DBWI: George Lucas Vetoes "Indiana Jones and the City of the Gods"

[Amadeus]

In 2005 George Lucas and Steven Spielberg released the fourth Indiana Jones film, "Indiana Jones and the City of the Gods." Written by Frank Darabont of "The Shawshank Redemption," the film marked Harrison Ford's return to the role of Indiana Jones 16 years after "The Last Crusade."

But it almost didn't happen. Lucas had issues with Darabont's screenplay and nearly shot down the project altogether. But Spielberg convinced Lucas that the script would work with minor revisions, which were ultimately made and the film was greenlit in 2004. But what if Lucas had gotten his way and Darabont's script was rejected? Does a fourth Indy film ever get made? How might it be different from "City of the Gods?"

 

[Mysterion]

Well, they may have gone with a version of that "Crystal Skull" script I've seen floating around online. That would have killed the franchise stone dead, it was awful. They give Indy a son, the plot is a mish-mash of ancient artifacts, soviet spies, and a UFO ending. The only bright spot is that that script does bring back Marion from the first film. We're luck Speilberg convinced Lucas to go forward with "City of the Gods" instead.

 

[West]

Well, they may have gone with a version of that "Crystal Skull" script I've seen floating around online. That would have killed the franchise stone dead, it was awful. They give Indy a son, the plot is a mish-mash of ancient artifacts, soviet spies, and a UFO ending. The only bright spot is that that script does bring back Marion from the first film. We're luck Speilberg convinced Lucas to go forward with "City of the Gods" instead.

I don't know man, city of the gods ended on such a down note indy's the only survivor all of the likable charaters that followed him are dead, the villan's die yes but they destroy the maguffin that indy was after so no one gets it and Indy walks out of the thing alive but empty handed.

It was a really sad ending, sure it revived the franchise but it was a downer.

 

[M79]

Not all the likeable characters died. Natalie Portman did a heckuva job as Indy's daughter Tess while Kevin Costner was decent as Indy's brother Richard/comic relief (there's a reason he got nominated for best supporting actor after all, he *really* played the 'jerk' factor out well). Watching so many supporting characters die off was unexpected, but that may have been some of what people liked about it.

 

[BeardedHoplite]

I wonder what 20th Century Fox would have done without the "Lucas Windfall of '05". Having Episode III and City of the Gods come out in the same year was a massive windfall.

 

[Wendell]

Not all the likeable characters died. Natalie Portman did a heckuva job as Indy's daughter Tess while Kevin Costner was decent as Indy's brother Richard/comic relief (there's a reason he got nominated for best supporting actor after all, he *really* played the 'jerk' factor out well). Watching so many supporting characters die off was unexpected, but that may have been some of what people liked about it.

I'm glad that the film had real stakes, personally.

 

[M79]

<ooc: Portman and Costner were actually mentioned alongside Connery for an Indy sequel about 2005>

I still wonder about the script for Indiana Jones and the City of Atlantis though, supposedly they talked about turning the rough game plot into a movie before City of the Gods came out. Though combining the City of Z and Paititi mythos made for a heckuva movie, one wonders what their Atlantis might look like with modern CGI.

 

[Amadeus]

How do people feel about Sean Connery's death scene in "City of the Gods?" To date his appearance in Indy 4 is his final film role.

 

[Peg Leg Pom]

I know what was reading set up search, but really knocked down while crossing the street with his nose in a book? Surely they could have come up with something better than death by absent mindedness? This was supposed to be the man who shot down a 109 with an umbrella and a flock of birds.

 

[M79]

How do people feel about Sean Connery's death scene in "City of the Gods?" To date his appearance in Indy 4 is his final film role.

Yeah but the easter egg at the end inferred he was alive. He did drink from the Grail after all, most people missed that cross on the floor until the special edition scenes that made it really obvious. I was hoping to see more about how they reconciled a Templar cross chiseled into the floor of a supposedly pre-Colombian temple than Lucas' response of, "meh".

 

[Zheng He]

Well, they may have gone with a version of that "Crystal Skull" script I've seen floating around online. That would have killed the franchise stone dead, it was awful. They give Indy a son, the plot is a mish-mash of ancient artifacts, soviet spies, and a UFO ending. The only bright spot is that that script does bring back Marion from the first film. We're luck Speilberg convinced Lucas to go forward with "City of the Gods" instead.

This is one of those great unanswered questions. Spielberg insists to this day that Crystal Skull was never more than a rough draft that never got very far while others claim it came very close to being the 4th Indiana Jones film. Personally I think Spielberg is lying through his teeth to save face. He now realizes what a mess of a movie that would have been and does not want to admit that he came very close to pushing it through to production but that is my personal opinion and we'll probably never know the whole truth.

 

[Deleted member 114175]

The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull script wasn't that bad. I'm sure they would've fixed it up. For example instead of Indiana Jones surviving the nuclear bomb by hiding in a beer cooler, he could have instead hid in a lead-lined fridge, which is a much more plausible way to survive a nuke. Also the gorilla soldiers scene would've been taken out when the King Kong reboot was a box office flop. I think aliens would've worked out well, Steven Spielberg has always had compelling alien stories from Close Encounters to E.T. to Star Trek 2009.

 

[CountDVB]

I think Crystal Skull was meant to show a transition from the end of the WW2 to the Cold War and the growing changes as a result. I mean, look at Roswell, the fact that both superpowers looked into psychic stuff and so on. Though it was a rough draft after all.

 

[Mysterion]

...Steven Spielberg has always had compelling alien stories from Close Encounters to E.T. to Star Trek 2009.

Oh, yeah Spielberg's Star Trek rocked. Matt Damon as Kirk, Gary Sinese as McCoy, and Billy Connolly as Scotty! Great stuff!

 

[M79]

I think Crystal Skull was meant to show a transition from the end of the WW2 to the Cold War and the growing changes as a result. I mean, look at Roswell, the fact that both superpowers looked into psychic stuff and so on. Though it was a rough draft after all.

Still, when the ending involves being lifted into sone sort of dimensional vortex, I think it's a cue even the writers know it sucks so hard it almost qualifies for its own event horizon.

 

[CountDVB]

Still, when the ending involves being lifted into sone sort of dimensional vortex, I think it's a cue even the writers know it sucks so hard it almost qualifies for its own event horizon.

It needed some work sure, but it could've been done well