Indiana Jones and the Quadrant of Destiny: Harrison Ford, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Mads Mikkelsen, and James Mangold Discuss the Film’s Challenges and Humanity at Press Conference

Indiana Jones and the Quadrant of Destiny awaits us in the hall from 28 June: Harrison Ford returns to play the most famous archaeologist in cinema, in the company of Phoebe Waller-Bridge as his goddaughter Helena, facing the threat of a scientist named Voller, played by Mads Mikkelsen. Everything is directed by James Mangold, who inherited the project from Steven Spielberg, here only executive producer. We met the director and performers at a press conference, where they discussed this extremely delicate and risky challenge.

The return of Indiana Jones

Why back to Indy in Indiana Jones and the Quadrant of Destinyfifteen years after Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull? Ford explains that he wanted to wrap up the Indiana story, “I wanted to see him at the end of his lifeThere was a good script that encouraged him to go through it, excited him. “I had an ambition to do it. […] I like to say goodbye like this. With an interesting story that I hoped would involve people.” The films made so far, explains Harrison, have told the strength of Indy, it was something already amply demonstrated: now it is a matter of telling a new phase, fifteen years later, the end of the academic life that has always been an inspiration to him. It’s in pieces at the beginning of the film: “His weakness is in the signs of the time“.
Despite being a young woman, “with the power of intelligence, independent and with a sense of humor”, Helena – Phoebe explains to us – ha a courage that can easily turn into recklessness. It’s a who can’t really ask for help, must learn to open up. Helena is the right person for Indy at this moment in his life, because prof. Jones is located in an “emotional cul-de-sac”, surrounded by people who in 1969 are enthusiastic about the futurewhen he dedicated his life to the past. She reactivates it, even if it’s at the beginning it’s on bad faith: Helena will discover true passion (for history) only at the end, realizing that be vulnerable it’s important. “I like to think they will always be friends, however she will be changed forever by meeting him.”
Mads Mikkelsenwho plays the villain of the situation, jokes about the nuances of the characters told by Ford and Waller-Bridge: “Voller has no weaknesses, of course being a Nazi doesn’t help! His passion is also his weakness.” Voller lives for an obsession, like other characters in the film.

James Mangold and Indiana Jones to discover

James Mangold, the film’s director, had an “exciting” experience. “One of the things that attracted me was the companyI grew up admiring these movies and these people, Ford, Steven Spielberg, Kathleen Kennedy, Frank Marshall, built my love for cinema. I felt the opportunity and I felt theirs heatI knew it was going to be one of the great experiences of my life.”
What was the biggest challenge of this feature film? Mangold distinguishes between two challenges. One was that purely logistics: the management of action scenes, moving the set around the world, coordinating shots shot in different places but belonging to the same scene. “Must plan a lot.” But the biggest challenge though is making sure that the film has a soulthat the actors find the space to carry humanity even in such a massive production. Why shouldn’t a blockbuster have it? He doesn’t understand who divides the pure show from a deeper emotional involvement. “Can’t we have both together?” Must protect that emotional bubble “that you can’t describe with storyboards or create with visual effects”, the magic of the moment.

He wondered how engage old and new audiences? Not that much: James explains that the compass is primarily that of make a good movie, regardless. He doesn’t work thinking about how to sell something (“Maybe I’m crazy”). As a director it is important to work for create a car that you can actually drive. There are memories of the past, his legacy, but at the same time there is a need to do something new. You don’t have to aim to save goat and cabbage, you have to project yourself forward, you have to ask yourself questions about the characters and ask yourself if they are interesting. Mikkelsen’s Voller for example is now part of America even if he remains a Nazi, this already makes him different from past antagonists: he is integrated but has a mission all of his own.
Natural that someone thinks of a link between this Indy and another farewell managed by Mangold, Logan. “There is a connection… but when I work on a franchise I think about the integrity of the film itself, I try to ask what is the unique story for this specific film. I knew that Logan had spent his entire life in pain, wondering if hiding or accepting being used as a weapon, so death was basically a salvation for him, in the last seconds he was finally free. This does not apply to Indiana Jones: in his films there are humor, charm, adventure and screwball comedy.” In Indiana’s case, Mangold explains, having decided not to deny reality, her agewe had to focus on this specific aspect: how would he face a changed world, a new challenge, without necessarily being ready to face it anymore? Generally speaking, Logan and this film have in common a character who comes out of a period of inactivity, but the how is different.

The art of acting

Since the story is also about mentors and of the conflicting relationship that one can have with them, someone asks if the cast has had mentors who have helped them in their careers. An acting coach told Mikkelsen, “Remember that you are a professional liar, but never lie“, a paradox that invited us to take the character’s credibility seriously. Phoebe recalls instead that her mentor taught her “not to care too much”, letting the tension evaporate before a performance, even in a colorful and slightly goliardic way: you have to hold on to it very much until a moment before you start acting.” Ford refers to a similar sentence by Marlon Brando: “You can’t hold on to it too much or it will show“, although Harrison takes care to make us understand what it means: certainly not to give a damn about the performance, but about don’t care about personal success, to remember to be there in the moment. The intention has to count, and you can’t get distracted by obsessing over the outcome.
Mangold’s point of view is different. Assistant at CalArts of the American naturalized English director Alexander Mackendrickhe understood from his severity in the face of his immature writing exercises how necessary it was toil in this trade: Alexander didn’t care how hard James had to write a few pages, because his comments and corrections were always longer! In his relationship with actors and actresses he has always loved a habit: walking around the set mimicking in person what he asks them to do. For Mangold it is also important as a test: “What you have imagined is not always physically feasible for someone. You must remember not to live only in your mind.”

Speaking of acting, Mads Mikkelsen doesn’t find it that difficult to tackle a badafter having played many: “It doesn’t depend on me, it depends on the script and the work with colleagues, so you find the character. I seek his humanityif I can’t find what he dreams about, what his passions are, I can’t find the character. […] I’ve gotten into several franchises, but I’ve grown with this one (actually I’ve also said that for Star Warsbut there I was lying!)”. Phoebe Waller-Bridge received a clear compass, “blessing and curse” (due to the importance of the model): Barbara Stanwyckin film come Lady Eva (1941), where he sketched a woman who “communicated in a very modern way, refusing to depend on others”. However, she does not hide that her favorite character in the saga, apart from Indy, is the Marion Of Karen Allen (a preference shared by Mangold).
Harrison, on the other hand, is as usual very shy and reluctant when it comes to talking about his work: “We are storytellersI assist the narrator, what I have done over the years was provide my experience for this purpose, I gradually learned more and more how to do my job. A character to me means what it means to the audience. I feel compelled to give my best to the story I telle the generosity people have shown me over the years is something that really means the world to me.”