Steven Spielberg thinks now is the perfect time for the Indiana Jones franchise to let “Indiana Joan” have a shot.
Fresh off the success of Ready Player One, a film that could have benefitted from a little more female perspective, Spielberg has been playing around with the idea of a woman-led film when Harrison Ford retires. The upcoming fifth installment of the franchise, out in 2020, will be Ford’s last, but Spielberg said the movies would continue. He told the Sun: “We’d have to change the name from Jones to Joan. And there would be nothing wrong with that.”
But the internet disagreed. While some fans are predictably bristling at the idea of a woman taking the role, others wondered why there would even need to be a name change. And many people pointed out that’s not how names work.
Why is it Indiana Joan instead of Diana Jones https://t.co/YlOyAnOSgZ
— Daniel D’Addario (@DPD_) April 5, 2018
https://twitter.com/BCDreyer/status/981653077500493829
It was also pointed out that Spielberg, George Lucas, and Lawrence Kasdan had some questionable thoughts on how to portray Marion Ravenwood in Raiders of the Lost Ark.
Also: never forget how Lucas, Spielberg, and Kasdan initially conceptualized Marion Ravenwood in early brainstorming sessions for RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK. pic.twitter.com/JiQUOwBrWT
— K8 Hagen (@thathagengrrl) April 4, 2018
And do we really need another Indiana Jones movie after this next one? Ford will be close to 80 years old when it comes out. In the last year we’ve seen Annihilation, Wonder Woman, Tomb Raider, and Atomic Blonde do well at the box office and series like Jessica Jones fare well on TV. Why not create an original action film with a woman lead instead of banking on the nostalgia of a limp franchise? And if we’re doing that, why not get a director who’s not so out of touch?
