Indiana Jones 5's Deaging Betrays Steven Spielberg's Original Vision

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Indiana Jones 5's Deaging Betrays Steven Spielberg's Original Vision

With it looking likely that Indiana Jones 5 will employ de-aging technology on Harrison Ford, the sequel looks set to betray the vision of co-creator Steven Spielberg. Many years in the making, Indiana Jones 5 will of course be the first entry into the storied adventure saga to not have Spielberg in the director's chair. Instead, director James Mangold is steering the ship. Spielberg never really went into much detail on his decision to step down, outside of saying he wanted to see what a new director could do with the franchise.

Still, Spielberg remains onboard Indiana Jones 5 as a producer, and like fellow Indiana Jones co-creator/producer George Lucas, it's hard to imagine his influence not being felt on set. Yet, the best producers do have to know when to trust the judgment of the director they hired, as having too many cooks in the creative kitchen can lead to a final dish that has an inconsistent flavor at best or a disastrous one at worst. After the highly divisive nature of 2008's Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, that's something everyone involved surely hopes to avoid.

While it hasn't been officially confirmed that Indiana Jones 5 employs CGI de-aging to present a younger version of Harrison Ford's Indy, several set photos have heavily implied it. Stunt doubles have been seen wearing masks of a young Ford's face, as well as Ford himself sporting what looks like motion capture markers on his face, a technique used to assist CGI artists. It's unclear how exactly a de-aged Indy will be used in the sequel (there have been rumors it will deal with time travel), but Indiana Jones 5 using de-aging at all runs entirely counter to Spielberg's stated original vision for the film. In 2012, Spielberg that "I would never do an Indy retread where I took Indiana's face, the way it exists in 2011 and 'youngify' him. I would never do that." (via New York Daily News) Yet, that's exactly what a Mangold-directed Indiana Jones 5 appears to be doing.

Considering that iconic Indiana Jones actor Harrison Ford is in his late 70s, it is understandable that director James Mangold and studio Disney might want to use de-aging tech in order to present a more youthful take on the character. After all, many felt Ford looked too old to be a believable action hero in Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, and that was released 14 years ago at this point. Still, Spielberg's previous comments make him sound dead set against the idea of pretending Ford is younger than he is. In that same interview, Spielberg also added "Harrison has to be the age that he is when we make the picture. He's going to have to play that age, and we'll write that into the script."

As far as that last part goes, it's unclear at present if Indiana Jones 5's still mysterious story does indeed take into account Ford's current age when it comes to how it characterizes Indy. After all, it's possible the de-aged Ford will only be used for one or a handful of flashback sequences, with Ford's natural appearance used for the majority of the sequel's story. Keeping the use of de-aging in Indiana Jones 5 to a minimum would certainly be more in line with Spielberg's previous pledge to avoid altering Dr. Jones' age, but doing it at all still represents a clear shift away from Spielberg's vision after Mangold took the reins.

Indiana Jones 5 (2023)
Release Date: Jun 30, 2023