George Lucas is still surly about how people reacted to his Star Wars prequels, and he's doing what he can to undersell Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull to try to avoid the same problem - although we can hope Steven Spielberg's involvement means it will actually be a step up in quality as well. USA Today gave these quotes:
"When you do a movie like this, a sequel that's very, very anticipated, people anticipate ultimately that it's going to be the Second Coming," Lucas says. "And it's not. It's just a movie. Just like the other movies. You probably have fond memories of the other movies. But if you went back and looked at them, they might not hold up the same way your memory holds up."
Sounds reasonable at first, sure. Movies you grew up with are like that. Sure, Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure still holds up, but I wouldn't recommend watching Pretty in Pink again. Ducky is not adorable.
But then the bitterness kicks in.
"When people approach the new (Indiana Jones), much like they did with Phantom Menace, they have a tendency to be a little harder on it," he says. "You're not going to get a lot of accolades doing a movie like this. All you can do is lose."
Then comes the "I live in my own opulent world and don't quite get anything anymore" moment:
"We came back to do (Indy) because we wanted to have fun," he says. "It's not going to make much money for us in the end. We all have some money. … It would make a lot of money if you weren't rich. But we're not doing it for the money."
But really, all we want out of a new Indy movie is a damn good time, and at least he's going for that.
It's fan and critic reaction for which the team is bracing, but Lucas says he has quit trying to appeal to everyone. "It was really a blast" to make. "And it turned out fantastic. … I like to watch it."
