Harrison Ford a "relic" according to article

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note: emphasis mine. fucking funny!
E! Entertainment Online wrote: Tuesday January 22 07:39 PM EST
Indiana Jones and the Big Sequel
It's almost time for Harrison Ford to start dusting off the old fedora.

Indiana Jones is definitely coming back for a fourth installment.

A spokesman for Steven Spielberg confirmed Tuesday that the director and fellow Indiana Jones mastermind George Lucas have come up with a story, and Ford has agreed to reprise his famous role.

An earlier report at FoxNews.com raised hopes the trio might begin the project as early as this year. During a Golden Globes party, columnists Roger Friedman tracked down Spielberg, who said, "We have a title, but we're not ready to announce it," Spielberg said. "I will give you one clue, though. Kate is in it."

Spielberg, of course, was referring to his missus, actress Kate Capshaw, who played Willie Scott, Indy's damsel in distress in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. When asked whether her character would be back in flashbacks, the director told Friedman, "No, she'll be in the present."

Friedman also ran into Ford (who received the Cecil B. DeMille Award at the Globes), who said, "It was always about getting the right script, and now we have it."

Spielberg, meanwhile, is quoted as saying he was planning on beginning the fourth Indiana Jones feature as soon as he wraps Catch Me If You Can, an action-comedy starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hanks slated to hit theaters in December.

However, Spielberg's publicist now says that while the talent is onboard, there are still some kinks to iron out.

"They have a story for an Indy 4, which George Lucas, Harrison and Steven have been working toward," spokesman Marvin Levy tells E! Online, but he insists, "They don't have a script."

Furthermore, Levy says Spielberg hasn't set his schedule yet. "It's not his next picture. We don't know what his next picture's going to be. Right now, Steven's been described as being in development heaven. They do have a story they like and they have title, but it's not been revealed."

The odds are good, though, that the team will reunite sooner rather than later. Daily Variety reports Spielberg has dropped plans to direct Memoirs of a Geisha, a project he had long been flirting with, and will now produce Columbia Pictures' adaptation of Arthur S. Golden's bestseller instead.

Ford meanwhile has nothing on his slate beyond the upcoming sub thriller K-19: The Widowmaker, in which he stars as a Russian sub captain faced with a potentially deadly nuclear disaster aboard his boat. At 59, Ford is getting to be old enough to play one of the relics Indy digs up, as opposed to the swashbuckling hero.

The big question mark is how much input Lucas will have. Beyond helping out on the story, reps for Lucasfilm could not confirm Lucas' participation. The filmmaker has been busy writing and helming the Star Wars prequels, the last of which won't hit screens until 2005.

The last time the whip-wielding, adventure-seeking archeologist was on screen was in 1989's Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.

The idea for an Indy 4 has been bouncing around at least since 1993. Lucas and Spielberg even recruited Sixth Sense writer-director M. Night Shyamalan to write a potential version. No word on how his script turned out.

Paramount, which distributed the first three Indy films and whose mountain logo famously opens each adventure, has first dibs on the fourth installment, as well.

If Indy 4 does get fast-tracked, it's conceivable Spielberg could start shooting Indy 4 later this year for a potential summer or holiday 2003 release.

Contract disputes

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Latest from the Harrison Ford camp is that production has not begun because of contract disputes on who would supply the glycerin pills for the set. Also he was pushing for multiple de-phibulators(sp?) to be on the set but the actors union is having problems filing any grievences for the fact that aliens are not covered in their current contract. :roll: