Saturday, April 07, 2007

Indiana Jones 4


Hey guys,

I'm going to publish a new Indy IV article soon, and I've also been meaning to revise, reorganize, and update my old Indy IV post, which is below. It's the accumulation of all my notes regarding the widespread rumors and babbling gossip (always from the wagging tongues of fanboys) about the fourth installment of Indiana Jones. I followed these rumors closely because I, like everyone else, dreamed of a shot at writing the new script. I think it would be fair to say that this is one of the most exhaustive, comprehensive reports on all things Indy IV available anywhere on the web.

This update includes the 1999 "red scare" rumor, details about M. Night Shyamalan's involvement, script reviews, and at the bottom, you'll find a list of links. Hope you enjoy it.

-MM

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1994:

Harrison Ford revealed at the Venice Film Festival that he was considering playing his most famous character one last time. (It's been long acknowledged
and reported that Spielberg and Lucas were DONE with the Indiana Jones series, but Harrison Ford has been the one pushing for the fourth film.) A couple of months later, that “bastion of investigative journalism,” the Daily Mail, ran a story (titled "From Speed to Ford Escort") claiming that Sandra Bullock would play Indy's "sparky" sidekick in Indiana Jones And The Lost Continent, which allegedly concerned the fate of Atlantis, a rumor that Variety put to rest. "While Nazis and various cultists couldn't stop Indy, the lack of a suitable script has pushed back the fourth installment in the series for the time being," the article said.

1995:

By Oct, we knew that Jeffrey Boam was working on scripts for Indiana Jones IV and Lethal Weapon 4. In
an article in Variety, Boam was quoted as saying that Spielberg wanted the pic to be shot almost entirely in L.A. Only one week will be on location, probably in Honduras. Russia had first been planned. "And," added Boam, Harrison Ford will play his own age, "so he can limp and/or wear glasses!" Apparently, Boam had been asked to flesh out the MacGuffin that Steven and Harrison didn’t want to do. Empire reported that the story concerned an attempt to foil a Soviet plot to establish a missile base on the moon, or had something to do with the UFO crash at Roswell, New Mexico, or both. I can’t imagine why Ford and Spielberg wouldn’t want to do THAT. Poor Jeffrey.

1996:

In a Drew Babcock interview (which I can't find anymore - only referenced here), Spielberg assured the world that Atlantis had not been considered as part of the scripting process and mentioned that the script "had to do with Adam and Eve." After Babcock did some digging, a source at Paramount told him that the title Indiana Jones and the Garden of Life was being tossed around. In May ‘96, a script entitled
Indiana Jones And The Sons Of Darkness, which was credited to Boam, hit the web from someone who claimed to have lifted it from Lucasfilm's offices. As reported by Empire, “The script, which concerned a race by Indy to beat the Russians to the remnants of Noah's Ark, was removed from the web a day after its initial posting, fuelling rumors that it was genuine.” Fans were invited to post feedback because "Lucasfilm is monitoring the Web to assess what Indy fans do and don't want to see." In truth, the folks at Lucasfilm had nicknamed this script "Indiana Jones and the Sons of Plagiarism." Four months and several cease-and-desist notices later, ambitious Indy fan, Robert Smith, fessed up to having written a bogus script. Later, Kevin Costner and Tom Selleck were rumored to play Indy's 'bad seed' brother.

1997:

This is the year that brought us Chris Columbus’s
Indiana Jones and the Monkey King. At the time, Columbus was known for writing and directing Goonies. He would later go on to direct a couple of Harry Potter films. In any case, the story of Monkey King had Indy, Marcus Brody, English anthropologist Dr. Clare Clarke and 'Scraggy', a Portuguese guide, on the trail of a legendary Chinese artifact, which was believed to hold the secret of eternal life. We would learn later that this was in fact, a rejected Indy 3 script. (The absence of Henry Jones Sr. would’ve been your first clue, and sadly, the actor who played Marcus Brody had passed away in ’92). Of this story, Justin Clark (Ugo Screenwriter’s voice) wrote, “Where Columbus commits his most cardinal sins is with the characters. Long story short, they're cartoons. Indy is an asympathetic womanizer, with only fleeting hints of confidence, and constantly being made the fool by his situations. Screwing up Indy right off the bat should've been where Columbus put the pen (well, nowadays, keyboard) down, and handed over script duties to someone else, but sadly, it doesn't stop there. He also sees fit to saddle Indy with a virtual army of stereotypes (particularly, the stiff, British female scientist who guides him to a stray member of the lost city, and the superstitious African who drives him and his crew around while spouting words of wisdom from his many gods) and annoying sidekicks, none more so than Betsy, a clinging, pain-in-the-ass harpy who, somehow, we're supposed to think has chemistry with Indy. If you thought Willie Scott's perpetual screaming was a problem, she'll look like Katherine Hepburn by comparison. Some of the script's most cringe-worthy moments come from her. And the second I realized the characterizations weren't getting any better, that's when I realized this script, no matter what came later, wouldn't work. And believe me...it does get worse, especially once Sun Wu Kung shows up.”

