Issue Date: May 11, 2008

Behind the scenes with Shia LaBeouf and Harrison Ford

Indiana Jones stars discuss real-life mysteries behind the new sequel

By Jeffrey Ressner

When we last saw Indiana Jones 19 years ago, the intrepid archeologist had sacrificed the Holy Grail but finally won the respect of his father, ending the classic film trilogy on an emotional high note. But wait, there's more! The new "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" pits our hero against Russian Cold Warriors in search of yet another mystical talisman.

What went on behind the scenes of this fourth installment, again from famed duo Steven Spielberg and George Lucas? We recently met Indy incarnate Harrison Ford, 65, and "Transformers" star Shia LaBeouf, 21, who plays his trusty sidekick (and, possibly, his son), in Los Angeles for an intimate waterside chat. Ford and LaBeouf gave each other a warm, almost familial embrace before settling in for an upscale hungry man's lunch (both had steak tournedos) and gleefully recounting their adventures on the set. Let's crack the whip and begin:

Two decades later, was it tough getting back into Indy mode again?
FORD: I worked 80 days and think I had one day off. But I loved going to work each day.

Did you just pick up where you left off in 1989?
FORD: More or less. The character is in the costume. There's not much more you need to add. The first shot we did dealt with the hat, picking up my fedora. It was symbolically picking up the fedora and starting up again as well.

Shia, did Harrison give you any bullwhip pointers?
LaBEOUF: Nah, we never got to that. Tons of other things, though.
FORD: Just advice about women. [Laughs.]
LaBEOUF: There was lots of that. Lots of women talk.
FORD: No, don't say that! I don't know enough to be giving advice.
LaBEOUF: There were a lot of jokes and a lot of alleviating the pressure for me. Coming onto that set was a high-pressure thing for me, a scary spot. That went away as soon as Harrison came on the set, joking around. Also, [Ford's] getting beat up, all the bumps and bruises, never complaining -- it set the tone for the whole set because everybody looks at him.

Now, about that whip ...
FORD: I had to go back and do a little bit of training for the whip because I haven't been using it in my everyday life.
LaBEOUF: How surprising.
FORD: It actually came back pretty quickly.
LaBEOUF: He's not joking. I've seen him pull stuff out of people's hands from far away.

The whole movie was shrouded in such secrecy. Why is it a big deal whether Shia plays Indy's son?
FORD: It's an incredibly finely crafted film. You come to understand things at exactly the right point, and the right point to understand the relationship between Shia's character and mine isn't in a story three days before it comes out.

People broke into Spielberg's office and went to jail for trying to sell secrets about the movie.
FORD: Yeah, they were thieves, and they should go to jail. [The movie business] is a corporate culture, and I think it's valid.

What about the crystal skull?
FORD: The crystal skull is a real thing -- one is in the British Museum. The mystery is that even with modern-day tools and technology, nobody knows how to carve a single block of quartz into this shape of a skull without it shattering. It allows us to introduce some of the hooey-wooey, mysto-crypto elements.

Did you two hang out much off the set?
LaBEOUF: We were sleeping.
FORD: It was pretty much go to work, rest and go back to work. Shia has an incredibly physical role, so he'd be working with a stunt team while I was off with Steven doing old-guy stuff.

How did you clean up after a filthy day of work?
LaBEOUF: I just remember having leather burns from my jacket. The lights were [so] hot. My hairspray was burning, and my hair was steaming.
FORD: It was hot, sweaty, dirty work. A shower and a beer or a wee scotch did it for me.

Cover photo: TM & © 2008 Lucasfilm Ltd, All rights reserved; Photo by David James