Vic Armstrong available for Bond 21 with news that Indiana Jones 4 is postponed until 2006

06-Feb-2004 • Casino Royale

Great news for 007 fans today, as stunt coordinator and action unit director Vic Armstrong now appears to be available for the next James Bond film in 2005 with news that Indiana Jones 4 has been postponed until 2006.

Indy 4 was orginally set for filming in 2005, alongside Bond 21, and director Steven Spielberg has been quoted saying to Armstrong "clear your diary for 2005".

Vic Armstrong is one of the longest running members of the "Bond family", starting way back as the first ninja down the rope in "You Only Live Twice", through to being the Action Unit Director on "Die Another Day".

MGM chiefs will no doubt also be happy as Bond 21 will face significantly less competition in the holiday season box office in 2005.

DarkHorizons reported that the fourth "Indiana Jones" pic is on hold as a new script draft has been commissioned.

Frank Darabont had been brought in to script a concept the trio (Spielberg, Ford and Lucas) liked and earlier this week it was reported the work was complete, but sources close to the production said Producer George Lucas was unhappy with the draft. So now another screenwriter has been brought in to hone Darabont`s script.

Spielberg had no comment on his plans, but with the time now required and the small availability window for the trio to work together - it is now looking like a 2005 production start at the earliest for release in 2006.

Meanwhile a supposed Paramount insider sent in the following scoop a few hours before the trade report broke which could reveal some of the reasoning behind why Lucas didn`t like it: "Darabont has been ordered to rewrite it, one of the elements he apparently didn`t go for was a sub-plot involving Indy`s brother. The brother is still going to be in it, but not as much a focus as in the current script. There needs to be more dimension to the character as well. Apparently Kevin Costner has talked to Spielberg too - but I don`t know if he`s in it".

Thanks to M_Balje for the alert.

Previous image used in this report inadvertantly used without permission. Apologies to David Williams from BondPix.com