Also in ’97, there was the rumor (from the now defunct Corona site) in which Lucas told a Dutch TV magazine that Indy will have a son. In May '97,
Spielberg told Variety that he, Lucas, and Ford are "tenacious" about a fourth "Indiana Jones." "We are totally committed to one -- if the story is right, of course." Speaking of tenacious, the rumor about his brother just would not die. Posted on the web was a note from an anonymous Paramount source who said that Indy would not only have a brother but he would also be cast by an unknown. In late '97, Corona got word about a minister and a theologian who were asked to do some historical accuracy checking on the Indy IV script. Apparently, the script dealt with the Garden of Eden and was very "religious in tone." Also in '97, Aint it Cool News spread the rumor about Indy being in his 50's searching for Noah's Ark and that Lawrence Kasdan was the writer. They also reported a rumor about a quest for Shangri-la, which was utterly baseless.

1998:

In January, Dark Horizons posted what it claimed to be the opening pages of another script, entitled
Raiders of the Fallen Empire, which sounds like a reference to the Roman Empire, but apparently it had to do with Indy's discovery of the Garden of Eden. No matter. It was a hoax. (According to Corona, this debacle stressed out a few Paramount execs. Rumor has it that Lucas was very interested in “Fallen Empire,” but it was an unsolicited spec script, and he had not yet decided whether to purchase it. Even though there is still very little known about this script, the mere leaking of the title is said to have been enough to send blood pressures rising.) Later, rumors flew from Corona that Mark Hamill was being considered to play a villain in the Indy sequel. Hamill's "people," however, assured Cinescape that the rumor had no basis in fact. In May, Mr. Showbiz spoke with Jeffrey Boam about his rumored Lost Continent script. He said that he hadn't heard of anything called that, and in fact, he was told not to place a name on the script he turned in two years prior and had not heard anything about it since. In November, Lucas told those at the Screen Producers' Association conference held in Australia that the Indy IV script had been completed. He cited the availability of Ford and Spielberg as the remaining obstacle. However, later interviews with Ford and Spielberg would indicate that all were not in agreement with this script. Then there was the "Law of One" rumor in which Cinescape was handed a script where the action took place in 1953 and involved a "race to harness the power of the ancient device which was responsible for the destruction of Atlantis." Uh huh. Willie Scott also appeared in this script. '98 also brought us a new legitimate script, Indiana Jones and the Saucer Men From Mars, which came out of the blue and was apparently written by The Fugitive scribe Jeb Stuart from a story by Stuart and Lucas. Saucer Men From Mars concerned an alien artifact that constantly changes hands between Indy, Russian baddies, and a group of extra-terrestrials. Indy gets married to beautiful linguist Dr. Elaine McGregor, but the ceremony gets interrupted by the arrival of Elaine's ex-husband, Bolander who takers her away to White Sands, New Mexico. There, a spacecraft has crash-landed, killing its alien occupants and sparking a race between the Americans and Soviets to discover the secrets of the alien ship's fuel supply, a stone cylinder covered in hieroglyphics. The wedding was great fun.

