“It’s not photoshop, I really looked like this 35 years ago”

Last night (Thursday) the premiere of the fifth film in the Indiana Jones film series, “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny”, starring Harrison Ford and directed by James Mangold, took place at the Cannes Film Festival. The film was received with 5 minutes of applause. Reasonable duration, but not overly impressive for Cannes.

Festival director Thierry Fermo surprised the veteran actor (who will soon be 81) and presented him with an honorary Palme d’Or award before the screening. Even before the awarding, a video of his greatest moments in cinema was shown. Ford seemed deeply embarrassed and thanked mainly his family and the film’s director.

“I’m very excited about it. They say when you’re about to die, you see your life flash before your eyes, and I just saw my life flash before my eyes,” Ford said. “A large part of my life, but not all of my life. My life is also thanks to my lovely wife who supported my passion and my dreams and I am grateful to her.”

“Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” follows the veteran archaeologist, who is in a race against time to find a legendary artifact with the power to change the course of history. Unfortunately for Ford and Mangold, the new film is far from delivering the goods. It’s goofy and rambling, possibly the worst in the series so far, and mostly relies on mortality from the series’ past (yes, there will be snakes and reptiles, the whip will reappear in reference to an old scene, and the Nazis will continue to hunt Indy).

The press conference was much more successful than the film. During the event, a journalist from Australia asked Ford how he manages to be so attractive at his age and how he keeps his figure. Ford, who didn’t quite know how to answer, said: “I’ve been blessed with this body, thanks for noticing.” Mads Mikkelsen, who plays the villain in the film, said that Ford keeps fit. Ford noted that he can still ride a horse (one of the favorite scenes in the current film) and said that he feels good for his age.

On a more serious note, Ford said that “for obvious reasons” this is the last Indiana Jones movie and he thought about how to bring the character to a full circle and come to terms with himself. Regarding the cutting-edge technology in the film, which makes it possible to see Ford in his younger version, the actor said: “It’s not Photoshop magic, this is how I looked 35 years ago. It’s just a trick and thanks to the fact that there’s a story that works, this trick becomes something beyond that. I think they used it skillfully Raba and I’m very happy about it.”

Ford pointed out that director James Mangold definitely managed to step into the big shoes of Steven Spielberg and claimed that together they managed to produce another magical film in the series. When asked if he keeps Indy’s hat at home, he stated that the hat is at Sotheby’s auction house in the hope that it will be sold and the money will be used for charity.

Mangold, for his part, admitted that he felt a lot of responsibility and honor to direct a film in the series and that he was helped by Steven Spielberg all the way, even during the filming. “When you make a film like this, you feel a lot of responsibility. You are aware of the high expectations because it is an asset that is so precious to people,” said the director.

Mads Mikkelsen (who somewhat saves the film from complete fatness) admitted that as a child he used to watch the first film in the series and then decided he wanted to be an adventurer like Indiana. “These movies are legendary. We all want to be Indiana Jones. The impact of the movie is worldwide.” Phoebe Waller-Bridge, who also stars in the film, stated that it was very difficult for her to speak with an American accent, and that she enjoyed doing the action scenes.

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