Indiana Jones 2008 - Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull - Indy 4 (IV) 2008

We’re knee-deep in summer blockbusters right now, with the latest Michael Bay effects-heavy extravaganza “Transformers” opening a few days ago, and “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix,” “The Simpsons Movie” and “The Bourne Ultimatum” coming up fast on the horizon. But for those of you who are really into planning and filling out those calendars early, it’s worth looking ahead to the summer blockbusters we’ll be lining up for at the multiplex a year from now. By then, of course, “Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End,” “Ocean’s Thirteen,” “Evan Almighty” and “Spider-Man 3” will just be cluttering Netflix queues and arriving on HBO.

The big enchilada for next summer is almost certain to be the fourth, long-delayed installment of the “Indiana Jones” saga. Shooting on “Indiana Jones and the City of the Gods” (that’s the working title, at least) started last month, and re-teams Harrison Ford as the whip-wielding archaeologist with director Steven Spielberg and producer George Lucas. The cast includes Cate Blanchett, Jim Broadbent and John Hurt and it will be released May 22.

That’s a pretty tight shooting and editing schedule, so you’ve got to figure that Spielberg and company will be pulling some late-nighters about 10 months from now.

Next May will also see the latest “Narnia” yarn, “The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian” (May 15), a remake of the sci-fi classic “The Day the Earth Stood Still” (May 9) and “Iron Man,” the newest comic book adaptation, this one starring Robert Downey Jr. (May 2).

Comic book heroes also are going to figure into the schedule in June and July of next year. “The Dark Knight,” the follow-up to 2005’s “Batman Returns,” is set for July 18, with Christian Bale, Michael Caine and director Christopher Nolan all coming back. Notably absent is Mrs. Tom Cruise, Katie Holmes. The green guy with anger management issues, “The Incredible Hulk,” will also be returning on June 13, this time with the estimable Edward Norton as Bruce Banner.

And any summer movie season inevitably features sequels aplenty, and a year from now we’ll have “The Mummy 3” to kick around (July 3), along with “Hellboy 2: The Golden Army” (Aug. 1) and “The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2” (Aug. .

No movie season dedicated to brainlessness, popcorn-munching and frivolity would be complete without an old TV series being exhumed and brought to the big screen, and that’s going to be the case with “Get Smart.” Steve Carrell will be playing the secret agent Maxwell Smart, with the very-easy-on-the-eyes Anne Hathaway cast as Agent 99 (June 20).

The Wachowski Brothers have been laying low since the two “Matrix” sequels in 2003, but they’re due to re-emerge next year in a live-action adaptation of the “Speed Racer” animated series. It’s set to be in theaters May 9 and will star Susan Sarandon, Christina Ricci and Emile Hirsch. And no doubt director M. Night Shyamalan has been licking his wounds after last summer’s floperoo, “The Lady in the Water,” but he’ll be back a year from now with the thriller “The Happening.” It will star Mark Wahlberg and is due next June 13.

Will Smith, one of the biggest stars of the last several summers, will be in the drama “John Hancock” next July 2 along with Charlize Theron. And, as someone who absolutely despised it on stage, I have my doubts about the movie version of “Mamma Mia!,” set for release July 18, 2008. The Abba-based musical stars Meryl Streep and is produced by Tom Hanks, so there’s reason for hope, but I still have some pretty strong reservations.

NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP) — I blew my previous shot at stardom.

It was 1987. A film crew came by my college looking for extras for a movie they were shooting at a nearby lake resort in Pembroke, Va. — a little film called “Dirty Dancing.” One of my friends went, became a production assistant and got to follow Patrick Swayze around with a spritzer bottle, making sure he looked appropriately sweaty.

She’s now in Hollywood, the movie capital of the world. I’m now in Hartford, the insurance capital of the world.

On Tuesday, I got another chance. A film crew was looking for extras to appear in scenes at Yale for the fourth installment of the “Indiana Jones” franchise. So I headed to the Omni Hotel for my chance to be discovered.

I got there about three hours before auditions were to begin, did some interviews and walked into the hotel about 90 minutes later. They had decided to start early.

My first stop was a ballroom, where I was handed a pen and a form. Hollywood wanted to know my height (5 feet 10 inches), my weight (too big to audition for any “Thin Man” movies), coat size, shoe size, pant size, hat size, occupation and whether I’d ever played football or been a cheerleader.

Huh?

