The following contains spoilers for Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, in cinemas now.
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny production VFX supervisor Andrew Whitehurst and ILM VFX supervisor Robert Weaver recently explained how Jürgen Voller (Mads Mikkelsen) survives the film's opening flashback.
Whitehurst and Weaver discussed Voller's unlikely return later in Dial of Destiny's narrative during a joint interview with The Hollywood Reporter. "[Voller's survival] was a long conversation, with a lot of iterations," Whitehurst said. "The thing that he gets hit by is a very lightweight hose that they use for putting water into steam trains, which itself can rotate. So he's being hit by as soft a thing as you can be hit by that's gonna be hanging by a railway line in 1944. But, yes, it should be a little bit of a surprise when he shows up again later." Weaver then interjected that Voller cheating death "boils down to him being a very tough bugger."
Director James Mangold also touched on Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny's opening flashback in a recent interview, noting that the sequence was intended as a "homage" to the original Indiana Jones movies. Mangold added that he made a concerted effort to channel the sensibilities of original franchise director Steven Spielberg, and wanted "to give the audience a blast of the classic golden-age Indy I missed, and they miss." He also insisted that the subsequent transition from the digitally de-aged Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) to his 70-year-old self was intended to unsettle audiences.
Indiana Jones 5 Star On Spielberg and Lucas' Absence
While Mangold may have done his best to recapture the spirit of Spielberg's directorial style, at least one legacy cast member recently admitted to missing Spielberg during production on Dial of Destiny. Marion Ravenwood actor Karen Allen said she felt the absence of both Spielberg and Indiana Jones co-creator George Lucas keenly and was disappointed she didn't get the chance to reconnect with the pair while preparing for her cameo in the film. That said, Allen was nevertheless full of praise for Mangold, describing him as "a warm and open person."
In the same interview, Allen also confessed to being underwhelmed when she first learned that Marion's role in Dial of Destiny was much smaller than she expected it to be. "I mean, you could have knocked me over with a feather when I read it," she said. "But I was really happy that [Marion and Indy] came back together in the end."
Source: THR