Turning back the Dial: Harrison Ford examines the legacy of Indiana Jones as he caps a historic run

Harrison Ford is hanging up his hat — at least literally.

Surrounded by relics from his time as adventuring archeologist Indiana Jones, the 80-year-old star grabs Indy's iconic pinch-front fedora and carefully places it on a coat rack next to a leather jacket and whip before taking a seat beside a chalice, an idol, books, suitcases, even sticks of dynamite — all the little tchotchkes one might imagine adorn the charming globe-trotter's personal office after all these years.

Ford pauses to look back at the hat, contemplating it as if to say, "What a ride," before shaking his head and giving that trademark irresistible smirk that's brought so much charm to the likes of Indy, Han Solo, and Jack Ryan all these years. When one of EW's cover shoot directors yells cut and gently asks Ford how the first take felt, he pauses, looks her in the eye, and says sardonically, "So f---ing good."

Everyone gathered around, including Ford, lets out a laugh, releasing some pent-up energy in the process. From the instant the star walked on set, constructed in a tucked-away ballroom at a Los Angeles hotel, there's been a palpable charge in the air — one that can only be created by someone like the Oscar-nominated actor, who has steadily worked in Hollywood since the late 1960s, bringing to life some of cinema's most legendary characters in the process.

But Ford would never use that term — "legend" — to describe himself, of course. "I don't connect the dots myself. I mean, I do not know what a legend does for a living. I know that I consider myself to be a working actor, and I'll settle for that," he tells EW a few weeks after his late-May cover shoot, now across town at another L.A. hotel.

Thinking more on it, "I suppose legend means that you've been around for a long time. And I think it's meant to be, uh, gracious, but it just, uh… sounds old," he adds. "I'm clever enough to figure out that it's meant to be a nice thing to say, and so it must be. But I'm just telling you what my gut reaction to it is," he concedes with a laugh. Fair enough.

Ford's feelings on his legend status aside, it's hard to deny the ubiquitousness of his character Indiana Jones, who first swung into the zeitgeist with the trilogy of 1981's Raiders of the Lost Ark, 1984's Temple of Doom, and 1989's Last Crusade. A book series, a Young Indiana Jones TV series, and a handful of Disney theme park rides followed. And then, after an almost 20-year break, Ford returned to the role for 2008's Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Now Ford is back in Indy's fedora for a fifth — and final, he adamantly swears — outing with Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, in theaters Friday. (It should be noted that Ford himself has no plans to retire. In fact, he's currently garnering Emmy buzz for his roles in Paramount+'s 1923 and Apple TV+'s Shrinking, and next year enters the Marvel Cinematic Universe, taking over the role of General Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross from the late William Hurt.)

We can partially thank the lackluster response to Crystal Skull for this new adventure. From the moment the film — which featured Shia LaBeouf as Indy's son and heir apparent — failed to land with audiences, franchise director Steven Spielberg and his fellow executive producer George Lucas (who pitched the idea of Raiders after Spielberg expressed desire to helm a James Bond movie) began mulling the idea of a fifth installment. Ford does not recall feeling that same itch. "No, I don't think so. It doesn't sound much like me. It would've taken a while. I would've had to do a few other things," he says, adding that he's grateful to the successes of the Indiana Jones and Star Wars franchises for making it possible for him to have such a "freedom of choice."

In this case, those choices included reprising some other beloved characters (Han Solo in Star Wars: Episode VII — The Force Awakens and Rick Deckard in Blade Runner 2049) as well as taking part in several other notable projects (42, The Expendables 3, Anchorman 2, among others). As a result, Ford says, "It took me a while to miss him."

But miss the wisecracking professor he did, and eventually, Ford started to think "there was room for one more story." He continues, "And that story was the one that dealt with age, time, and relationships in his family — knitting the whole thing together just a little bit more, and feeling a kind of roundness in all of the different stories we've told. I'm more comfortable leaving him at this place than he was at the end of Crystal Skull."

An initial release date for a fifth entry was set for 2019, before a number of setbacks made that lofty goal an impossible one. Spielberg ultimately stepped down as director in early 2020, with Ford v Ferrari and Logan helmer James Mangold taking the reins shortly thereafter. At the time, "there was a feeling that they hadn't gotten the script they wanted," Mangold says. The filmmaker found the draft they handed him to be "a well-written adventure, but I didn't feel like it was about anything. Specifically, I didn't feel like it was addressing the reality that audiences were going to be facing when they saw the movie, which is that we have a star who's almost 80 years old who's playing this character. The movie has to somehow be about someone in their later years who was a great hero, but who is in this moment experiencing the realities of age.

