Karen Allen, who reprised the spunky Marion Ravenwood in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull this year, told reporters that the long-awaited sequel has led to more opportunities for her.
Below is the edited second half of our group interview with her from this week at Paramount Pictures, where she was promoting the Oct. 14 release of Crystal Skull on DVD and Blu-ray disc.
How different was it to work again with director Steven Spielberg, producer George Lucas, star Harrison Ford and the rest of the people you first worked with in 1981's Raiders of the Lost Ark, as well as with newcomer Shia LaBeouf?
Allen: Shia was there in a sense of awe. Shia couldn't believe his luck. He was like, "Oh, my God, I'm going to be in an Indiana Jones film!" ... When I met him, he was sort of like, "Oh, my God, Marion Ravenwood." He was like, "Oh, my God, I'm meeting Indiana Jones." You know? And he met Steven and George, and the day that he met me, he met Harrison and me simultaneously. I mean, Shia was just, he was so excited about doing this film. I mean, he was just over the moon about it.
And Harrison was, too. ... Harrison came bounding up the steps to my trailer, and he was just so delighted to be working with Steven again. I think they have such a great working relationship, and he respects Steven so much as a director, and I think feels like he's in such great hands with Steven. ...
Harrison really wanted to do this film. He really wanted to put on the fedora and the jacket again. And Cate Blanchett, you know, was so excited to do it. She had been an Indiana Jones fan as a kid. ...
There was a sort of sense of passion and of excitement. And it felt, even though it was something done again and again and again, it also had this very fresh feeling, because it had been such a long time, and now there were also all these new, added elements, like Cate and Shia and me coming back, you know? ...
This story continues below the image.
Karen Allen returns as Marion Ravenwood in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. (David James for Paramount)
They don't need to do it. Steven certainly doesn't need [to]. George certainly doesn't need to, [nor do producers] Kathy [Kennedy] and Frank [Marshall]. Yeah, it's not a matter of them needing to do another Indiana Jones film. You know, Steven says he did it ... because everybody kept asking him to. Everywhere he went, people were always coming up and saying to him, "When are you going to do another Indiana Jones film?" And he said he felt like he was making the film for the fans of the films. And that that felt really good to him to be able to do a film that he really felt, like, "OK, this one's for you. This one's for the people that supported the first three." ...
What films would you like to do now that you're back in the limelight?
Allen: I suppose I feel a little reluctant to get involved in that conversation with myself. ... I would say I'm at this place of just curiosity. I just want to see what ... comes my way. ...
Being realistic, you know, I'm in my mid-50s, and ... I'm not convinced that there's a real career out there to be had. I'm thinking that maybe there's some interesting roles out there to be had. But, you know, I just want to, I just kind of want to play it be ear and just see ... what comes my way. ... I'm not, like, buying an apartment in Los Angeles and coming back and you know, kind of sitting there waiting for the phone to ring every day.
I'm just going to go on with my life as I've been living it, up in western Massachusetts, and I'm going to respond to every ... interesting script that comes my way. I would love, nothing more, than to sort of build my career back to a place where I get considered for some of the reall
