Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny: James Mangold teases a “hero at sunset” journey

We still don’t know exactly what Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny will be about, but I’m just thrilled to have one more adventure with my favourite archeologist. Director James Mangold isn’t about to spill the beans, but he did tell Entertainment Weekly that Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny will play with the journey of a “hero at sunset,” much like Logan.

I’m always interested in this idea of a hero at sunset. What does the hero do when the world no longer has a place for him? I find it really interesting to try to look at classical heroes through the prism of our jaundiced contemporary attitudes.

James Mangold was quick to note that while Logan was a “very purposefully and intentionally grim adventure, very dramatic, and very serious,” The Dial of Destiny will be different. “I am under no illusions that my job making an Indiana Jones film was to suddenly beat the humor out of it and turn it into some kind of dirge,” Mangold said. “I think that what we’re trying to do is balance both an accurate and realistic appraisal of where this character would be at this time in his life, and do that honestly, and at the same time, try and carry forward what the very title of our movie promises, which is a romp and a wonderful adventure with action and chivalry and escapes by the skin of your nose and ingenious solutions to diabolical problems. This is an Indiana Jones film.”

The movie takes place in 1969 against the backdrop of the space race and the moon-landing program, which is a very different era for Indy. “I mean, 1969 is the beginning of now, really, in terms of technology and the space race,” Mangold said. “So, you have Cold Wars, nuclear power, intrigue, the lack of clear good guys and bad guys. In the same way, you have to be really considerate about how you try and transpose a fairly simplistic kind of black-hat, white-hat sensibility into a period that is more complicated. We try to exploit that by jumping forward into 1969 to a hero who is used to a black and white world, [but finds himself] in a world that has gone gray.“

In addition to Harrison Ford as the legendary hero archaeologist, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny also stars Phoebe Waller-Bridge (Fleabag), Mads Mikkelsen (Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore), Toby Jones (Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom), Boyd Holbrook (Logan), Antonio Banderas (Pain and Glory), Shaunette Renne Wilson (Black Panther), Thomas Kretschmann (Das Boot), Oliver Richters (Black Widow), Ethann Isidore (Mortel), and John Rhys-Davies (Raiders of the Lost Ark). James Mangold directed and also co-wrote the script alongside Jez Butterworth and John-Henry Butterworth. Indiana Jones will be back in theaters on June 30, 2023.