海角大神

At 71 years old, Harrison Ford is staying relevant as an actor 鈥� by working on a combination of more听artistically-satisfying films (see: ) and commercially-friendly titles (see: ). The fan-favorite actor has even used his longtime public image as a curmudgeon to his advantage, during his two Hall H appearances at the International Comic-Con (see: the Q&A segment of in 2013).

Ford is all-but-confirmed to reprise one of his iconic roles in 2015 with听, where he is expected to return as the 70-something year old version of the (not scruffy) hotshot Han Solo. The actor has admitted that he鈥檚 still open to picking up his fedora and whip to reprise his other iconic role, should ever come to fruition 鈥� before that happens, though, it appears as though Ford will participate in a different movie (as an age-appropriate action hero): .

It鈥檚 been almost exactly a year since we first heard that Ford was being . Of course, it鈥檚 possible that Sylvester Stallone has been pushing to get the actor to join the Expendables franchise cast for a much longer period of time than that; either way, it appears that Sly has finally won Ford over (or worn him down, whatever works):

WILLIS OUT... HARRISON FORD IN !!!! GREAT NEWS !!!!! Been waiting years for this!!!!

Stallone quickly followed that Twitter announcement with another Tweet comment, saying that听鈥淕REEDY AND LAZY 鈥︹�� A SURE FORMULA FOR CAREER FAILURE.鈥� To be fair, we can鈥檛 be 100% certain that Sly was referring to Willis 鈥� though, if we鈥檙e being honest, chances are good that he was, considering just how close together he posted the comments. Not to mention, Willis hasn鈥檛 exactly been impressive of late, be it with or his most recent movie performances (see: A Good Day to Die Hard, G.I. Joe: Retaliation,听Red 2).

Anyway, moving on鈥�

Ford recently made the following comments about reprising as Dr. Henry Jones (Jr.) in Indiana Jones 5 (via ):

鈥淲e鈥檝e seen the character develop and grow over a period of time and it鈥檚 perfectly appropriate and okay for him to come back again with a great movie around him where he doesn鈥檛 necessarily have to kick as much ass.听To me, what was interesting about the character was that he prevailed, that he had courage, that he had wit, that he had intelligence, that he was frightened and that he still managed to survive. That I can do.鈥�

Despite the mixed general reception 鈥� and harsher reactions from hardcore fans 鈥� to听Indiana Jones the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, Ford鈥檚 solid performance as an older, yet also wiser, more experienced, and even appropriately world-weary Indy Jones, is usually acknowledged to be one of the film鈥檚 strengths. It鈥檚 not so much Ford鈥檚 ability to play the character that has been questioned 鈥� rather, it鈥檚 鈥� in terms of narrative, interesting characters听and themes 鈥� than the one that was realized on the screen with Crystal Skull.

Having said that: now that George Lucas claims 鈥� in combination with Disney having acquired some of the Indiana Jones rights 鈥� is it possible that Lucas would be more willing to allow someone else to chronicle the continuing adventures of Ford鈥檚 globe-trotting archaeologist (similar to how Lucas is simply consulting on )?

Crystal Skull听concludes on a note that 鈥� while not as satisfying for many a fan of the Indy character (no pun) as the ride-off into the sunset from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade 鈥� doesn鈥檛 necessarily demand another installment, but it does leave the door open for a fifth movie (one without Shia LaBeouf as Indy鈥檚 son, no less). Nonetheless, the situation is more complicated now, as Paramount still owns some of the rights to the Indiana Jones franchise 鈥� meaning, Lucasfilm 听(even if the studio wanted to).

Sandy Schaefer blogs at .