Since
its initial announcement back in 2016, Indiana Jones 5 has been hit with
many delays and release schedule changes. Back in February,
director Steven Spielberg officially stepped down to a producer role with
James Mangold named as his replacement in May. Now, screenwriter David Koepp, who departed the film along with Spielberg, said that version fell apart due to disagreements over the script.
In an interview with Den of Geek, screenwriter David Koepp explained “it was just very hard to have everybody come together and have all the elements — Steven, Harrison (Ford), the script and Disney — come together at once. And it didn’t.”
“When James Mangold came in and Steven stepped out, that was a pretty logical breaking point,” Koepp said. “It’s a gracious time to step out the door because I think the last thing a new director wants is the old director’s writer.”
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Mangold, who was Oscar-nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay for Logan, recently revealed that he’s “trying to find an emotional center to operate from” for the story, informing ComicBook.com:
“I think the most important thing is, in an age when franchises have become a commodity, that serving the same thing again. At least for me, in the dances I’ve had with any franchises, serving the same thing again, the same way, usually just produces a longing for the first time you ate it. Meaning, it makes an audience wish that they just had the first one over again. So you have to push something to someplace new, while also remembering the core reasons why everyone was gathered. And to use Logan as an example of that, when you’re dealing in a world of a very pressured franchise.”
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The film is likely Harrison Ford’s last time playing the iconic treasure hunter as he turns 80 in 2022.
Indiana Jones 5 is currently set for a July 29, 2022 debut after Disney adjusted its release schedule earlier this year.
For more, check out everything we know about Indiana Jones 5.
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Matthew Adler is a Features, News, Previews, and Reviews writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @MatthewAdler and watch him stream on Twitch.