UPDATE: Indiana Jones Not Being Rebooted
Update: We've contacted a high-placing source who tells /Film the below story is not true. Also, producer Frank Marshall tweeted on the manner. The original text follows.Update #2: Frank Darabont has also spoken up to say that there is no truth to the aspect of the story saying he pitched a new Indy story. Read that below.
There are rumors, there are big rumors, and then there are stories like this. A new report says Disney, which recently acquired the rights to release more Indiana Jones films, is looking to go the James Bond route with the character. That is, the company could recast him for years to come. Who would don the fedora after Harrison Ford? Rumor has it Bradley Cooper is at the top of the list.
According to Latino Review, Cooper is just one name on a longer list of actors who may, or in most cases may not play Indiana Jones moving ahead. They also say Frank Darabont, who wrote an infinitely better script for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull than the one produced, has already pitched an idea for a new movie. Are these claims true? Latino Review is often pretty spot on with these rumors, even when they make their way through the laundry and come out years later.
Inquiries to high end Lucasfilm sources have yet to be returned.
Let's take Bradley Cooper and Frank Darabont and put them aside for a second. The idea of Indiana Jones becoming an American James Bond, meaning various actors could continue the role for decades in the future, is actually a pretty great idea. In most people's minds, no one will ever touch Sean Connery when it comes to James Bond. But the franchise didn't end with him. We still have that performance, those films, yet we get new Bond movies every few years and some of them — Skyfall for example — are absolutely fantastic. Even the least-loved Bond actors have fans.
Indiana Jones has that potential. He doesn't have to grow older with each film. Why not hit the reset button and continue forward? We'd still have Ford's iconic films, yet we'd have new ones too. Of course, this will put the original four movies and TV show in a bit of an odd light, but after a good movie or two, no one will care.
Again, this is not definite. It's a rumor — a huge rumor — and Bradley Cooper and Frank Darabont are just possible names attached to it. But if this is true? Wow. Talk about the doors it opens.
I think you know what to discuss below.
Update: Here's Darabont's statement, via AICN:
This is an internet rumor with not a shred of truth in it. I have not pitched an idea for a proposed Indiana Jones movie, nor has anybody approached me with such an idea. The inaccurate report on Latino Review was the first I'd heard of it.