‘Indiana Jones 5’ Plot Details Reveal Nazis, De-Aging, and Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s Character
As part of Empire Magazine’s coverage of the upcoming Indiana Jones 5, Lucasfilm has opened the curtain and revealed the first plot details for the new movie.
Apparently, the movie will be set in 1969 against the backdrop of the space race. However, NASA will have among their ranks some familiar villains to Indiana Jones: the Nazis. Mads Mikkelsen will be playing the main antagonist, Voller, who was inspired by real-life NASA engineer with a Nazi past, Wernher von Braun. Co-writer Jez Butterworth said the following about including Nazis in the plot:
“The simple fact is that the moon-landing program was run by a bunch of ex-Nazis. How ‘ex’ they are is the question. And it gets up Indy’s nose…”
Mikkelsen also commented on his character:
“He’s a man who would like to correct some of the mistakes of the past. There is something that could make the world a much better place to live in. He would love to get his hands on it. Indiana Jones wants to get his hands on it as well. And so, we have a story.”
The film will involve a major setpiece set during the New York parade on August 13, 1969, that celebrated Apollo 11’s astronauts getting safely back to Earth. This is teased by the picture above, which features Boyd Holbrook as Klaber, Volger’s second-in-command, or his “lapdog”, as Holbrook described him to Empire.
That is not all in terms of scenes from the movie revealed by the magazine. Apparently, the opening sequence will involve a de-aged Harrison Ford back in the Raiders of the Lost Ark era, set in a castle in Nazi Germany. Mangold explained the idea behind it as follows:
“I wanted the chance to dive into this kind of full-on George-and-Steven old picture and give the audience an adrenaline blast. And then we fall out, and you find yourself in 1969. So that the audience doesn’t experience the change between the ‘40s and ‘60s as an intellectual conceit, but literally experiences the buccaneering spirit of those early days… and then the beginning of now.”
The film will also introduce Indiana Jones’ goddaughter, Helena, played by Fleabag‘s Phoebe Waller-Bridge. The character is described as “a mystery and a wonder” by the actress, as “slippery, charming, the girl next door, a grifter” by director James Mangold, and as “a pioneer in ethical accounting” by Harrison Ford himself. Waller-Bridge also revealed that she jumped on board immediately after a meeting with Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy:
“Kathy was in London and asked to have dinner with me, and casually mentioned this. I immediately ordered ten bottles of wine. Then it was the fastest I’ve ever read a script; I came out of a sort of haze afterwards. I just couldn’t believe how much fun I had and how moved I was by it. And then I had a Zoom and screamed, ‘YES!’ at them all.
Honestly, I just loved it. When you’re playing a character who throws herself on the back of a vehicle, there’s no acting around that. You just have to bloody do it.”
More will come from the movie in the next few days and weeks. Lucasfilm is expected to reveal the official title and the first teaser trailer for the movie ahead of the release of Avatar: The Way of Water this December.
Indiana Jones 5 will open in theaters on June 30, 2023.
Miguel Fernández is a Spanish student that has movies as his second passion in life. His favorite movie of all time is The Lord of the Rings, but he is also a huge Star Wars fan. However, fantasy movies are not his only cup of tea, as authors like Scorsese, Fincher, Kubrick or Hitchcock have been an obsession for him since he started to understand the language of filmmaking. He is that guy who will watch a black and white movie, just because it is in black and white.
