We have interesting news for you guys today. It appears that Frank Darabont’s Indy Script may have been leaked online. We get the following news and link to the script thanks to our friends at cinematical:
Well, this is an interesting find, Dr. Jones. Apparently, a PDF document claiming to be Indiana Jones and the City of the Gods, as written by Frank Darabont, has found its way online. There’s no word yet on whether it’s the real deal, and I haven’t had the time to read through the whole thing, but it might be worth a look. To recap: Frank Darabont (The Shawshank Redemption) wrote an early draft of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Legend has it Steven Spielberg really liked his draft, but George Lucas did not. Thus, Darabont eventually left the project — one he’d worked on tirelessly — time went by, and David Koepp finally wound up with it.
I was about to post the link for the script, but it has been taken down already…..which would cause me to believe that it was the real deal. If any of you had the chance to download it, please share your thoughts on the script.
I will be on the lookout for other links to the script and hope that it will become available once again.
I just finished reading the Darabont script. There is no doubt this is authentic. If it isn’t then whoever did it is already a great screenplay writer. Spielberg was right, this is a much better story and I’m not sure what George Lucas is smoking these days.
This story is focused and well-paced where crystal skull is clunky, incoherent, and anti-climatic. This script takes risks and does push the Indy series a little, but for the most part, gets away with it. The giant snake scene can go along with the Oxley vine swinging scene, but most of what is here, while over-the-top, would have worked much better than the turd we ended up with. The nuclear bomb refrigerator scene would have been written out also if it were up to me. Indy has plenty of over-the-top action without adding crap like that. I would have devised some more realistic thrills instead. Some element of believability needs to be present.
The movie we ended up with was pretty much garbage from front to back. The Darabont script would have been a decent conclusion to the series. Lucus must have wanted to add Indy’s son in order to continue the series. Who knows. Lucas can blow me.
dang – i just read this script, and it’s way better than the movie that came out! that’s it – i’m never watching another movie that has George Lucas’ name attached to it. except for special effects.
@ John Moore
great read. george lucas, please stop touching franchises.
Well, well, well. PROBITIONATE is posting about Movies. Glad to see you have deemed us worthy good sir. *bows*
http://www.denofgeek.com/movies/67046/frank_darabonts_indiana_jones_iv_script.html
My thoughts.
Not sure what to think.
The script has many of Darabont’s hallmarks…it’s got a lot of oomph…it’s far less contrived/convoluted than what ended up being ‘Indy IV’ on the screen…
…but there are waaaaaaaay too many sloppy mistakes for me to believe this, this oh-so-NOT-an-early-draft, is authentic.
On the other hand, if it’s not, then whoever DID write it deserves a huge tip of the hat, because it’s a rollicking screenplay.
And yes, better than what we got from Spielberg and Lucas.
The ending felt very finale. It would’ve been an excellent way to end the film series.
It was more gory, much like the heart ripping scene from TOD. Plus there is real danger at the end. They are not our friends. In fact they may have been abandoned for a reason.
It’s too bad; this is what should’ve been made. We would all be joking about that nonsense script with Indy having a son named Mutt! What were they thinking?
To: Billy Clay
Wow, that was the most reasoned expression of the Indy IV weaknesses I’ve heard. I still quite enjoyed it myself, but I totally get what you’re saying and can plainly see we could have gotten a better Indy film. Especially considering the wait.
I just finished reading City of the Gods after a quick download late last night. I wouldn’t say it’s far superior than the finished film — in fact at times, it’s a little clunkier, but it has a more satisfying ending and is a bit truer overall to the spirit of the previous films. Both Darabont and Koepp were working with the same basic alien skull story, which as an Indiana Jones adventure is inherently flawed.
However, the character of Indiana Jones rings a bit truer here — he’s angrier, more violent and curses like a PG eighties film. To be fair, though the age issue is addressed by Darabont far less and had this script been shot in 2004 as planned Ford would have looked downright silly playing a bachelor adventurer that didn’t seem to have matured at all in the past 15 years. Still, couple that with some additional action and visual set pieces that thankfully move beyond the repetitious speedy chases found in the final Indy 4 (a duel in the skies between two planes, a moonlit rooftop struggle) and some jungle snakes, ants, and dragonflies mutated to prehistoric Ray Harryhausen inspired size and you end up with a little more serial-style, B-movie adventure than what ended up on the screen.
Two other things bear mention: although the Soviet villains here are similarly shaded in greys much too close to the moral ambiguity seen in Crystall Skull’s Spalko and company (a far cry from the black and white good guy/bad guy theme on display in the original trilogy) the script pulls off something the final film sorely lacked in that a true romance is present. It helps considerably that Marion is more of her old self, but without the screentime baggage presented by the Mutt character, more time is spent on believably re-igniting the Jones-Ravenwood fire and as a result, the ensuing (and still unnecessary) happily ever after ending was at the very least begrudgingly earned.
Finally, and most importantly, while the Crystal Skull remains less-threatening and less-interesting than the previous relics Indy searched for, the aliens revealed here are more of a blood-thirsty threat and add some much needed danger to the third act. In fact, in addition to Indy taking a more active role in the exploration of the final temple (rather than playing interpreter to Oxley) there is a wonderful temptation scene at the end that nicely mirrors the temptations the relics present in the earlier films (in Raiders, he’s tempted to blow up the Ark and Marion is tempter to look once it’s opened — in Temple, he is tempted by his own dark side and his thirst for fortune and glory — and in Crusade he’s tempted to save the grail even after trying the same feat killed Ilsa). With no personal temptation present in Crystal Skull, there’s no real danger for Indy, just a rush to escape the temple through the CGI madness.
So in the end, is it better than Crystal Skull? Well, the improved ending helps considerably and the dialogue overall is sharper, with the story and characters being handled better to boot. While Crystal Skull gets the edge as far as villains go (Spalko is more interesting than what amounts to Ray Winstone with a Russian accent as the big baddie in Darabont’s draft) I have to say I prefer obviously evil aliens to ones that accidentally exploded people’s heads with knowledge.
So yes, it’s better. A little. I just wish in Indy’s final outing he had gone looking for something other than crystal alien skulls.
If it involves Indy’s son and a surviving a Nuke and three waterfall….fuck that movie was so bad.
I read the script last night. Talk about depressing. The script was so far superior to the movie that we got, that i’m still frustrated it about it now. Even the points of the film that seemed disjointed and campy (the nuke for example) seemed to flow and work much better in the darabont draft.
I’d love to see the kids who remade raiders of the lost ark make the darabont version of Indy 4. Itd be awesome :)
http://thepiratebay.org/tor/4234934/Frank_Darabont_s_Indy_4_Script_-_Indiana_Jones_and_the_City_o
It’s the first hit if you type in “frank darabont indiana jones script torrent”
Looks legit, but I JUST got it so we’ll see.
EXCITED!
Dying to read this! Frank based on his interviews was not happy with George over his decision to not go with his script. Now Considering what George has done of late, the star wars prequels and the new Indy pic, his taste of late is really really really questionable. So if I were to take sides I’d go with Darabont on this one. But now that I have the script I know what I am reading tonight!
I hope this is the real deal since the link was killed. But I did a search like GUTPUNCH did and got it over a torrent. Hope this is real! If someone has another link they think is real please post. I’ve got this script and would love to compare!
Well I just typed in “Frank Darabont Indy 4 script” on Google and found a torrent site right away. So I’ll have the script in a couple of minutes.
Damn, I need to see this script. Somebody post a link pronto!
Yeah, well, good for him.