James Mangold Discusses INDIANA JONES AND THE DIAL OF DESTINY and Teases a "Hero at Sunset" Story

I couldn’t be more excited about director James Mangold’s Indiana Jones and The Dial of Destiny. I was happy with the footage that I saw in the first trailer, and it looks like it’s going to tell another adventurous and thrilling story. This is the last time that we’ll see Harrison Ford in the role of Indiana Jones, and I just hope that his story ends on a high note!

I always thought that The Last Crusade was the perfect ending, but then The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull was released, and it ruined that perfect ending. Now, hopefully, this fifth film will give us an ending that the fans can be proud of.

Mangold recently opened up about certain elements of Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiney, and when talking about what the Dial of Destiny is, he told EW: "I can't, because I don't want to give the movie away, but is there a relic in this movie that possesses a kind of power, or may possess a kind of power? And is it based on history and scientific speculation? Yes."

I previously offered my own speculation on what the Dial of Destiny could be, and you can read about that here. When talking about the opening scene of the film, the filmmaker said that it starts out in 1944 with a "blast of classic Indy action, me doing my very best version of Steven [Spielberg], and Harrison doing his best version of being under 40."

We got a tease of that opening sequence in the trailer, and it looked fantastic! The de-aging effects with Ford looked incredible! The bulk of the movie is set in 1969, and when talking about the tone and style of capturing that era, he said he was struck by the "wonderful synergy between this kind of pulpy cinematic style of the films, and the period itself and the cinematic language of that day."

He went on to say: "I mean, 1969 is the beginning of now, really, in terms of technology and the space race. So, you have Cold Wars, nuclear power, intrigue, the lack of clear good guys and bad guys. In the same way, you have to be really considerate about how you try and transpose a fairly simplistic kind of black-hat, white-hat sensibility into a period that is more complicated. We try to exploit that by jumping forward into 1969 to a hero who is used to a black and white world, [but finds himself] in a world that has gone gray."

Mangold went on to talk about Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s character, Helena, Indy's goddaughter. He describes the character as a "catalyst" for the film and says: "She's a daughter of a friend of Indy's, who we will also meet in the movie. Helena's gotten herself in a bit of trouble, and brings [that] to Indy's doorstep. She's a character who's a wonderful set of contradictions — charming and brilliant, but also a lot of trouble."

Mangold goes on to talk about the character of Indiana Jones and how special he is to the fans and referred to him as "a phenomenally unique hero" and a "brilliant nerd who is also a badass." He said: "He's a guy who's never happier wearing glasses and reading a book, but somehow finds himself in these kinds of incredible situations. He uses unorthodox weapons to defend himself. He usually figures his way out of trouble with his brain, which is a very different set of circumstances than most of the heroes of our contemporary culture, who are just empowered."

In regards to closing out Indy’s story with this movie, he said: "I'm always interested in this idea of a hero at sunset. What does the hero do when the world no longer has a place for him? I find it really interesting to try to look at classical heroes through the prism of our jaundiced contemporary attitudes."

He added: "I think that what we're trying to do is balance both an accurate and realistic appraisal of where this character would be at this time in his life, and do that honestly, and at the same time, try and carry forward what the very title of our movie promises, which is a romp and a wonderful adventure with action and chivalry and escapes by the skin of your nose and ingenious solutions to diabolical problems. This is an Indiana Jones film."

The movie also stars Mads Mikkelsen (Another Round), Boyd Holbrook (Logan), Shaunette Renée Wilson (The Resident), and Thomas Kretschmann (Avengers: Age Of Ultron).

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny hits theaters June 30, 2023.