“I was very disappointed”: John Rhys-Davies reveals his Indiana Jones role was cut after he signed on
One cast member may have popped up only briefly in Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny — and came away rather let down.
Right, so Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny was supposed to be Harrison Ford's big send-off as Indy. Problem is, it turned out to be a bit of a damp squib. Not only did critics shrug, but the film limped through the box office, bringing in just $384 million worldwide on a budget that apparently ballooned past $300 million. Not exactly the sort of grand finale anyone had in mind.
‘Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny’ stumbled out of cinemas with a global haul of $384 million, coming up short against production costs upwards of $300 million.
John Rhys-Davies Speaks Out
Among those left underwhelmed was John Rhys-Davies, who returned as Sallah for the first time since The Last Crusade. In a chat with Off/Frame, he didn’t bother sugar-coating his views. He laid into the film for being billed as a nostalgia-fest but then cramming in a load of new faces most viewers barely knew, so the whole nostalgia angle fell flat for him. Sallah only popped up briefly – turns out, that wasn’t always the plan. Rhys-Davies said he was initially promised much more screen time, but as soon as he’d signed his contract, those scenes got cut.
Rhys-Davies told Off/Frame: 'I'll be honest with you, I was very disappointed in it. The film is meant to be a nostalgia film. They filled the cast up with people we'd never met before – so there can be no nostalgia, really.'
He also had strong opinions about how Antonio Banderas was treated: hyped as 'the most exciting actor of his generation', and yet barely given anything to do. According to Rhys-Davies, cutting both Sallah and Banderas down to such minor roles was, frankly, a bit tragic.
Meanwhile, Harrison Ford Is Unfazed
Director James Mangold wasn’t thrilled about the muted reaction, but Harrison Ford himself came off remarkably sanguine about the whole thing. When pressed on the backlash and the underwhelming numbers, Ford wasn’t in the least bit flustered.
Ford’s post-release verdict: 'S*** happens. I was really the one who felt there was another story to tell. When [Indy] had suffered the consequences of the life that he had to live, I wanted one more chance to pick him up and shake the dust off his ass and stick him out there, bereft of some of his vigor, to see what happened.'
If you're somehow still wondering, despite all this he says he's glad he made the film. Now, whether Dial of Destiny actually manages to scrape above Kingdom of the Crystal Skull in anyone's rankings is a different question – and one I still haven't quite sorted myself. There's a decent adventure buried in there somewhere, but it's a far cry from the send-off a character like Indy probably deserved.