"So when I decided the movie had to use Indy's and Harrison's age as a feature and not a bug, it became obvious to me that the relic — [Archimedes' Antikythera, a.k.a. the titular Dial of Destiny] — should somehow also have some kind of relationship to time itself," continues Mangold, who worked on a new draft with two Ford v Ferrari co-writers, brothers Jez and John-Henry Butterworth. (David Koepp also shares a screenwriting credit.) "The movie is not about aging per se, but time — the way time travels for all of us, the way we all get older as the world changes around us."

The resulting script, set in 1969, follows Indy and his estranged goddaughter Helena (Phoebe Waller-Bridge) in a rip-roaring race against time to keep the Dial out of the hands of Nazi-turned-NASA-scientist Jürgen Voller (Mads Mikkelsen).

It felt like "a wonderful opportunity" to Ford, who says he was excited specifically for the chance to see Indy "towards the end of his life."

"I wanted to see him reflect on the behavior that he has exhibited over his life," the veteran actor explains. "He's retiring from academia. He's been teaching disinterested students archeology, at a time when everybody's looking forward. No one wants to think about the past. There are men on the moon in a very exciting new time, but this sort of makes him feel a bit out of place."

Someone who didn't feel out of place, though, was Ford himself, who jokes that "a little brush up with the whip" is usually all that's required to step back into the character's well-worn shoes — even if this time around the familiar face of Spielberg wasn't peering back at him from behind the camera.

Not that Ford was worried about the longtime director's absence. "Steven's in here," he says, pointing to his head. "And here," he continues, placing his hand on his heart. "And Jim [Mangold] acknowledges that he's been influenced by Steven — his work and his style, his method of work — ever since he can remember." In a more literal sense, Spielberg executive-produced Dial of Destiny and was "involved in every aspect of the film," Ford notes.

In fact, Spielberg was in the editing room so often that Mangold can't accurately recall the number of times his "idol" stopped by — sometimes for stretches of six to eight hours at a time. And when Spielberg saw the finished product, it was with his successor sitting behind him, looking over his shoulder in the editing bay. Mangold concedes the whole thing "could have been a weird experience," but says Spielberg "became a friend" and "collaborator" through the process. "There weren't any internecine battles over what it was going to be," he says. "Everyone was really comfortable with where we were going and how we were doing it."

Mangold wasn't aiming to "make any one of the movies over again," but he admittedly looked to Raiders of the Lost Ark — his personal favorite of the originals — to inspire Dial of Destiny. "Almost like an archeologist, if you're trying to understand the epistemology of Indiana Jones, if you're trying to understand what the vernacular and the language is of this kind of movie, then you go to the original because that's where the standard was set," he says.

In that spirit, the film does welcome back Indy's longtime friend Sallah (John Rhys-Davies) and longtime love Marion (Karen Allen). (The nature of Marion's return shall not be spoiled here, but Allen does wish her character was "more a part of the adventure of this story." That said, she feels a "sense of gratitude" stepping back into the role for a third time: "She's such a vibrant, wonderful character, and it would've broken my heart to see her just vanish into the ether.")

For series newcomer Waller-Bridge — who counts herself among Indy's many admirers ("There was no one like him before, and won't ever be again") — the reverence for all of the archaeologist's past adventures was integral to what she loved about the script. "I was breathless reading it," says the Fleabag phenom, who "screamed yes" at producer Kathleen Kennedy when she offered her the role of Helena. "It's just got so many beautiful tips of the hat to the original franchise."

While Helena might be reminiscent of Marion — daring, intelligent, resourceful, and feisty — Waller-Bridge says her character actually was inspired in part by Barbara Stanwyck's con-artist character in the 1941 classic The Lady Eve, charming on the outside but "incredibly ambitious and steely" on the inside.

When we meet Helena, she's essentially an orphan. Her mom and dad have long since passed, and she hasn't seen her one other father figure — her godfather Indy — in a couple of decades. But she's been living her own life of adventure, trading antiquities on the black market. "I love her positivity in the face of absolute catastrophe," the British star says before quipping, not unlike her character, that "the ingenuity of a person like that in the first place, of a successful criminal, is always inspiring."

Helena, to put it mildly, kicks ass — and getting to work with a stunt team was a new challenge for Waller-Bridge, one which she relished (even if she did unintentionally crash a tuk-tuk on set). "Before this movie, I think the amount of physical action I'd done had mainly been just comedic running up and down the street, and even then, I didn't know that was funny… but apparently it was," she deadpans.

Of course, another perk of the project was getting to work with the man, the myth (but not the legend!) himself. Waller-Bridge recalls her first introduction to Ford, a voicemail in which he stated his name and said he was looking for her. "That was actually great because I got my first screaming reaction out of the way without him actually having to be there," she admits.

Their first in-person meeting was at Mangold's office for a script read-through. She recalls opening the door, almost as if in slow motion, and walking in. "He immediately went, 'Hey!' like an old friend," she says. "And from that day on, we were fine. We read the script for about five minutes, and we all had a scotch for an hour. So it was perfect."

