Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny Director Reveals the Importance of the De-Aged Flashback Sequence

The first trailer for Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny showcased how the new film will feature a flashback sequence in which Harrison Ford was de-aged a few decades, and rather than merely offering an opportunity to showcase advances in visual effects, director James Mangold detailed the importance that this flashback plays in the rest of the adventure. While Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade showcased a teen-aged Indiana and how a chance encounter formed him as an adventurer, Mangold pointed out that this new flashback serves to remind audiences of just how much of a toll that time has taken on the explorer. Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny is set to hit theaters on June 30th.

“It reminds the audience of the contrast between a hero in his physical prime and a hero at 70,” Mangold recalled to The Hollywood Reporter. “We’re not relying solely on the audience’s memory of the previous films. It reminds everyone what he’s done, what he’s survived, what he’s accomplished. By showing him in his most hearty and then finding him at 70 in New York City, it produces for the audience a kind of wonderful whiplash of how they’re going to have to readjust and retool their brains for this guy.” 

He continued, “His past is a live memory for the audience hanging over a man who is now living with anonymity in a world that no longer cares or recognizes the things he felt so deeply about. You’re left with a multi-layered perception of his character, both what he was and what he is, and how the world is different between the first 20 minutes of the movie.”

This is likely the extent that the film will go to emphasize how he’s survived a number of physically taxing experiences, as Ford himself confirms that the script originally had jokes referencing the character’s age, which were ultimately cut from the project.

“There is a moment where he observes himself in this situation and says, ‘What the f-ck am I doing in here?’” the actor admitted. “But I hate what I call ‘talking about the story.’ I want to see circumstances in which the audience gets a chance to experience the story, not to be led through the nose with highlights pointed out to them. I’d rather create behavior that is the joke of age rather than talk about it.”

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny is set to hit theaters on June 30th.

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