1999:

There was the rumor that Dennis Lawson, the guy who played Wedge Antilles in Star Wars, was set to portray Belloq's brother seeking revenge for the events of Raiders, which was flatly denied. And then there was the
Sword of Arthur script, which was a hoax. However, the pranksters cleverly peppered their pages with "Property of Lucasfilm Ltd," which made it almost feel real. The story had to do with the search for King Arthur's magical sword, Excalibur, which was reputedly hidden on Enigma Island, a small isle off the Spanish coast, six centuries earlier. The Nazis are after it, too, as are the surviving descendants of the original Knights of the Round Table. Indy and his companions - Including Anthony Brody (Marcus' son) and Arianna Smith (a kind of female Indy, as might be guessed from the name) - recover the sword, only to have it snatched from their grasp by the arm of a woman who reaches up from the Atlantic Ocean to reclaim it forever. (Indy loses an eye during one fight and has to wear an eye-patch the rest of the film.) The “aspiring writers,” Steven Frye and Michael Prentice, claimed to have been duped into parting with the script, unaware it would be touted as the real thing.

Lest we forget, 1999 also brought us Indiana Jones and the Red Scare, which hit the web on July 17. This 12-page treatment,
as reported by Empire, “allegedly seen by someone working at Industrial Light & Magic, was set in the early 1950s, as Indy is retained by Eisenhower's administration to find out about the Russians' retrieval of artifacts found in Hitler's bunker. No one has ever owned up to the treatment.”

2000:

There was the rumor that Natalie Portman, while on the set of Star Wars, asked Lucas if she could
play the role of Indy's daughter, Idaho. Spielberg told an Italian newspaper, “Actually, I have to answer that same question all the time: 'Dad, when are you going to film a new Indiana Jones movie?' But tonight I want to make a promise - Indiana Jones is coming back soon.” That was seven years ago. Then there was M. Night Shyamalan, who, fresh off his success from Sixth Sense, admitted on The Howard Stern Show that he'd met with Spielberg, was in early talks to do something with Indy, and that he would love to write the script. Shortly thereafter, Variety reported that Shyamalan was on board to write the new script and that filming would begin in 2002. But then we’re told scheduling didn’t work out. Uh huh. Harrison Ford described his departure as "the failure of George and Steven to attend to him." Lucas admitted he would not be able to give the project his full attention until he completed the new Star Wars trilogy… in 2005.

On a side note - Jeffrey Boam, one of the first reported Indy IV screenwriters would pass away this year due to heart disease, sadly. You just have to love Jeffrey Boam. He wrote some fun scripts – Innerspace, The Dead Zone, The Lost Boys, Funny Farm, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, and of course, Lethal Weapon 2 and 3. We’ll miss you, buddy.

2001:

What? No fake scripts this year? I’m disappointed.

2002:

In January, we’re told that they
already have a title. Spielberg said, “Kate is in it.” Ford is quoted as saying that they finally have “the right script.” But then, in February, Empire reported that they approached Stephen Gaghan to write a new screenplay, which didn’t work out. In April, Empire reported that they’re courting Tom Stoppard to write a new screenplay. A couple of days later, Lucas confessed, "There is a scene where a lot of Indy's ex-girlfriends show up, but they are not major characters." This had to have been a direct reference to Jeb Stuart’s script, an idea that apparently everyone still wants to use. In May, we’re given the news that Frank Darabont has taken the helm as the new screenwriter. In July, we learn that the story will be set in the 1950s, and there will be no Nazis. In December 2002, while promoting Catch Me if You Can, Spielberg said he planned to shoot two films before Indiana Jones 4 in 2004 for a release the year after. He also dismissed shooting it digitally.

2003:

Frank Marshall said that there will be
no son for Indiana Jones. He said, "We're sticking with Indy on his own. He still gets around pretty good." Really. In June '03, Variety told us that Frank Darabont whipped Indiana Jones 4 into shape for a 2004 start. Woo hoo! In August, Darabont said the words that brought such warmth to my heart: "I absolutely don't want to do things like having him say, 'I'm getting too old for this shit...' I don't want to be slipping and sliding in cliches. This character is no longer in the 1930s. He has to age honestly. He's got to be in the 1950s." Amen to that. In September, Ford told Variety: "Steven Spielberg and myself have reserved time in 2004 to begin shooting." (Some claim that Darabont’s title was Indiana Jones and the City of Gods.) Also in September, the question about the use of CGI came up, and Frank Marshall told Empire: “I think we're going to try and rely, like the first two movies, on realism and not try to do too many things with the computer... When you start getting into computers you get fantastical situations like in the Matrix or movies like that. We don't want that, we want exciting heroism, we want seat-of-your-pants, skin-of-your-teeth action. We didn't have all the money in the world on the first films and we want to keep that B-Movie feel. We want to make Indy 4 like we made the first three.”

