Karen Allen at the L.A. premiere of Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny in June.Photo:Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic
Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic
NOTE: The following contains spoilers forIndiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, now playing in theaters.
Karen Allenwishes her return in the newIndiana Joneswas grander.
The actress, 71, first played Marion Ravenwood oppositeHarrison Ford’s Indiana Jones in 1981’sRaiders of the Lost Arkthen reprised the role for 2008’sKingdom of the Crystal Skull, where their characters' son Mutt Williams (Shia LaBeouf) was introduced.
In the fifth filmIndiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny,Allen is back, and fans learn she and Indy drifted apart after the death of Mutt. (LaBeouf, 37, does not return onscreen.) At the very end, Marion shows up to reunite and reconcile with Indy.
“I was reading a script that told [Dial of Destiny’s] story and, of course, I was disappointed. I had thought that I would be majorly a part of the film, and that was just not the direction they decided to go,” she said.
“I think they had some problems to solve with the story in terms of Shia LaBeouf not coming back, and they chose to create this story that Mutt had been killed in the war and that it put a wedge between Marion and Indy,” continued Allen.
“I mean, you could have knocked me over with a feather when I read it. But I was really happy that they came back together in the end,” she said.
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008).©Paramount/courtesy Everett Collection
©Paramount/courtesy Everett Collection
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Allen recalled that her character played a bigger part in previous iterations of the script, prior to director James Mangold coming on board.
“When Steven [Spielberg] was still gonna direct the film, I didn’t have the opportunity to read any of those scripts, although I know that Marion was much more involved in the story at that juncture,” she toldTHR.
“Steven and I had spoken after he decided he was gonna step down as director,” continued Allen, “and he said to me, ‘You’re gonna love working with James Mangold.’ And I said, ‘Oh, great.’ So I knew James had hired new writers and that there was going to be a whole new approach with a new director and new writers, but I was really going into the unknown.”
Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981).©Paramount/courtesy Everett Collection
“I did know that there was gonna be a fifth. When we finished shooting the fourth, there was already talk about there being a fifth and perhaps final episode,” she explained. “So, yes, I was always imagining I would be in it — and I am — but it’s just in a slightly different way than I had imagined.”
Allen also shared what it was like reuniting with Ford, 80, for the new film.
“When we actually had a moment to work together, reminiscing is probably not a part of what we do together. We just had a nice conversation to feel our way back into the characters and the circumstances of the characters,” she said.
“He told me a bit about what they had been shooting and a bit about some of the references to Marion that existed in the film,” she added. “So we just kind of caught up with where the characters are at this moment.”
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (2023).© Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures / Courtesy Everett Collection
© Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures / Courtesy Everett Collection
Director MangoldtoldTHRin a separate interview that the final scene with Indy and Marion was “pretty brilliant.”
“We shot it pretty early, because we shot Karen’s scenes in the second or third month of production, and the power of her coming in really landed,” he said. “I mean, it landed more when I could see the whole journey in getting to that scene and bringing those two together.”
“But Karen literally came to set and worked two days. She landed and just dropped in, and the chemistry between her and Harrison was, of course, immediate,” recalled Mangold, 59. “It’s something they had developed over many years.”
source: people.com
