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Popular Allen returns to 'Indiana Jones' franchise

PARAMOUNT PICTURES

Karen Allen reprises her role as Marion Ravenwood in “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.”

This Marion's no librarian, but a rip-roaring, booze-swiggin' match for rough-hewn adventurer Indiana Jones. And to the delight of millions, Ms. Ravenwood is back, plucky as ever. Maybe a little more seasoned to boot.

It took George Lucas and Steven Spielberg a while to acknowledge that Allen, by far, was the fans' favorite Indy heroine, that no one else would do. Twenty-seven years in fact, since 1981's "Raiders of the Lost Ark." It took about the same amount of time for the actress to forgive Spielberg for dropping her in a real-live nest of snakes.

Allen, 57, had heard many a rumor that another Indiana Jones movie might be made, but nothing concrete until Spielberg called her early last year and a top-secret script finally landed in her lap.

At long last, Indy and Marion Ravenwood, daughter of his archaeological mentor, are reunited in their love-hate relationship. But the encounter is sudden, and it's been a long time between slaps and kisses. There are issues.

Of course, director Spielberg had issues, too. He was "married" to his future wife, Kate Capshaw, as the actress playing Indy's whiny love interest in the second movie, 1984's "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom," and since it took place before the events of "Raiders," in a different part of the world, casting Allen would have been problematic anyway. Then it was Sean Connery, not Alison Doody, who was the real relationship (father and son) interest of 1989's "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade."

It's not like Allen, who debuted in features with 1978's "Animal House," has been pining in the fiords. Apart from becoming a mom in 1990 and deciding to spend more time running her yoga center and knitwear company, Allen concentrated on the stage, teaching acting and directing. Though she's gotten film work when she really wanted it, few movies had the impact on her career that "Raiders" or the affecting "Starman" (1984, opposite Jeff Bridges) managed to exert.

Still, there were some good movies in the mix, pictures such as Wolfgang Petersen's "The Perfect Storm" (2000) and Brian De Palma's surprising "Falling Sky" (1999), Steven Soderbergh's superb "King of the Hill" (1993), Spike Lee's memorable "Malcolm X" (1992) and Paul Newman's solid version of "The Glass Menagerie" (1987).

But it's as Ravenwood that she'll be long remembered.

Indy worries

After a lengthy and fruitful renaissance, the independent film industry may be witnessing the beginnings of a pullback.

The most recent news to unnerve movie buffs is that Picturehouse, the distributor of such films as multiple Oscar nominees "Pan's Labyrinth" and "La Vie en Rose," may be on the chopping block. Mega studio Warner Brothers (which is to say Time Warner) is deciding the fate of the three-year-old subsidiary of New Line, itself a pioneering indy distributor that Warner absorbed this year.

One problem is that, since 2004, Warner already had it's own indy label, Warner Independent Pictures.

And many in the film community fret over just how committed Warner is to WIP after its founding president, Mark Gill (the exec responsible for "March of the Penguins" and "Good Night, and Good Luck"), resigned in frustration. Since he left, acquisition and production have ground to a halt, Variety and other industry publications report.

To be sure, Picturehouse has had its failures, as well as its successes, and even the successes have not always translated into solid domestic box office. For every "Memento," "Y Tu Mama Tambien," "Monster" and big money-maker like "My Big Fat

Greek Wedding" and "The Passion of the Christ," there has been a "Silk," an "El Cantate" a "Run, Fat Boy, Run," and "Introducing the Dwights."

But that's the risk you take. What, Warner's hasn't had its share of mainstream duds?

Still, Warner isn't the only corporation that's nervous about indy films, as the landscape has altered significantly since mid- to late '90s heyday of firms like Samuel Goldwyn, Miramax, New Line/Fine Line and Sony Pictures Classics.

It's not that fewer films are being made, but that the players involved appear to be contracting, and the survivors are reappraising their output. There seems to be little middle ground for movies.

Big hit or embarrassing flop. And that's not a prescription for sustained health.

Bits and pieces

The goal of Helen De Winter's new book "What I Really Want to Do Is Produce: Top Producers Talk Movies and Money" (Faber and Faber) is to divine what it takes to become a great producer. She spoke with many a pro who worked his or her way up the ladder, from JoAnne Sellar ("Boogie Nights") and Simon Channing Williams ("The Constant Gardener") to Steven Woolley ("The Crying Game") and Paul Brooks ("My Big Fat Greek Wedding"), not to mention some veteran producer-directors like Sydney Pollack. ... A forlorn Michael Jackson impersonator falls for a fake Marilyn Monroe and pursues her to a commune in the Scottish Highlands in "Mister Lonely." Diego Luna and Samantha Morton star.

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