World-saving adventures have taken movie character Indiana Jones around the globe. He can add Fresno to his stopping spots. A small part of "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" will be shot here. Cast and crew were scheduled to film scenes for the fourth installment today at Chandler Airport.
Vikki Calderson, a spokeswoman for the local airport, says that services have not been disrupted because of the filming of the latest "Indiana Jones" movie. That's because only a portion of the airport is being used.
Chandler Airport has been re-dressed to look like an airport in Mexico in the 1950s, complete with a flag of Mexico. Vintage cars have been placed around the facility. Vintage airplanes have been brought in from all across the country.
The local airfield has been pitched as a film location site to film companies in the past that needed an older-looking facility. "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" is set in the late 1950s, and several Internet sites say the movie will pit Indiana Jones against agents of the Soviet Union.
Director Steven Spielberg is guarded when it comes to information being leaked about the movie. A lawsuit was settled recently with actor Tyler Nelson, who violated the agreement of his contract by talking about the movie to his hometown newspaper, the Edmond Sun in Oklahoma.
So details of the "Indiana Jones" shoot are as big a secret as the contents of the Lost Ark.
Ray Arthur, Fresno's film and entertainment commissioner, would confirm that a feature film is being shot this week at the local airport, but he couldn't say any more because of an agreement with the film company.
Gigi Gibbs, Fresno County film commissioner, would only confirm that her office was working on a project this week and that the project would only be here "a very short time."
"This is a project that we have been working on for nine months. There has been a lot of back and forth, start and stop," Gibbs said.
Since word spread that a major project was to be filmed here, she said, her office has been flooded by calls from people who either wanted to watch the filming or get a job.
Between 30 and 40 local actors did land jobs. Hollywood and local casting agent Carolyn DeVore supplied the locals who will be used in the background of the film shot. Her husband, John West, is the assistant location manager for the shoot here.
"There are actors of all ethnic types. This is such a major film project. I could not even tell the actors what they were being hired to do. We didn't want them to get too excited," DeVore said.
The local actors have been hired to work two days. But film shoot schedules can change dramatically.
Filming on "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" started in June. The cast and crew have already traveled to New Mexico, New Haven, Conn., and Hawaii. It is scheduled to open in May.
The third film in the series was released in 1989. There have been rumors about a fourth film for years. Harrison Ford, during an interview for his 2006 film "Firewall," confirmed that a fourth movie would be made.
"All we are waiting on is the right script," the 65-year-old Ford said last year.
The movie also stars "Transformers" actor Shia LaBeouf, Cate Blanchett and John Hurt. Karen Allen will reprise her role of Marion Ravenwood from the original "Raiders of the Lost Ark."
There was no official word whether any, or all, of the actors would be here.
The reporter can be reached at [email protected] or (559) 441-6355.