And finally, a UK website for women called FemaleFirst
alleged that an insider on the production told them that Spielberg told Ford to "'get off of any and all exercise programs.' It's been 15 years since the last Indy movie and obviously Harrison has got a lot older but that's not a problem for this movie," the "insider" told FemaleFirst. "Steven doesn't want a middle-aged guy trying to look young — he wants to bring a new type of hero to the screen. He's going to be older and wiser and a lot less physical than Indy of old." Oh. Hmm.

2004:

In January, Darabont turned in his script. "I've finished my work,” he said, “now it's in the hands of God, or Spielberg and Lucas if you prefer.” But a month later, Lucas
rejected Darabont’s script despite the fact that Spielberg was so excited about this script that he told Darabont this was the “best draft of anything since Raiders of the Lost Ark.” Darabont said, “The project went down in flames. Steven and I looked like accident victims the day we got that call. I certainly don't blame Steven for it. He wasn't in a position to overrule George, and wouldn't have overruled him even if he could. He and George have been close friends for a long time, and they've had an agreement for years that no Indiana Jones film will ever get made unless they both completely agreed on the script. It was just such an awful surprise, after all my hopes and effort. I really felt I'd nailed it, and so did Steven.”

In October, we learn that Jeff Nathanson, writer of Catch Me If You Can, was
brought in to do the rewrite. Not only that, it was a PAGE ONE rewrite. Spielberg would later say in an interview that none of Darabont's script will be used. At all. Zip. All we will know about Nathanson’s script is that he moved it back to the '40s. Later that year, while shooting War of the Worlds, Spielberg met with stuntman Vic Armstrong to discuss three stunt sequences he had envisioned.

2005:

In January, Ford
gave a deadline and said that if they didn’t make this movie by 2008, forget about it. Later that month, Spielberg confirmed that Indiana Jones 4 will be his next film, calling it "the sweet dessert I give those who had to chow down on the bitter herbs that I've used in Munich.” He would later say he’s “taking a year off.” In May, Lucas is quoted in Time Magazine as saying that he didn’t plan to make anymore Indy films. In June, Ford made a joke at a press conference that the working title of Indy IV was Indiana Jones and the Opal of the Mer-Man Prince. The news spread like wildfire across the web, and a week later, Spielberg had to issue an official statement to kill the story. A few months later, there was the rumor about Spielberg visiting the set of Memoirs of a Geisha and telling Michelle Yeoh he still wants her for Indy IV. (Her agency reported in '98 that she met with him to discuss her role in Indy IV.) Close to the end of the year, we’re told that Nathanson’s script was "finished" and "approved."

2006:

Apparently, Nathanson’s script was NOT "finished" and "approved," because in February,
Entertainment Weekly reported that Spielberg himself was working on the script. May '06, Frank Marshall confirmed that there might be a desert. Oh. Nice. Then, on June 23, David Koepp was hired to polish the script. It would be “due” in a few months. He’s Spielberg’s trusted “closer.” Really. And then came Connery's official retirement despite Lucas' public assurance that he will push him into doing it. In an August ’06 interview in Empire Magazine, Lucas said, “We’re basically going to do The Phantom Menace. People’s expectations are way higher than you can deliver. You could just get killed for the whole thing… We would do it for fun and just take the hit with the critics and the fans.” (I don't know about you, but as a screenwriter, as a lifelong lover of movies and Spielberg and Lucas and Indiana Jones, that sends CHILLS up my spine.) The article went on to say that the “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” situation freed up an idea for a plot that was originally deemed too incendiary. “I discovered a McGuffin,” continued Lucas. “I told the guys about it and they were a little dubious, but it’s the best one we’ve ever found… Unfortunately, it was a little too ‘connected’ for the others. They were afraid of what the critics would think. They said, 'Can’t we do it with a different McGuffin? Can’t we do this?' and I said 'No.' So we pottered around with that for a couple of years. Then Harrison really wanted to do it and Steve said, 'Okay.' I said, 'We’ll have to go back to that original MacGuffin and take out the offending parts and still use that area of the supernatural do deal with it.'” Hmm. In Sep '06, Karen Allen may have reignited rumors that Indy will have a daughter. (That rumor has been recently squashed.) And then, of course, in December 29, 2006, Ford, Lucas, and Spielberg confirmed that they will be shooting the movie, which will be released May 22, 2008. Production will start on June 18, 2007. All we know is that it will be a “character piece” with “very interesting mysteries.”



