Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny Director Tried to Pry Star Wars Secrets From Harrison Ford

Harrison Ford and James Mangold are about to share more in common than the Indiana Jones franchise. Ford and Mangold recently teamed up for Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, the fifth film in the series and the first not directed by Steven Spielberg. In the near future, Mangold will also be making the jump to Ford's other iconic screen franchise: Star Wars. Lucasfilm and Disney announced earlier this year that Mangold will be directing a Star Wars movie about the origins of the Force.

Mangold was working with the Han Solo star on Dial of Destiny before getting hired to direct a Star Wars movie, but he still spent plenty of time on set picking Ford's brain about what ideas had been pitched for the future of the galaxy far, far away. While speaking to Screen Rant, Mangold talked about his late night Star Wars chats with Ford.

"Obviously, you can't be doing all night shoots in the middle of the Santa Clarita Valley, waiting for lighting setups to be completed and not start interviewing Harrison Ford with crazy Star Wars questions and Indy questions," Mangold said. "Somewhere around 2 a.m. he'd start telling stories about what they were thinking of next and what they're working on. Little did I know it would end up being me."

In addition to helming an upcoming Star Wars movie, Mangold is also slated to make one of the first films in James Gunn and Peter Safran's new DC Universe. Mangold has been tapped to direct a Swamp Thing movie for DC Studios.

Choosing the Indiana Jones 5 Title

The fifth installment of the Indiana Jones saga is meant to be its last. Harrison Ford is the only actor to have played the titular character in feature films over the years, and there are no plans to recast Indy in order to make more movies. At 80 years old, Ford as made it clear that he's not planning to play Indiana Jones again. 

While this will be the final installment of the Indiana Jones series, director James Mangold made a point not to indicate as much with the title. Since Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade already included a word hinting at an ending, Mangold and the production team had a rule against using that terminology.

"Because Last Crusade. You couldn't say last because Last Crusade did it and wasn't," Mangold explained during a recent interview with Uproxx. "'Final' is in every movie from Halloween. Every movie has, at least, the 17th installment called 'Final' something. So you think, you can't go 'final.'"

Dial of Destiny may not have "last" or "final" in the title, but it definitely going to be the end of the story for the titular adventurer and the icon who plays him. Ford, now 80 years old, is done playing Indy. While there may be other stories set in this world at some point, there aren't plans to recast the character for another go-round.

Ford may be retiring from playing Indiana Jones, but he isn't retiring from acting as a profession. Appearing on Who's Talking to Chris Wallace? this week, Ford addressed his future as an actor.

"I don't [plan to retire]," Ford said. "I don't do well when I don't have to work. I love to work. I love to feel useful. It's my jones. I want to be helpful."

The iconic Harrison Ford returns for one last adventure when Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny premieres in theaters on June 30th. Lucasfilm's latest film in the long-running franchise sees Dr. Jones team up with his goddaughter Helena Shaw (Phoebe Waller-Bridge) in a race against nefarious forces to secure a powerful artifact. The duo will go up against the mysterious former Nazi-turned-NASA scientist Jürgen Voller (Mads Mikkelsen), and the film also features stars Boyd Holbrook, Antonio Banderas, Toby Jones, and John Rhys Davies. Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny is directed by James Mangold and is set to be Ford's final appearance as the iconic archeologist.