We don’t know much about "Indiana Jones 5," expect that Harrison Ford is going to be in it, that the character, like the actor who plays him, will be in his late 70s, and that it is due to be released in 2020. However, IO9 reports two welcome bits of news about the project. The script is pretty much written and Henry “Mutt” Williams, Indy’s natural son, will not be a character, which means that Shia LaBeouf will not be in the movie.
The rise and fall of Shia LaBeouf
Once upon a time, Shia LaBeouf was an up and coming young actor who was in a number of big budget films, including several of the “Transformers” movies.
He was cast to play the son of Indiana Jones in the fourth installment of the series, “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull,” which came out in 2008.
In the nine years since, LaBeouf, only in his early thirties, has fallen considerably out of favor with Hollywood casting directors. Numerous run ins with the law and instances of increasingly bizarre behavior has dampened his bankability. The tragedy can no doubt be attributed to the dangers of fame.
The aftertaste of ‘Crystal Skull’
A lot of Indiana Jones fans hate the fourth movie and, to be sure, it had its problems, resulting in a lengthy development process. The fact that Indy was not only an anti-communist spy but a victim of McCarthyism was somewhat jarring.
LaBeouf had been groomed to be a successor to Indiana Jones, with the scene at the end of his catching the iconic fedora when tossed to him by the older man making the strong suggestion this would happen. However, the series of films based around the character of Mutt Williams never materialized. The movie, the actor, and the character proved to be too off putting to too many people.
Who will be the young action hero in the next movie?
With LaBeouf out of the film, the question arises who will be the younger action hero, Marion was past her child bearing years when she and Indy got married in the fourth movie and, besides, the kid would be about ten or eleven. On the other hand, they could have adopted someone who could then be a teenager or in his or her early 20s by the time movie five rolls around.
In any case, if for nothing else but nostalgia and a sense of how Indy plays in the sixties, one looks forward to the fifth movie. Just as "The Force Awakens" was Harrison Ford's farewell to Han Solo, this film will be a goodbye to Indiana Jones. At worse, with Spielberg at the helm, it should be fun.
