James Mangold was hurt by the reaction to Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny

Last Updated on December 9, 2024

Many hoped that Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny would wipe away the bad taste of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, but the long-belated sequel didn’t quite hit the mark. The film received mixed reviews and was one of the biggest box office bombs of the year, grossing $384 million worldwide on a budget said to be well over $300 million. While speaking with Deadline, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny director James Mangold said he was hurt by the reaction to the film. He also wondered if audiences weren’t ready to accept Indy in his twilight years

“You have a wonderful, brilliant actor who’s in his eighties. So I’m making a movie about this guy in his eighties, but his audience on one other level doesn’t want to confront their hero at that age. And I am like, I’m good with it,” Mangold said. “We made the movie. But the question is, how would anything have made the audience happy with that, other than having to start over again with a new guy?“

Mangold had intended on making A Complete Unknown at the time, but the project was put on hold due to COVID and Timothée Chalamet being busy making Dune. It was at that point he was approached by Steven Spielberg, Kathleen Kennedy, and Harrison Ford. “And then here come lifelong heroes from my childhood into my life going, ‘We have something for you to work on.’ It was a joyous experience, but it hurt,” Mangold said, “in the sense that I really love Harrison and I wanted audiences to love him as he was and to accept that that’s part of what the movie has to say—that things come to an end, that’s part of life.“

Here’s the official synopsis for A Complete Unknown: “Set in the influential New York music scene of the early 60s, A Complete Unknown follows 19-year-old Minnesota musician Bob Dylan’s (Timothée Chalamet) meteoric rise as a folk singer to concert halls and the top of the charts – his songs and mystique becoming a worldwide sensation – culminating in his groundbreaking electric rock and roll performance at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965.” In addition to Chalamet, A Complete Unknown stars Edward Norton, Elle Fanning and Monica Barbaro. The film also co-stars Boyd Holbrook, Dan Fogler, Norbert Leo Butz, and Scoot McNairy. A Complete Unknown will hit theaters on December 25th.

Now that it’s been over a year since the release of The Dial of Destiny, have your thoughts on the film changed?