I had been told the scene they were shooting was going to be a chase down the streets of New Haven. Some of us might get to run across the road or something. So I asked the 20-something guy handing out the pens what the deal was with the football question.

“There’s a football scene,” he said.

My first big scoop.

They also wanted to know whether I had a dog, and if so, what type. “They like to have some extras walking dogs,” I was told.

So now you know, the movie will involve dog walking and football. You heard it here first.

After filling out the form, and checking “yes” next to each date that I would be available for shooting, I sat down and waited to be called.

After about 10 minutes my row was asked to move to another line. As I waited, I hummed the words that my sister-in-law — a huge fan of the Indiana Jones films — once made up to the movie’s memorable theme: “Indiana, he’s our man. Indiana, when you’re in a jam...”

The woman standing behind me wasn’t bothered by the wait either. Kyle Ralston, 57, has been in show business since age 3. She’s now a “song and dance girl” with a local Dixieland band called “The Clamdiggers.”

Her last audition was in New York for “Regis and Kelly.” They had been looking for acts to appear on a special show from Disney World. She spent a whole day in line and lost out to a man in a rubber suit who whistled through his mask. Oh well, that’s showbiz.

She, like many others, came dressed for the part: a shocking pink blouse and black poodle skirt, sans poodle, that she had pulled from her own closet.

“I’m a ’50s kind of girl,” she said.

A lot of the guys came dressed as Indiana Jones. When I informed Joe Olayos, 69, that I was pretty sure that part had been cast, he shrugged.

“I’m hoping to get Harrison Ford’s lookalike, something like that where they can use me at a distance — a stand-in, something like that,” he said. “I’d even do it for nothing.”

Olayos added that he often gets mistaken for either Ford, or Leonard Nimoy from “Star Trek.”

In about 45 minutes I made it to the front of the line. A woman asked if I had a “head shot.”

Yes! I produced an 8-x-10 of the photograph that I use for media credentials. She seemed impressed and stapled it to the form. Then a man asked me to step in front of another camera.

I had worn an orange shirt and a cowboy hat to the audition, thinking this might stand out. But the hat turned out to be a bad idea. The man asked me to take it off, and took another picture of me in sweaty hat hair. D’oh!

The interview went like this.

“So, you’re a journalist.”

“Yup, I am.”

“Did you go to school for that?”

“Yes, in fact a film crew once came by my college and I almost ...”

“OK, thanks, we’ll call in about two weeks if we need you.”

Oh well, it was worth the shot. And if I don’t get it, I understand they are filming “The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2” in Connecticut soon.

I’d be more than happy to follow Alexis Bledel around with a spritzer bottle. I’d even do it for free!

———

Pat Eaton-Robb has worked for The Associated Press since 1995. His favorite movie is “The Graduate.”

Shia LaBeouf, star of DreamWorks’ upcoming film “Transformers” and of course, “Indiana Jones 4,” recently discussed prep work on the later film with Canadian film site MoviesOnline. It’s unclear when LaBeouf spoke with the publication, but you may be surprised to hear that he at the time of the chat, he had yet to read the complete screenplay for “Indiana Jones 4”! With only a couple of weeks to go before production commencement, LaBeouf says that rehearsals for the roles have yet to begin, but the production is actually ready to go before cameras just the same!

“We haven't gotten into any rehearsals,” LaBeouf told MoviesOnline. “It's just been a lot of stunt rehearsals and a lot of weapons training and things like that.”

Lots of stunt rehearsals and weapons training could mean lots of exciting Indy action that fans of the series have come to love and expect (despite series creator George Lucas’ recent downplaying of the cycle’s action elements in relation to star Harrison Ford’s age).

LaBeouf also said that he’s been working more with Spielberg specifically, since the actors in the series are the director’s domain.

“Lucas isn't as involved as Spielberg with the actors. I mean, it's all Steven...,” LaBeouf stated.

While the production is being notoriously secretive, even to the extent of withholding the screenplay from the cast — if LaBeouf’s comments are current — it’s a safe presumption that pages will soon start to make their way to a cast set to hit the ground running on June 18 when the production commences.

“Indiana Jones 4” is scheduled for a worldwide release on May 22, 2008. The film stars Harrison Ford, Cate Blanchett, Ray Winstone, and Shia LaBeouf under Steven Spielberg’s direction of a David Koepp screenplay.

http://www.spielbergfilms.com/indy4/1426