Date: September 29, 2004
Source: IESB.NET
Author: Fred Topel
Fans everywhere were saddened when Frank Darabont’s script for Indiana Jones IV was rejected by George Lucas. But most of us will still be able to see the eventual movie and enjoy it. For poor Darabont, even that experience will be soiled.
“Let me put it this way, as a fan myself, and I’m talking a real hardcore Indiana Jones fan, the movie I wrote is the movie I wanted to see,” Darabont said. “It was the one that would have satisfied me most. So who knows what’s going to be the result of that? I’m sure it will have, even if it’s great, I’ll have rather seriously mixed feelings about it.”
The film’s producers have said that only the third act needs revision, but Darabont expects the changes will be more all-encompassing. “There might be one line of dialogue left of me by the time it’s all said and done… Once you have a movie that’s ready to start shooting and you decide no, no, no, let’s go back to square one, that’s a sure recipe for things dying on the vine. I’m not doubting that they’ll make the movie, but I’ll believe it when I see it.”
Darabont also worked on the high profile Mission:Impossible 3. He was on his third draft of the rewrite when Joe Carnahan left the project. “Our collaboration on the first two drafts was really very much equal I think with Tom and with Joe. Ultimately, whatever creative differences there might have been that led to Joe walking off the project, I was unaware of. I thought I was pleasing all parties. I thought we were all on the same page, so it came as a real surprise to me actually when Joe walked. I’m sorry I can’t give you more insight into what Joe’s reasons were but I don't know what they are.”
Comparing the process of writing for Indy and writing for Ethan Hunt, Darabont said that despite all the gadgets and technology, Mission: Impossible does not have the fantasy opportunities that Indiana Jones does. “The fascinating thing about this third one is it’s a much more realistic and much more gritty approach to a Mission: Impossible movie than has been seen before. It’s much more pure feeling and much less operatic than the first two. I think it’s a terrifically smart direction to take the series.”
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