SUMMER, 1981. BRITAIN IS ALL pageantry and petrol bombs as a royal wedding and inner-city riots dominate the news cycle. Harrison Ford has just flown in, obliged to promote a film with the tantalising title Raiders Of
The Lost Ark. Interviewed by a national newspaper, he’s pictured looking characteristically wry beneath a headline that may seem insane to 21st century eyes: “Hollywood Calls Him The New Bogart. London Says Harrison Who?”
Raiders will propel Ford from irresistibly watchable ensemble player in the likes of Star Wars and Force 10 From Navarone to bona fide leading man, capable of balancing a blockbuster on his rangy shoulders. And in Indiana Jones he will find the role that defines his entire screen persona: laconic but heroic, an A-list everyman who can land a smirk as powerfully as a punch.
Now, 42 years on, Ford’s finally saying farewell to his signature character, coiling the whip and hanging the hat. This time, we’re told, it really is the last crusade. “This is the full stop,” insists veteran producer Frank Marshall of Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny, a suitably breakneck swansong for the daredevil archaeologist. “We’ve done it. We’ve made, I think, a wonderful movie.”
MOONAGE DAYDREAM
It’s been an intrepid quest to return Indy to the screen after 2008’s divisive Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull. Franchise creator George Lucas relinquished Lucasfilm to Disney in 2012. Steven Spielberg stepped down as director in 2020, following years of development hell. A succession of writers have come and gone, searching for that perfect take as if scouring tractless desert for the Well of Souls.
This story is from the July 2023 edition of SFX UK.
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This story is from the July 2023 edition of SFX UK.
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ANCER MAHAGEMENT
WITH A NEW TRILOGY IN SIGHT, WE SPEAK TO THE DIRECTOR OF 28 WEEKS LATER THE ORIGINAL CHILLING SEQUEL TO DANNY BOYLE'S SEMINAL SURVIVAL HORROR
WHO YA CONNA CALL?
BEHIND THE SCENES AT HALLOWEEN HORROR NIGHTS FOR GHOSTBUSTERS: FROZEN EMPIRE
SPEAK OF THE DEVIL
THE DEVIL'S HOUR STRIKES TWICE AS THE GENREDEFYING DRAMA RETURNS
SCARRY STORIES TO TELL IN THE DARK
FROM THE RETURN OF EC COMICS TO SCREAM!, THIS YEAR'S HALLOWEEN OFFERS UP HORROR COMICS FOR ALL THE AGES
UNDEADS REFLECTIONS
NEIL JORDAN ON BRINGING ANNE RICE'S MODERN VAMPIRE CLASSIC TO SCREEN, 30 YEARS ON
MUNSTER MASH!
PRODUCTION HELL, SHOCK RECASTING AND HOTLY CONTESTED AUTHORSHIP. AS THE MUNSTERS CELEBRATE THEIR 60TH ANNIVERSARY, WE UNCOVER HOW THE SPOOKY SITCOM WAS ALMOST DEAD ON ARRIVAL
COMING TO AMERICA
THE MOGWAI LIVE THE AMERICAN DREAM IN THEIR SECOND CHAPTER, GREMLINS: THE WILD BATCH
BEING HUMAN EVOLUTION
IT MAY HAVE BEEN AN INSTANT HIT, BUT BBC THREE'S DARKLY COMIC DRAMA ABOUT A HOUSE-SHARING VAMPIRE/WEREWOLF/GHOST TRIO HAD A STRANGE JOURNEY TO THE SCREEN, SERIES CREATOR TOBY WHITHOUSE TELLS SFX
THE MAINE EVENT
THE DARK IS RISING IN SALEM'S LOT AS STEPHEN KING'S DEATHLESS TALE RETURNS TO THE SCREEN
WHY DON'T YOU STAY FOR A BITE?
THE VAMPIRE COMES HOME AS DIRECTOR EUROS LYN WELCOMES SFX TO HIS NEW DARK COMEDY THE RADLEYS
