LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Director of ‘Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny’, James Mangold, finally opened up about the fate of Indy’s son, Mutt. Shia LaBeouf played Mutt in the fourth installment of the franchise, ‘Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull’, in 2008.
Mutt was 19 in the 2008 film, but he failed to garner a similar amount of love from the audience as the legendary Indy, played by Harrison Ford. In an interview in January, Mangold previously revealed that LaBeouf would not be returning for the ‘Dial of Destiny’. However, he said that Mutt’s absence would be duly explained in the film.
Mutt was killed in the Vietnam War
As it was revealed by Mangold earlier, LaBeouf’s character did not make an appearance in the film as he was killed in the Vietnam War. While ‘Kingdon of the Crystal Skull’ took place in 1957, Mutt probably joined the war as part of efforts to increase forces by President John F Kennedy and President Lyndon B Johnson by 1964. ‘Dial of Destiny’ takes place in 1969. Sometime in between Mutt lost his life in the war.
As a consequence, problems started arising in the marital relationship between Indy and Marion Ravenwood. In the film, viewers learn that Marion, with whom the eponymous character got married in the last film, filed for divorce. Theatergoers can also see a visibly emotional Indy telling his goddaughter, Helena, played by Phoebe Waller-Bridge, that he did not want to return to his home in 1969 as he believed he had no one left to return to.
Mangold explains Mutt’s fate in the film in an interview with Variety, stating, “That seemed to me to be right emotionally,” adding, “That a disillusioned hero could end up at this wonderful tumultuous moment in world history and — with his son gone and his wife gone — that he’d picture himself staying in the place he loves best, which is this imagining these worlds.”
While LaBeouf gained notoriety for his explosive interviews following the release of ‘Kingdom of Crystal Skull’, Mangold said that it was unrelated to his character’s fate in the ‘Dial of Destiny’. Mangold said, “It’s separate from all past studio, political intrigue on movies I didn’t make,” adding, “You were either going to make a movie all about the two of them [Indy and Mutt] or you’re going to have to find a way to not have [Mutt] around, because he was too significant a player in the previous film to just pretend he didn’t exist. I didn’t think his whole thing worked that well in the previous film. I just went towards something else because it was what was more interesting to me.”
'There was a reason it wasn’t universally accepted'
Two years after the movie’s release, LaBeouf told the Los Angeles Times that he was unhappy with the way the ‘Kingdom of Crystal Skull’ played out. He said, “I feel like I dropped the ball on the legacy that people loved and cherished. If I was going to do it twice, my career was over. So this was fight-or-flight for me. The actor’s job is to make it come alive and make it work, and I couldn’t do it.”
LaBeouf further stated that Ford didn’t like it either. He said, “We [Harrison Ford and LaBeouf] had major discussions. He wasn’t happy with it either. Look, the movie could have been updated. There was a reason it wasn’t universally accepted.”
However, Ford later revealed in an interview with 'Today' that he called LaBeouf a “f*****g idiot” for his statement. “I think I told him he was a f**king idiot. As an actor, I think it’s my obligation to support the film without making a complete ass of myself. Shia is ambitious, attentive, and talented–and he’s learning how to deal with a situation which is very unique and difficult," he said.
Nevertheless, LaBeouf didn’t stop as in 2016, he spoke to Variety about working with Steven Spielberg. “I don’t like the movies that I made with Spielberg. He’s less a director than he is a f*****g company,” he said.
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