Sean Connery Ad-Libbed The Funniest Line In Indiana Jones
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Although he has one of the most recognizable faces in Hollywood, Sean Connery’s accent may be even larger of a legend than the Bond actor himself. There’s just something about the performer’s Scottish drawl that made everything that came out of his mouth complete gold and paired with his impeccable comedic timing, it turns out that Connery was quite the improv expert — something the cast and crew on Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade came to learn. Connery is credited with having come up with one of the film’s funniest lines on the fly — the moment when his character says that he’s aware he and his son are being two-timed by a Nazi because “She talks in her sleep.”
The rib-busting quote in question can be heard when Sean Connery’s Henry Jones Sr. and his on-screen son Harrison Ford’s Indiana Jones realize that the sweet and kind art professor Elsa Schneider (Alison Doody) is hiding her true Nazi identity. As the duo squabbles over who knows what, Jones Sr. reveals that he knew who she was because “She talks in her sleep,” a line that was so unexpected it certainly accounted for several spit-takes on set. Empire first revealed that laugh-out-loud moment during a 2012 interview with franchise director Steven Spielberg, during which he said that working with Connery on the third Indy movie was one of his favorite memories on a film set.
Sean Connery made his Indiana Jones debut in the 1989 film that would introduce audiences to the titular character’s father, who was an expert on all things the Holy Grail. Unfortunately for Jones Sr., his skills and knowledge landed him at the top of the Nazi’s list for kidnapping, as they were on a quest to claim the Grail as their own. Transporting audiences back to 1938, the film was another classic adventure in the world of the wise-cracking archaeologist and his off-the-cuff father.
Those who continued to follow the story of Indiana Jones into the new millennium with 2008’s Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull will know that although Sean Connery’s character didn’t make an appearance, he was mentioned, with Connery never reprising his Indy role before his death in 2020. Now, with the franchise’s fifth installment, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, on the way, the team may pay homage to the wise-cracking Scotsman in one way or another. We recently learned that for at least one scene in the film, Harrison Ford has been de-aged to appear as his younger self, and with other franchises, including Star Wars, using that technology to bring back deceased actors, this could absolutely be a way in which they give Connery’s Jones Sr. a proper send off.
Of course, at this point, an appearance by Sean Connery in Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny is pure speculation, but we do know that the latest Indy film is filled out by a terrific cast. Leading the charge alongside Harrison Ford will be Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Mads Mikkelsen, Antonio Banderas, Boyd Holbrook, and Shaunette Renée Wilson, with rumors circulating that Indiana Jones’ old flame Marion Ravenwood (Karen Allen) will also make an appearance or two. The film will largely take place in 1969 with the fedora-wearing adventurer coming to blows with Nazis one last time.
