I think I need to make every Tuesday an Indiana Jones Tuesday.

Devin Faraci from CHUD visited the Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull set on the Universal lot and got to talk to Steven Spielberg.

You can read it all right here.

And I really think you need to.

There’s even a part about Harrison Ford and ham.

Here’s my favorite excerpt:

This is not digital, baby. Spielberg said he’ll be the last guy in Hollywood shooting live action on film, despite the arguments Lucas makes (and the way he talks about their relationship makes me want to see these two at dinner). He’s not cutting on the Avid, and he’s doing as much practical effects work as possible on this film. There’s some digital, of course, but he’s going as old school as he can.

Practical effects, shooting on film… all old school. And so is his style. He’s not bringing ‘MTV style editing’ into the Indy films, he told me when I asked him whether the new cinematic language for action films, a language that has been building on what he started in the 80s, would be reflected here. This isn’t going to be a 21st century Indy film. Spielberg likes to give his audience a master shot, he said. He wants you to decide who to look at in a scene, and not do a ton of inserts and pump up the feeling of action with a zillion cuts.

He said that Shia and Ford are doing as many of their own stunts as they can. The footage of Ford today could have been footage of Ford from Last Crusade, he claimed. After seeing the man suited up, I believe it.

Spielberg also said that Drew Struzan would be back for the poster – he wouldn’t do an Indy without him or John Williams. The Commies make great replacements for the Nazis, and as they wrap up the final two days of shooting, he’s more excited than he’s been in years.

Even a jaded skeptic like me couldn’t help but get a little excited too.

I hope they’re selling candy crystal skulls at the theater near me on May 22, 2008!

This is linked inside the story linked inside my previous Indiana Jones article, but I love Cate Blanchett and this is a really funny interview that deserves its own post.

MTV talked to the ever-awesome Cate about her role in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, and this is what she had to say about it:

MTV: I know you’re dying to tell me the entire super-secret plot of “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.”

Blanchett: Oh, I am. Stop me. Please stop me!

MTV: Go ahead. Talk it out. I’m listening.

Blanchett: It’s about this transvestite who finds himself in Victorian England. And he ends up killing himself.

MTV: That’s kind of a downer. OK, how about this: Which is your favorite Indy film?

Blanchett: I have a soft spot for the first one because I adore Karen Allen. This one is a big bar of chocolate and you want to eat the whole thing. I’m really looking forward to this slotting into the boxed set.

MTV: Do you get the sense that it will fit in and not feel out of place with the others because so much time has passed?

Blanchett: That’s really hard to say, isn’t it? I did feel on the first day [like], “I know the iconography of this.” When they were setting up the shot and I was walking into the frame, it felt familiar and strange at the same time.

MTV: Have you finished filming?

Blanchett: I wrapped on Saturday. They have a couple more weeks. It meant a lot to me. And it meant an enormous amount to my kids. They were on set, and Steven was great with the children. They loved all the effects and the stunts. It was a real riot for them.

MTV: Have you gotten bruised up? I would assume some significant stunt work is involved.

Blanchett: Oh, baby. Spielberg kept saying he was butching me up.

MTV: Are there any giant boulders chasing after you?

Blanchett: Not that I remember. Maybe that’s when I was knocked unconscious.

Funny and charming. But we knew that already.