Do you know what the picture above is? No, it's not the government warehouse where they stored the Ark of the Covenant. This is, in fact, where they store all of the Indy IV drafts. Hehehe...

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Links:

Official Indiana Jones site
Raider.net’s Indy 4 Page
SpielbergFilms.com’s Indy 4 Page
Slash Film’s Indy 4 News Page
Rotten Tomatoes’ Indy 4 News Page
ComingSoon.net’s Indy 4 Page
Raven’s Definitive Indy 4 Speculation Index

Screenplays:

Raiders of the Lost Ark (Third Draft, August 1979)
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (Undated, unspecified)
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (Undated, unspecified)

Legitimate but rejected Scripts:

Chris Columbus’
Indiana Jones and the Monkey King
Jeb Stuart’s Indiana Jones and the Saucer Men from Mars (zip file)

Honest and Dishonest Fakes:


Fake Indiana Jones Scripts
Fan Fiction here and here.

29 comments:

Anonymous said...

Brilliant cinema history post, Mystery Man. I'd love to see an Esquire article on either the development of Superman Lives or this movie.

It sounds like the final writing credits will go to Jeff Nathanson and David Koepp, with Koepp maybe not receiving a credit at all, if he's just doing a polish.

What's troubling is Ford saying that if they didn't start this by 2008 "Forget it." Suddenly, after fifteen years, the project goes into production. I'm like to believe it was because they finally nailed the script, but I doubt it.

Just Jake said...

Apparently Connery isn't as retired as has been reported, according to the old Scot himself, he'll be in Indy 4 if he likes the script (translation: make it worth my while).

Anonymous said...

you can add today's rumour that Indy IV will be delayed again due to Harrison sighning on to another film beginning shooting in May

GimmeABreak said...

Fascinating stuff.

Mickey Lee said...

Wow, MM, you should be given the Pulitzer for bloggers for writing this. Do they have those?

Mickey Lee said...

From Friday's IMDB:

"Movie mogul George Lucas refuses to give up on recruiting Sean Connery for the fourth Indiana Jones movie, despite the Scottish star's reluctance to sign on as the adventurer's father. Connery has been linked to the upcoming fourth Indiana Jones movie, but insists he's not that interested in reprising his role as Henry Jones from Indiana Jones & The Last Crusade. That hasn't stopped persistent Lucas, who says, "We're still trying." In other Indiana Jones casting news, Lucas admits he was stunned when director Steven Spielberg told him he wanted to sign Cate Blanchett as Jones' love interest in the new film. He tells newspaper USA Today, "That's who my director wanted and I always bow to the wishes of my director. I approved it because she seemed like a good idea. When I met her at the Academy Awards, I told her, 'Hey, you work for me now!''"

Mystery Man said...

l'homme qui sait - Thanks!

Joe - Esquire had a great article in their June '04 issue (I read Esquire religiously), which I really loved but chose not to reference. It was about a lot of things - how difficult it would be to make this deal, Lucas' killer deals of the past, possible jealousies between Lucas and Spielberg, and the idea that Lucas always saw himself as the driving force behind every story of every Indiana Jones movie, and because he was left out of Spielberg and Darabont's script-writing efforts, he exercised his veto rights. I think it's true. It had nothing to do with Ford's demands, it had to do with a script and a story originating from Lucas that everyone agreed on. And it had to do with finances.

guillermo - Connery will absolutely do it, but right now, make no mistake - they're tearing each other apart over money.

Todd - If you're talking about that immigration movie, it's okay. It has an April 11 start date, and he'll be done in time. It has a Babel-like structure, so the role's not that big.

Thanks, Pat.

