more personal details about Indy, and how time has affected our beloved hero. According to Mangold, “It’s not just a movie about a hero in his twilight years who is called back into action….it’s more than just that his bones might ache, it’s that his soul might ache, or that some of his optimism or sense fitting into the world might have evaporated.”
To be honest, this is a smart way to approach bringing Indiana Jones back for one final adventure, though we are not sure if Ford is going to be moving on past the character once the sequel movie comes out. Indy would now have lived through quite a lot at this point in his life, and though he was protecting the world from Nazis many times over, things might not be so simple anymore. Heroes are far more complex when they aren’t winning all the time, and Indy could now just see the world as something that has passed him by.
James Mangold did comment on Indiana Jones feeling like his place in the world is so clear cut, as most of the new movie takes place in 1969. The morality of man isn’t so black and white anymore, and heroes are now astronauts and scientists, instead of adventurers who are in search of riches. The opening sequence is going to showcase Indy back in time, and Harrison Ford has been de-aged for this process, though when he comes right back to being 70 years old in the movie.
One such way that Indiana Jones might be depressed and show his age is by not being able to knock someone out with one punch. Indy’s iconic right cross has been one of the best fighting moves he has used throughout the franchise, but maybe his punches no longer hurt his foes as they once did. The depression and realization of his age coming to the forefront of what audiences see is certainly going to deliver a different look at our aging hero.
It is smart for Indiana Jones to showcase more human emotions as well, apart from hating Nazis and snakes, which most of us do. Jones needs to be a bit more grounded and shown to be too old, or as he stated in Raiders of the Lost Ark, “it’s the mileage.” We all know how legendary of a career Harrison Ford has had, and that same level of mileage should be applied to Jones, who is now around the same age as Ford in real life.
Despite Harrison Ford’s age, he is still heavily involved in many projects, including two new shows: Shrinking and Yellowstone: 1923. We did report that there is a new Indiana Jones animated series being put together by Disney+, though we are not sure if that is going to follow the events of Indiana Jones 5. Still, it would be nice to see Ford continue his legacy in the Indiana Jones franchise, though on a smaller scale.
