Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny Director James Mangold Talks Moving From Indy To Star Wars (Exclusive)

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny is hitting theaters later this month, and it marks the first movie in the Harrison Ford-led franchise to be directed by someone other than Steven Spielberg. Logan director James Mangold took over the production, and it won’t be his last project with Lucasfilm. It was announced during Star Wars Celebration this year that Mangold would be helming a Star Wars film about the original Jedis. In honor of the new Indy film, ComicBook.com had the chance to chat with Mangold, and we asked if he was feeling ready to make the Lucasfilm transition from Indiana Jones to Star Wars. 

“Well, I think the simplest level is movies are all about people and I’ve gotten to know everybody involved in all walks of life at Lucasfilm and Disney and that certainly makes it easier,” Mangold explained. “And the amount of trust and the amount of the freedom they give you to me is honestly the most important aspect of making a movie like this. Because where big movies can get into trouble is when they become committee films. And we all know what those films feel like and look like and to me, they’re not only, I don’t enjoy those kinds of movies so much, but on another level, I certainly don’t want to make one because I don’t feel connected to what I’m doing. I’m just performing a service, enacting what a committee has come up with. For me, if I’m not involved in the writing and what the story is, I don’t know why I’m there directing it.” 

James Mangold On Wanting To Explore the Dawn of the Jedi:

“Well, I’ve talked to [Lucasfilm] before and even worked a bit before on other projects,” Mangold shared with io9. “And I’m always interested in what’s going on there and have friends who work on other Star Wars projects. But I understood that much of what they were doing was kind of continuing the saga forward.”

He added, “So when I mentioned to Kathy [Kennedy, Lucasfilm president] the idea that I had about going backward — really far backward — I was surprised that it excited her and the other wonderful people she works with at Lucasfilm … For me, it’s about, I want to be part of the saga, but I also don’t want to be holding so much lore in the air that you can hardly tell a story. And what I really wanted to do, what I told her, was just can we make a kind of the Ten Commandments of the Force, you know? A kind of origin story of how the Force came to be known, understood, wielded, and harnessed.”

What Is Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny About?

The iconic Harrison Ford returns for one last adventure when Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny premieres in theaters on June 30th. Lucasfilm’s latest film in the long-running franchise sees Dr. Jones team up with his goddaughter Helena Shaw (Phoebe Waller-Bridge) in a race against nefarious forces to secure a powerful artifact. The duo will go up against the mysterious former Nazi-turned-NASA scientist Jürgen Voller (Mads Mikkelsen), and the film also features stars Boyd Holbrook, Antonio Banderas, Toby Jones, and John Rhys Davies. Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny is directed by James Mangold and is set to be Ford’s final appearance as the iconic archeologist.

Stay tuned for more from our interviews with James Mangold and the cast of Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny.