Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008)

Cate Blanchett as: Colonel Dr. Irina Spalko

Directed by: Steven Spielberg
Selected Cast: Harrison Ford, Karen Allen, Shia LaBeouf & Ray Winstone
Written by: David Koepp & George Lucas
Release Year: 2008
Genre: Action / Adventure
MPAA Rating: PG-13

 

 

 

 

 

IMDb | Photos | Videos | Official Site

During the Cold War, Soviet agents watch Professor Henry Jones when a young man brings him a coded message from an aged, demented colleague, Henry Oxley. Led by the brilliant Irina Spalko, the Soviets tail Jones and the young man, Mutt, to Peru. With Oxley’s code, they find a legendary skull made of a single piece of quartz. If Jones can deliver the skull to its rightful place, all may be well; but if Irina takes it to its origin, she’ll gain powers that could endanger the West. Aging professor and young buck join forces with a woman from Jones’s past to face the dangers of the jungle, Russia, and the supernatural.

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Behind the scenes; Still
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Quotes from Cate Blanchett

  • “I was such a fan of the ‘Indiana Jones’ movies, I grew up on them. I was completely in love with Harrison Ford, and I still am! He’s a hottie, and has definitely stood the test of time.” (Empire, December 2007)
  • “It’s so much fun doing this film, I’ve been having a ball. It’s like a family, everyone is so welcoming. It is a really happy set to be on.”
  • “I had finished shooting [the fourth] Indiana Jones with Steven Spielberg and was working on The Curious Case of Benjamin Button on the same lot. I was in my full prosthetics [for scenes as the elderly Daisy], and I went over to the Indiana Jones assistant director and told him that I was from the Make-A-Wish-Foundation and wanted to meet Mr. Spielberg. He came over and shook my hand and he was thinking, ‘Why didn’t someone warn me that this mad old owman was going to accost me?’ I told him it was me and he still didn’t believe me.” (Elle US, November 2012)

Quotes from Others

  • Steven Spielberg on Cate Blanchett:
    — “She [Cate Blanchett] is the woman of a thousand faces and I find it as paranormal as some of our premises that she can so utterly transform herself into the character she is playing and then the second that I say ‘cut’, she is back with her Australian accent and kids on her knees being a mom and wife, and a really good mate for the other cast members and the crew.”
    — “I think it is remarkable about her [Cate Blanchett] – her performance skills, her transitioning to character are just seamless.”
    — “She [Cate Blanchett] is the most confident actress I have ever worked with in my life, also the most old-fashioned in that classic and classy sense of the 30’s and 40’s. With Elizabeth (1998) she gave a performance that would have got Bette Davis on her feet applauding.”
    — “The thing I like best is she’s [Cate Blanchett] got her priorities straight, her husband Andrew and her sons. Her ability to lose herself in a character is her gift. Her fearlessness is her hallmark. She makes contributions that even us directors can’t anticipate, in a way working with Cate is like working with a full creative partner and that was my experience in Indiana where she played my favorite bad guy of that entire series.”
    — “She [Cate Blanchett] is born to do what she is doing… I don’t think she had any options. This is her only option. What a gift she has.”
    — “She [Cate Blanchett] also brought a fury that I hadn’t really seen in the real Bob Dylan, and a patience to it, which I loved.”
    — “She [Cate Blanchett] has more colours in her repertoire than a king size box of crayons.”
  • Harrison Ford:
    — “Madam [Cate] Blanchett is wonderfully straightforward and never makes a show of her enormous skills. She’s a matey type of girl.”
    — “She [Cate Blanchett] has made an extraordinary contribution to this film, she’s really terrific. These films are inhabited by great actors, with the possible exception of myself. I mean: Cate, Ray Winstone, Shia LaBeouf, Karen Allen, Jim Broadbent. It goes on and on.”
    — “I’m, what, probably the 200th person to say that Cate [Blanchett] is a fantastic talent. I’m not comparing two people or two actors, but it’s evident to me that Cate is undertaking today the roles which 15 or 20 years ago would have been offered to Meryl Streep. They’re both tremendous talents, each among the biggest and best not only of today, but I think in screen history. And I love it that Cate’s willing to join in with Indy. Some actresses or actors on that level of acclaim would think it beneath them to participate in this. I actually know of some performers who are snobbish enough to want to appear in things that are not big hits.”
    — “When Steven [Spielberg] and George [Lucas] brought to me the idea of [Cate] Blanchett, I was enthusiastic about it. She is my main antagonist in the film. She plays a Russian psychic researcher.”
    — “When Cate [Blanchett] after two weeks appeared on the set out of costume and out of makeup, I didn’t know who it was at first. So it’s a complete transformation when she’s made up and bewigged and in her costume. It’s a remarkable change. There are few people that have the kind of chameleon-like capacity that she has. To be able to play Bob Dylan, to be able to play the Queen of England, and a Russian psychic, that’s a pretty broad range. She doesn’t seem to have a definable limit.”
    — “Cate [Blanchett] has a very physical role and she threw herself into it. She did, she acquired a skill that she didn’t have before, and she’s polished that skill quite assiduously. She’s remarkable on a physical level.”
  • Ray Winstone:
    — “The last job I was on was with Cate Blanchett, who is one of my favourite actors of all time. It was fabulous. That was one of the perks.”
    — “To me she’s [Cate Blanchett] the greatest actor in the world.”

Trivia & Facts

  • Filmed in USA.
  • The film premiered Out of Competition at the 61st Cannes Film Festival on 18 May 2008.
  • To prepare for her role of Irina Spalko, Cate Blanchett learned to fence and practiced karate during filming. She based her performance on Rosa Klebb from From Russia with Love (1963), who also has a stern manner and a bob-cut hairdo.
  • Costume designer Mary Zophres based much of the designs of the main characters on certain real-life figures. For instance, Mutt is obviously based on Marlon Brando in The Wild One (1953), Irina Spalko is based on Marlene Dietrich and Marion is based on famed pilot Amelia Earhart.
  • Security throughout filming was very tight with one of the measures to prevent info leaks was to address the cast with false names in daily call sheets. In those call sheets for example, Harrison Ford was called ‘#’, Cate Blanchett as ‘Mean Girl’ and Karen Allen titled ‘The Damsel’.
  • Steven Spielberg’s favorite villain in the Indiana Jones series is Cate Blanchett as Irina Spalko.

Toronto International Film Festival premiere, 18 May 2008; Madrid premiere, 21 May 2008