It took so long to finally mount the fourth Indiana Jones Film, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, that now director Steven Spielberg laments its completion. After accepting a lifetime achievement award from the Visual Effects Society, Spielberg reflected on his latest production.
“It was awful the last day of shooting because I didn’t want it to end,” said Spielberg. “Harrison didn’t want it to end, Karen, none of us wanted it to end. It was one of the best experiences I’ve ever had.”
Even the career montage at VES did not show Indy IV footage, only behind the scenes shots of Spielberg and the cast on set. A teaser trailer is set to debut before this Friday’s The Spiderwick Chronicles, but none of this has anything to do with Spielberg himself.
“Well, you’ll have to ask my producer Frank Marshall and he’s not talking. And George Lucas, and he never talks.”
Visual effects have changed the way Spielberg makes movies, for now he can previsualize every sequence, for better or worse. “I get to make the movie before I get to make the movie. The only bad thing about that is it takes about 25% of the spontaneity of making on set discoveries because you fall in love with the pre-vis and you don’t give your imagination a chance to fly so much when you’re on the set and the practical 3D reality of being on a movie set. So I had to fight that urge to stick with pre-vis by throwing out a lot of pre-vis if I thought I had a better idea the day I was shooting the actors.”
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is due in theaters May 22, 2008.
