With the next chapter of the INDIANA JONES franchise being pushed back for a 2021 release, it would appear as if Harrison Ford has some room in his schedule to participate in other film projects. With that in mind, Variety is now reporting that Ford is negotiating to star as John Thornton, a prospector weathering the Yukon while on the search for gold in CALL OF THE WILD. Based on the 1903 novel of the same name by Jack London, 20th Century Fox is looking to pull out all the stops with a big-budget adventure for an adaptation set to explore the Klondike gold rush of the 1890s. The novel has been adapted for film in 1935 with Clarke Gable as the lead, and again in 1972 with Charlton Heston in the starring role.
Chris Sanders (LILO & STITCH, THE CROODS) is set to direct the latest update to the tale from a script penned by Michael Green (LOGAN, AMERICAN GODS, JUNGLE CRUISE). Production on the project is expected to kick into high gear in early September, with Technoprops, a special effects studio that was bought by Fox in 2017, working their magic on the film.
It's estimated that over 100,000 prospectors flocked to the Klondike region during the Gold Rush era between 1896-1899, after local miners discovered a deposit of the extravagant element. To reach the area, miners had to brave a series of menacing locales and conditions just for a chance to reach "the promised land." Not all of them survived the journey.