Indiana Jones and the Sequel of Doom?

Thu., Aug. 7, 2008 7:16 PM PDT by Fred Topel

Paramount Pictures

Even before Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull made, like, a bajillion dollars, George Lucas was talking about a fifth film in the series. He's got Shia LaBeouf ready to take over, and he told the fine foreigners at Cannes that he's got an idea. But don't get too excited. Remember how long it took to get Crystal Skull?

"That sits on the shelf there as one of 50 projects that I have to deal with," Lucas admitted from the comfort of his own private ranch in Northern California. "It's very hard to come up with stories for that thing."

Didn't he learn anything from the last one? Don't make it such a big deal. Just crank out another one. "It's really impossible, because it has to be real. It has to be something that actually happens, it has to be something people know about, and it has to be supernatural."

Indy's greatest adventure might be pulling that nugget out of G.Lu's head. But at least Lucas has his empire working on it while he tends to the other 49 ideas.

"It's a really difficult research project, which they're researching now. Last time, it took us 14 years."