INDIANA JONES 5 Director James Mangold Says "It Hurt" That Not all Audiences Embraced Indiana Jones as He Was

Director James Mangold recently reflected on Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, and the challenges of bringing the franchise to an end. He specifically expressed his concern about the audience’s difficulty embracing an aging Indiana Jones.

As you know, the movie was met with mixed reviews, and it had a disappointing run at the box office, ending up with an estimated $100 million loss for Disney.

In an interview with Deadline, Mangold shared his thoughts, saying:“You have a wonderful, brilliant actor who’s in his eighties. So I’m making a movie about this guy in his eighties, but his audience on one other level doesn’t want to confront their hero at that age.”

Mangold revealed that the opportunity to take on the Indiana Jones sequel came arose when his Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown was stalled due to COVID-19 and star Timothée Chalamet’s Dune commitments.

He said: “And then here come lifelong heroes from my childhood into my life going, ‘We have something for you to work on,’” he shared, referring to Steven Spielberg and Kathleen Kennedy’s approach.

He went on to explain why the reception of the film hurt: “It was a joyous experience, but it hurt, in the sense that I really love Harrison and I wanted audiences to love him as he was and to accept that that’s part of what the movie has to say—that things come to an end, that’s part of life.”

Mangold previously defended the film, saying: “When you’re in franchise land, it’s very hard for critical thinkers to overlook what I’m sure their editors want, which is this business prism of how does it rate to the other ones?

“I always thought if I were second or third best to one of the greatest films of all time, I’d be good. I mean, it all vaporizes later. Either the movie will live or it won’t.”

I personally enjoyed Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny. While it’s not the best in the franchise, I appreciated and enjoyed the big swings that it took.