Mickey - Hey, man. You are, of course, familiar with the older version of the Indy IV post. This is much better, isn't it? The posters really helped. Lucas' line about "always bowing to the wishes of his director" is a crock. If that's the case, he would've gone with Darabont's script. There's a lot of ego here, I made concessions to allow Connery to be his dad, so you have to make concessions to me about the next story, etc, etc, etc. All this talk about Cate and Ray being cast is not true. They're all still in negotiation, and it's certainly possible it may not work out. The assumption is that the deal will be made. Money is tricky about this final film, and some of these deals may not be made. In truth, they are all STILL in negotiation.

-MM

Mickey Lee said...

Oh, believe me, I don't believe half of what I read on imdb, just food for thought.

I personally would prefer if Sean was not in the movie, unless of course, he dies at the very beginning. It always bugs me when sequels seem to pile up with characters from the previous films, leaving little or no time to develop new characters (see the Batman sequels, Shrek, etc.), just to get some cheap applause from the audience.

The story of Indy and his dad was brought to a conclusion in the Last Crusade, what other reason would there be to have him in the fourth film? Sometimes, puppies need to die. hahahaha

Mystery Man said...

I believe you! I certainly didn't mean that you wouldn't know better. When it comes to Indy, the web is, indeed, a web of lies... I think it was the Hollywood Reporter who jumped the gun and reported that those deals have been made because they ASSUME those deals WILL be made. Then everyone else blindly follows in line reporting it as if it's gospel truth.

I would agree with you about Connery, but he's so popular, he has to make some kind of appearance. The problem is, how do you incorporate him into the story? As you pointed out, their storyline is resolved and his lifelong ambition (holy grail) has been realized. So what do you do with him? I liked what Jeb Stuart did in his Saucer Men script. He gave Henry Jones Sr. a small but very humorous appearance at Indy's wedding. I love the way he's the voice of reason about how quickly Indy's jumping into this marriage, gives his mother's advice about not blowing it, and when the bride's abducted right before the ceremony, he leans over to Indy and says, "See, these are the things a long engagement would point out." Hehehe... I do love the wedding idea. Jeb really nailed the characteristically humorous comments of Henry Jones Sr. in his script.

But your point about piling on new characters in sequels is a good one and the biggest reason I'd be opposed to the idea of a son or a bad seed brother. The plate is already full, thank you very much.

-MM

Anonymous said...

Was the Spielberg interview Drew Babcock described ever printed or recorded? I'm not sure... http://web.archive.org/web/20020205182758/corona.bc.ca/films/details/indy4A.html

Mystery Man said...

Hey there,

Thanks for that link. Seeing that again reminded me that I meant to include the story about the people at Lucasfilm referring to "Sons of Darkness" as "Indiana Jones and the Sons of Plagarism." Hehehe...

I seem to recall reading it, but I'm honestly not sure. I could shoot myself for not copying and pasting those interviews into my notes. If it was anywhere online at the time, I certainly would have read it. All I had in my notes was "Corona, Drew Babcock, Spielberg interview" and a dead link (http://corona.bc.ca/films/details/indy4.html). NOW, of course, the only other reference to this Drew Babcock business I could find is the link you shared (thank you) and the Indyfan Reality Check found here.

I'm glad you brought up the Garden of Life rumor, because that was really interesting research. I honestly don't know what to think about it. I can't imagine what the Maguffin would've been apart from the tree itself. I had always believed this rumor before, but now I'm not so sure. The only source to this rumor (that I'm aware of) was Corona’s Coming Attractions, and they would share any and all good or bad rumors that floated by them. I really wish I could've gone back to this supposed Spielberg interview to verify that the "Adam and Eve" story was really true, because I'm not fully convinced yet. Nobody else talked about it, although it's frequently confused with Chris Columbus' "Monkey King," which I think was a different script. And going through that link you shared again, it seems pretty clear to me that it most certainly is a different script.

If you have anymore details to share, I'm all ears.

-MM

Mystery Man said...

I just updated that 1996 portion of the article.

-MM

Anonymous said...

This site copied the rumor too. http://www.indy-net.co.uk/articles.php?article_id=6
I don't find much evidence of Drew Babcock the writer out there. I'm more curious about the theologian from Moscow, Idaho who supposedly consulted on the script. Anyway, such rumors inspired this (another poster for your collection): http://www.theindyexperience.com/humor/img/rough_cut_rumours.gif

Mystery Man said...