That jovial atmosphere followed them to filming locations including London, Sicily, Edinburgh, and Morocco — as did some rather, erm, unexpected nicknames. "From the moment we met, it was 's---head's all round. We were taking the piss out of each other all the time, and having a lot of fun," says Waller-Bridge, laughing at the memory. "The most extraordinary thing about working with Harrison is that you're definitely at work — in that his work ethic is so on point, and his discipline is so extraordinary — but because he's that specific and the foundation of the work is really strong, the rest of it can be really fun," she continues, pausing a beat before adding, "There were a lot of pranks... lots of pranks."

For instance, very detailed masks of the actors' faces were made for the stunt doubles to wear, and Waller-Bridge managed to get her hands on one of a young Ford that'd been crafted for a flashback scene. Donning the mask, the actress set out to spook her costar in his trailer. "It scared the crap out of him, actually. Even though that 'actually' is only represented by him blinking three times and saying, 'Get the hell out of my trailer,'" she recalls.

About 20 minutes later, Ford returned the favor, sneaking up on Waller-Bridge while wearing the mask of her face. He even took the time to tie his shirt into a little bow to match her character's outfit. When asked about this later, Ford fittingly doesn't divulge details, demurring, "I didn't think of it as a 'prank.' But yes, I mean, we spent a lot of time fooling around."

All the better for Waller-Bridge, who says occasional sentimental thoughts about the franchise's legacy left her in need of a distraction. "Every now and again when there was a scene with a whip and the guns, or when Harrison first wore the outfit on set, you just got chills. There was a great reverence for the franchise, especially for Harrison, and the atmosphere was thick with that all the time. You'd have to stop yourself getting overwhelmed by it, and just sit down and do a crossword," she says.

Mangold echoes finding that balance of reverence and reality, most fondly recalling what would become somewhat of a morning routine as they prepared for the first shot of the day. Ford would get "itchy to get acting," as Mangold puts it. "You suddenly hear from some corner of the set, 'Let's shoot this piece of s---,'" he says, doing his best Ford impersonation. "And to me, [it's that and] the buoyant feeling of working with this wonderful man who I love. I mean, honestly, I really love him very much. He's irascible, and he can be difficult, and he can be hilarious, and he can be brilliant. It's a relationship I'll be grateful for all my life."

Gratitude is a word thrown around a lot in the interviews for this story, but mostly from Ford himself. He says he's grateful that Tom Selleck, the first choice to play Indiana Jones, couldn't get released from his Magnum, P.I. obligations to take the job. He says he's grateful to Spielberg and Lucas and Raiders screenwriter Lawrence Kasdan, and all the people who put their talents and work into supporting the stories themselves. Here, he pauses — there's that famous smirk again — to reflect on what he's just said. "I think that's a lot of gratitude," he adds, wryly.

He swears the gravity of playing a beloved character for one final adventure was not something he ever dwelled on while on the set ("I'm just not constructed that way"). And he swears up, down, and sideways that he could never pick a favorite character among all those he's played ("I'm a 'love the one you're with' guy — I don't have favorites"). But even he can't deny that this character is a bit of a, well… legend. At least to the fans.

"There is an audience loyalty that is exceptional. I guess it has to do with rinse and repeat, perhaps, but it is gratifying," he says. "And what's more gratifying even than that is the fact that these movies have been passed on from generation to generation in families. And that really has introduced me to new generations of filmgoers."

There's a moment early in Dial of Destiny, at Indy's retirement party, where he's given the chance to say a few words to the colleagues gathered around to celebrate him. "Thanks for putting up with me," the professor says simply.

If provided a similar opportunity in real life, what would Ford say to the generations of Indy fans as he hangs up the fedora after four decades? "Well, you just set me up," the actor responds with a laugh before borrowing Indy's own thoughts: "Thanks for putting up with me," he says, pausing wistfully as he chooses his next words. "I hope you've had a good time… I sure have."

Directed by Kristen Harding & Alison Wild

DP: Kayla Hoff; 1st AC: Denis Zemtsov; Steadicam Op: Devon Catucci; Gaffer: Pablo "Saint" Lopez; Key Grip: Corey Millikin; BBG: Alex Burdick; BBE: Eli Lopez; Set Design: Keith Boos; Leadman: Jared Piller; Set Dressers: Sydney Wienberger, Nathan Castiel

Photo Director: Alison Wild; Head of Video: Kristen Harding; Senior Video Producer: Ethan Bellows; Creative Director: Chuck Kerr

Related content:

• Harrison Ford gives 'em hell as Indiana Jones in exclusive Dial of Destiny photos
• Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny review: Disney whips up a lively (final?) adventure
• Meet Voller: Mads Mikkelsen on what to expect from the Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny villain
• Director James Mangold teases a 'hero at sunset' in Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny