Indy limbers up with a little help from friends

Months after an extra incurred the wrath of Steven Spielberg by revealing the super-secret details of the upcoming Indiana Jones sequel, one of the film's producers has at last offered a few crumbs about the fourth installment of the series and answered concerns about the age of its star, Harrison Ford.

The new film, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, due to open in May, is set at the height of the Cold War in 1957. Cate Blanchett plays a seductive villain, Ray Winstone is an unethical rival archaeologist and Jim Broadbent plays one of Indy's Yale University colleagues. Karen Allen reprises her role as Indy's love interest, Marion Ravenwood.

It's been 19 years since the last Indiana Jones film, which means its star Harrison Ford, in his mid-40s when he last took on the role, is now 65 and no longer as flexible as he might be for the requisite swinging from precipices or as resilient to punches in the gut. No worries, says the film's co-producer Frank Marshall. "Indy's a fallible character. He makes mistakes and gets hurt. He has a few more aches and pains now... That's the thing people like: he's a real character, not a character with superpowers."
 
Still, just to be safe, Paramount is banking the future of the franchise on young co-star Shia LaBeouf, who plays Indy's sidekick in the new film. LaBeouf, 21, is a Spielberg favourite and rumored to be contracted for three more films if Crystal Skull is a box office hit. Spielberg was not apparently fazed by the young actor's recent arrest for criminal trespass following a bizarre incident when he refused to leave a Chicago drugstore. ·