I hadn't seen that rough cut gif before. That's pretty funny.

I think the fact that Babcock was in my own notes and that I had always believed this rumor betrayed me. You're absolutely correct in that there's almost no evidence of Mr. Drew Babcock online, and despite the claim that he was/is a freelance writer for the Washington Post, he's nowhere to be found on the WP website.

And frankly, I've always found this story about the theologian to be a little suspect, too. Ya know, I'm leaning heavily toward the notion that this Garden of Life business was total bunk.

For those of you who are not familiar, listed below is the only remaining evidence online about this Garden of Life rumor and it's all found here:

"July 22, 1996... Drew Babcock, a freelance writer for film and television at the Washington Post writes to us to tell of a recent interview with Steven Spielberg. One answer he could not be too specific about was the next Indiana Jones film. Spielberg may or may not direct it depending on his schedule at DreamWorks. However Speilberg said any ideas of the lost city of Atlantis have not been a part of the script process. He also did say that the movie may have an ancient biblical element. When asked what kind, Spielberg said something 'to do with Adam and Eve'. Babcock was interested, and decided to pursue it further - a source at Paramount told him the title 'Indiana Jones and the Garden of Life' is being tossed around. [Scoop credit to Drew Babcock and his Resources of Plenty. Thanks Drew!]"


September 9, 1997... Here are a couple of new strong rumors to toss on the ol' Indy pile. If this keeps up the page'll begin to look like the present James Bond page...

"While I was managing a movie theater here in Moscow, Idaho, one of my employees told me about a local resident (a friend of her father's) who was approached by someone connected with Spielberg and the Indiana Jones IV development team.

"This resident (who I am acquainted with; a friend of my family as well) is a minister and theologist. He recently took a trip back east for biblical research, and became involved with a study of Genesis.

"So, somewhere along the line, someone connected with Indiana Jones IV heard about his studies and asked him to participate in fact-checking and historical accuracy with Indy Jones IV. He mentioned to my employee that they sent him a completed script to be checked for biblical truth and reverancy. He read the script and gave it his personal seal of approval.

"He mentioned that the script dealt with the Garden of Eden, and its discovery by Indiana Jones. He said that it was extremely religous in its tone, and that it played with some of the same elements as Raiders of the Lost Ark. He also said that the script was only a 'possibility,' one of several possible ideas for Indy IV. He said it was very exciting and would play well as a film.

I would have to rate this scoop as extremely reliable; I know this minister and theologist personally. I have no doubts as to the accuracy of this story."
We'd love to be able to confirm the existence of multiple Indy 4 scripts and/or proposals besides the older (and already passed-by) ones. [Scoop emailed to us by 'meadow1'.]"

Anonymous said...

Ricky "Gobi-1" Kennedy here. Thanks for using two of my fan art posters. That article was fascinating. I had never heard of the "Red Scare" script. Lots of interesting information.

You can check out more of my fan art through the link in my name.

Mystery Man said...

Hey, Ricky!

Can I just say that you did such a superb job on those posters. I really loved them.

Thanks, man.

-MM

Anonymous said...

Dude, please do just a little fact-checking.

I only got a little bit into the article before I saw this ridiculously false bit of nonsense:

"At the time, Columbus was known for writing and directing Goonies. "

Um, Columbus did not direct "The Goonies", but writing it was far from his most notable accomplishment at that point.

By 1997 he was a VERY successful director who had made, among other things, "Home Alone" and "Mrs. Doubtfire."

You, of course, could have learned all of this yourself with a ten second imdb check.

Ali Arikan said...

I am going to add a link to this great piece on the blog-a-thon. I hope that's fine by you.

Mystery Man said...

Ali - I'm honored! I'm only sorry that I didn't know about the blog-a-thon beforehand, as I would've been happy to participate with a new article.

Be well,

-MM

Big Mike Mendez said...

Great post. Sounds like they had top men working on that script.

Top...men.

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Anonymous said...

I scoured the net for every Eden rumor, filed under "Indiana Jones 4.3". You think you're done with 4... but Nathanson's draft is bound to surface!
http://moedred.livejournal.com/9867.html

Mystery Man said...

anon - that's great stuff, man! Thanks so much for that link!

-MM