Rumor: INDIANA JONES Franchise Might Go Same Route As James Bond And Recast Lead

Most actor can play the same character forever. No matter how popular that role may be, age or even lack-of-continuing-interest, will eventually force an actor to retire from a part that they are closely associated with and that leaves the studio with a quandary – Continue the franchise with a new actor or retire the series gracefully. And while the James Bond franchise has successfully gone the route of recasting its lead to much success over five decades now, most other film series choose to just call it a day.

A rumor is starting to circulate, courtesy of the rumor mongers at Latino Review, that studio execs are thinking that if Harrison Ford doesn’t put his fedora back on for one more outing as Indiana Jones in the near future that the studio would consider recasting the role with a younger actor who could conceivably stay with the part for a number of years. Also being whispered is that at the top of the studio’s wish list for actors to step in is Bradley Cooper.

Let us make clear that right now this is all rumor and perhaps even more than a bit of speculation.

Even though this is Latino Review doing the initial “reportage,” I will admit that there is possibly some truth here, even accidentally. That studio execs would be looking to keep the Indiana Jones franchise going is a no-brainer. The evolving economic model for Hollywood has been a bigger reliance on tentpole features to bring in the big bucks and the franchise is certainly one of the granddaddies at doing that. But it is certainly obvious that Ford is getting up in years and even if his spirit is willing there will come a time when the flesh will be too weak for the job. And Cooper seems like a good choice if you’re looking for someone who might take over the role and not just because he can grow some stubble.

And I do have to give some points to Latino Review for remembering that the Indiana Jones franchise grew out of some discussions that George Lucas and Steven Spielberg had about wanting to create an adventure hero in a similar vein to James Bond.

But there is one thing that sticks out to me in Latino Review’s story like a sore thumb. It is that they state that one of their sources for this is the same person who tipped them that Cooper was going to be voicing Rocket Raccoon in the upcoming Guardians Of The Galaxy film from Disney’s Marvel Studios. This suggests to me that this source is either in Cooper’s camp or someone at the studio who wants to see Cooper in more of their films. If Disney/Lucasfilm is indeed considering recasting, it could be that this source is passing it along with the addition of Cooper being on the wish list as a way of lobbying to get the actor on to said list. Or perhaps no one at Disney is considering this but someone in Cooper’s camp came up with the idea and wanted it out there to test the waters and perhaps goad Disney execs to consider it.

We’ll be watching to see what, if anything, comes from this.