Skull and Jones

Last Monday, in a news break that was doomed to be overshadowed by the Britney Spears comeback implosion, fatiguingly "hot" new Indiana Jones co-star Shia LeBeouf informed the world from the stage of the MTV Video Awards that the title of the long-awaited next Indy sequel is Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

I couldn't tell you what that means if you tortured me with a hot wire coat hanger, as the producers have kept the film's plot under wraps, but returning star Harrison Ford and Mr. LeBeouf (one transposed letter and he faces a copyright infringement suit from Meatloaf), with an assist from their stunt doubles, were all over the historic Yale campus in late June filming what appeared to be an early sequence in the film.

The invasion of the Steven Spielberg-directed movie probably has less to do with his 2002 honorary degree--Yale men had played a heroic role in the director's history-based 1997 Amistad--or with the presence of son Theo in the Class of 2010, than with the university's ideal look as a college campus (called Marshall, after producer Frank), circa 1957. Says co-producer (and Marshall spouse) Kathleen Kennedy: "Steven always said Yale is the most iconic-looking Ivy League college. It was his first choice."

Scenes the company shot were said to be a meeting between a Marshall dean and Indy (who some say was based on turn-of-the-century prof Homer Bingham, discoverer of Machu Picchu), and a rip-snorting motorcycle chase through campus.

A further inducement may be that Connecticut enacted a tax credit last year that has been bringing considerable production (e.g., Sam Mendes' Revolutionary Road) into the state. An article on the campus shoot in the Yale Alumni News also mentioned that "Yale has become more generous with its image."

That image has been much colored by the legend of the secretive Skull and Bones society (which included Bushes 41 and 43, and John Kerry), grimly depicted in films like The Skulls and various CIA potboilers--though It's remained largely covert in recent years thanks to the threat of water boarding. (Okay, just kidding.)

The movie is headed for an early summer release, possibly Memorial Day weekend.