Caffeinated Clint
As woeful as “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” was – not to mention the umpteen other movies he did leading up to the Fridge Nuking exercise in franchise-fuckery – I think it proved to the money-men that Harrison Ford still had what it took to open movies. Sure, that film had that added benefit of its huge blockbuster brand title, but if the film had featured Scott Bakula as Indy, nobody would’ve come. They wanted Ford. Sure, they wanted Ford as Indy. But still, at least we got Ford. And the hat.
The box-office on “Indiana Jones 4 : I hate Plastic Snakes!” was so smile-worthy for some that Ford’s been drenched in much better offers ever since. He did the lacklustre but big-budget tentpole “Cowboys and Aliens” for Jon Favreau, co-starring opposite Daniel Craig and Olivia Wilde (just heard she’s dating Jason Sudeikis – wow!? Really?!), and though it did flopped, it was still a rarity to see Ford fronting such a big-money blockbuster again. And hey, said film beats “Firewall”. Or “Extreme Measures”. Or “Hollywood Homicide”. If even by a smidge… or a Wilde.
2012 is shaping up to a much kinder year to Ford. He’s doing the film adaptation of the big-time science-fiction novel “Enders Game”, which sounds superb; is starring in the Jackie Robinson baseball biopic “42”, and should be beginning work on the fifth – and hopefully franchise redeemable – “Indy” by year’s end.
With those goodies, suddenly that John Wilkes Booth vs. Abe Lincoln flick Ford had been long attached to, “Manhunt”, that fell apart a couple of years back, isn’t as missed (though it still sounded like a great project for him).
But the biggest and most anticipated film on Ford’s schedule may be still ahead.
Wait for it…
“Blade Runner 2”.
Though we were initially told that the recently-announced “Blade Runner” sequel – which Ridley Scott, who directed the original science-fiction gem, is returning for – would not feature Ford’s Rick Deckard character, Twitch says things have changed.
Either because of his rising statue again, or the fact that they know audiences will feel cheated if Ford doesn’t do the sequel, Alcon are apparently talking to the man about coming aboard the film.
Twitch reports that Ford is in early discussions to do the film. Still very early stages, but all indications suggest that not only does the script feature Deckard but it’s indeed a direct sequel to the 1982 film and not one of those tasteless reboots.
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