Harrison Ford says he feels "fit to continue" to play Indiana Jones despite growing older.
Ford, 64, said at the inaugural Rome Film Festival on Friday that he was delighted to team up again with directors Steven Spielberg and George Lucas for the film. Lucas co-wrote and executive produced the earlier films, which Spielberg directed.
"We did three films that stay within the same block of time. We need to move on for artistic reasons and obvious physical reasons," Ford said at a news conference. "I feel fit to continue and bring the same physical action."
"Indiana Jones 4" has been in development for over a decade, but the production has recently gained momentum. Lucas has said he and Spielberg, who would direct, are working on a script, though no details have been disclosed.
Ford played Indiana Jones in 1981's "Raiders of the Lost Ark," 1984's "Temple of Doom" and 1989's "The Last Crusade." In the last film, Jones' father was played by Sean Connery, who Ford said might also appear in the planned fourth feature.
"He's part of the emotional fabric of these films. I think there may be an opportunity, I believe that Sean is still willing and I'd be delighted if he joined us," said Ford.
Connery, who attended the Rome event last week, has said that no offer had been made.
Ford declined to provide details about a shooting schedule or film locations, adding that the directors were not yet finished with the script.
"I think it's a real opportunity to make a film as successful ... as the ones we've made before," he said.
The comic has the science fiction comedy in preproduction at 20th Century Fox, and Brian Robbins is set to direct.
It's clear that Eddie Murphy likes the idea of science fiction comedies, but they haven't usually worked for him. One need only look at his nearly career-ending turn in Pluto Nash. Nevertheless, he's going to boldly go once again. Daily Variety reports Murphy is set to star in Starship Dave, to be produced by Deep River Productions and Guy Walks Into a Bar, with Brian Robbins directing.
Robbins is just off the remake of Disney's The Shaggy Dog. Murphy and Robbins worked together on Norbit, which is still in the pipeline. Robbins was offered the script when Pete Segal had to drop out due to scheduling conflicts. He's over at Warner Bros. now, working up a film revival of Get Smart.
But Back to Starship Dave: Murphy isn't just a Starship Captain in the movie, he IS Starship Dave. The comedy surrounds a group of tiny aliens who travel the universe within a human starship, seeking a way to save their own threatened world. Starship Dave will begin its journey in front of the cameras beginning in March.
Jackie Chan, famous for his daredevil stunts, says he's frustrated by Hollywood's safety rules.
"There are so many safety and insurance rules to follow," Chan said in an interview on his Web site Sunday. "I know that they want to make sure that I'm safe when I do my stunts, but sometimes they insist that I use protective gear for even simple things, and that is frustrating. It takes so much time."
Chan, best known in the United States for the "Rush Hour" movies with Chris Tucker, said he feels less encumbered when making films in Hong Kong.
"In Hong Kong we just go ahead and do what needs to be done. There is no safety captain on the set. I use my own stunt team because they have experience and I trust them to make the action and stunts safe," he said. Chan, 52, also said that when he first broke into Hollywood, he'd had little control over his own moves, even though he'd been choreographing stunts for decades in Hong Kong. But that that has changed over time.
"When I first started making Hollywood films, the directors wouldn't listen to anything I said when it came to the action," he said. "It's different now; the directors respect me and listen to me. Over the years I have gotten more involved in the planning of the action and stunts on my American movies and that makes me happy. But mostly it is difficult."
Rocker-turned-director Rob Zombie picked up a Chainsaw Award for his horror flick "The Devil's Rejects." The "Killer Movie" award, presented Sunday night to Zombie by Robert "Freddy Kruger" Englund, was part of the first televised "fuse Fangoria Chainsaw Awards" to honor the best films and actors in the horror genre.
Zombie's wife, Sheri Moon, and actor Bill Moseley won the "Relationship From Hell" award for "The Devil's Rejects."
"Saw II" also won two awards, for "Best Butcher" (best villain) and "Looks that Kill" (best makeup).
The awards ceremony was held at the Orpheum Theatre and will be broadcast Oct. 22 on fuse Television.
On Wednesday September 20 at the Lefont theater in Sandy Springs you and a friend can be our guest for a special sneak preview of what's sure to be a great flick. That is, it's sure to be a great flick if you're a guy and not some lame ass critic who doesn't know the meaning of the word "fun".
Come out and meet JC who will be at the screening giving away some MFG swag. Course, you might have to do a little something or answer a question to get a T-Shirt, and we can promise you that if you bring a hot date your odds of getting the answers right will go way up. We do have some MFG thongs if any ladies would like to do a little modeling...
We've got a stack of tickets but you need to hurry, deadline is this Friday at midnight so that we can get them mailed out Saturday morning.
In case you failed to take our advice back in the ealry spring and you missed out on this very cool new series on Spike, here's your chance to correct that over sight. This weekend on Spike (check your local cable listings for correct channel and times) they will show the first 12 episodes as a lead in to the upcoming season finale this Wednesday.
I was one of the strongest haters I know when it came to this show so I have to apologize when I said earlier 'our advice', since that would be John alone that suggested we watch it. I saw the pilot and I guess subconsciously I kept looking for Wesley Snipes and when he didn't show up I lost interest, but I kept watching and now I really dig on it. Blade is a solid action show with lots of violence and profanity so it should be perfect for any fan of this site. Now, I realize this is opening weekend for the NFL so I doubt you will watch anything other than football but that doesn't mean you can't let the DVR do the heavy lifting for you and catch up before Wednesday.
Damn. Summer is over and our Friday night choices are going to be slim for awhile. This weekend is a perfect example... our only choice is The Covenant, a movie we wouldn't waste our time with were it released in July.
Oh well, no use in moaning about it. The Covenant might not totally suck, the effects look decent if the trailer is to be believed. The story is the typical "I'm a powerful teenager and you're not" kind of thing and the PG-13 rating means the best we can hope for is a glimpse of Laura Ramsey's backside. We'll draw straws and see which one of us is taking this bullet for you.
Anyone who watched Steve Irwin do his thing on TV knew it was just a matter of time before a mistake happened and he got killed, but who would have predicted it would be a stingray? Steve was filming a scene for "Oceans Deadliest" about stingrays when he swam a little too close. The ray flexed it's stinger and hit Steve right in the chest, putting a hole in his heart.
We'll miss Steve and his attitude towards nature, but at least he got to go out doing something he loved. If you have it on your shelf, go watch Crocodile Hunter: Collision Course and raise a beer in memory of Mr. Irwin.
