The spirit of Indiana Jones is baked into the essence of the new movie 鈥淔ountain of Youth.鈥
This lighthearted, globe-trotting heist from Guy Ritchie, , stars and as estranged siblings attempting to piece together historical facts in hopes of finding the mythical spring. The quest takes them to far-flung places from Vienna to the pyramids, as they try to evade capture by the authorities and a shadowy operation intent on stopping the search.
鈥淚鈥檝e been looking to watch this movie for years,鈥 Krasinski said in an interview with The Associated Press. 鈥淭his is the movie I pretended to be in when I was a kid. This is what got me into the business.鈥
The film also stars Domnhall Gleeson as the wealthy businessman funding the operation and Eiza Gonz谩lez as one of the protectors of the Fountain of Youth.
鈥 gets to work with some of the best cast in the world,鈥 said Gonz谩lez, who has now worked with him three times. 鈥淭he biggest gift Guy has given me, besides the privilege of working with him, is working with them.鈥
Gleeson, a newcomer to the world of Ritchie, was pretty sure that it was going to be as enjoyable as it looked. And he got a vote of confidence from his director.
鈥淕uy basically said, if you鈥檙e not having fun, then this is not going to work and so the idea is to turn up and have fun,鈥 Gleeson said.
Something for the whole family
There were a lot of things about 鈥淔ountain of Youth鈥 that piqued Portman鈥檚 interest. The chance to work with Ritchie, Krasinski, and the rest of the cast, as well as the travel, but it also felt like something she could share with her own son and daughter.
鈥淚t鈥檚 so rare to get to make a movie that has this scale and this scope of adventure that you can watch with your kids,鈥 Portman said. 鈥淚鈥檓 always looking for something that I can enjoy with my children.鈥
Her character, Charlotte, is an art historian who had an adventuresome childhood with her explorer father and brother Luke (Krasinski) but has since settled for a more stable life. We meet her amid a contentious divorce and custody battle over her 12-year-old son, and she鈥檚 not exactly pleased when Luke steals a piece of art from her gallery and attempts to recruit her for the bigger mission. But soon, she鈥檚 in scuba gear hunting down a lost Rembrandt in the wreckage of the RMS Lusitania.
鈥淚 think that something we search for as adults is how to regain that youthful spirit, how to hold onto that youthful energy and freedom and wildness, even when having to move into some adult responsibilities,鈥 said Portman, who, like her character is . 鈥淢aybe that can make you a better parent to have a little bit of that glint in your eye.鈥
She and Krasinski, working together for the first time, fell into the sibling dynamics easily.
鈥淭hese movies sort of live and die with the relationships,鈥 Krasinski said. 鈥淭he sibling thing really only works if you鈥檙e having genuine fun with the person and it can come off screen. And I laughed with her every single day. She鈥檚 so funny.鈥
A historic shoot at the pyramids
Globe-trotting films aren鈥檛 just travelogues for the audience, but their own sort of adventure for the cast and crew. This production earned their miles, skipping between the streets of Bangkok and Liverpool, the Austrian National Library in Vienna and Cairo to film at the great pyramids 鈥 where 鈥淔ountain of Youth鈥 became the first film of this scale to be granted the privilege to shoot action sequences there.
鈥淚t was really a pinch me kind of moment to be like, oh, those are the pyramids and we鈥檙e just hanging out here and walking into them and filming in them,鈥 Portman said.
The big first was landing a Boeing Chinook CH47 helicopter in front of the Giza Plateau, and blowing up a jeep, all while the site remained open to tourists.
鈥淲ith any luck, we didn鈥檛 blow it for Hollywood going back there for somebody else,鈥 Krasinski said. 鈥淏ut if we did, at least we got to do it.鈥
Most of the big action moments 鈥渋nside鈥 the pyramids were saved for the safety of sets constructed at London鈥檚 Leavesden Studio, where they also built the wreckage of the Lusitania in a water tank so big that it took two weeks to fill.
An epic made for the small screen
鈥淔ountain of Youth鈥 might seem like the type of movie that would be a natural fit for the big screen: A big budget, global adventure with major stars and sweeping vistas. While Krasinski champions movie theaters 鈥 at the time of the interview, he had a ticket to see the next day 鈥 he鈥檚 also not feeling bittersweet that this one won鈥檛 be playing at the multiplex. They all came into 鈥淔ountain of Youth鈥 knowing that it was a streaming-first endeavor.
鈥淭his was always going to be a streaming movie, so I didn鈥檛 really think about it in terms of ... Would people want to see it in theaters because it was just one of those things,鈥 Krasinski said. 鈥淎nd I think that鈥檚 the new reality. There are definitely movies that are being made for streaming, and there are movies being made for theatrical.鈥
He added: 鈥淚t all depends on what the filmmaker鈥檚 intent was, what the studio鈥檚 intent and I think as long as those rules are laid out clearly in the beginning, I鈥檓 down for either one.鈥
___
For more coverage of films, visit:
To join the conversation set a first and last name in your user profile.
Sign in or register for free to join the Conversation