M. Night Shyamalan once met with Steven Spielberg to discuss ideas for Indiana Jones 4.
In an interview with Collider, Shyamalan said he shared his vision for Indiana Jones many years ago. He apparently had “a darker idea” for the fourth franchise entry, which sounds like it would have been quite different from Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, though it never progressed any further beyond those early discussions.
“Obviously, Raiders of the Lost Ark is my favorite movie of all time, and so this was a dream, to be asked as a kid to go see a movie in a movie theater and then later to be asked by that person to write one of those in the future. I could faint at that moment. It was amazing,” Shyamalan said, speaking about the prospect of working with Spielberg.
“I do have my notebooks; I still have those with all my ideas for that movie,” he continued. “I did have a take. I talked to everybody involved and it was so nascent at that time, that movie. Everyone hadn’t gotten into a room yet. They were bouncing ideas off of me. So everyone had different ideas of what to do… and I had this idea. It was a darker idea.”
Shyamalan didn’t end up working with Spielberg on Indiana Jones 4, instead, prolific Hollywood screenwriter David Koepp penned Kingdom of the Crystal Skull with contributions from George Lucas and Jeff Nathanson. The movie was largely met with a negative reception from fans, though others expressed sympathy for the odd-ball entry in the franchise.
The next installment in the film series is expected to conclude Indiana Jones’ journey, 12 years after the events of Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. A recent photo from the set of Indiana Jones 5 showed a cast member caught up in what appeared to be a chase scene with Harrison Ford’s globe-trotting archaeologist at the 1969 Apollo 11 ticker-tape parade.
Indiana Jones 5 began filming in June across the UK, and the movie is planned for release on July 29, 2022. Harrison Ford is reprising his role as the bull-whip wielding adventurer alongside several franchise newcomers, including Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Mads Mikkelsen, and Thomas Kretschmann. Check out the entire cast of Indiana Jones 5 (so far).