George Lucas
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George Lucas talks "Indiana Jones 4"

Jokes have been made about how the franchise will keep 64-year-old star Harrison Ford up and running, but Lucas doesn't see that as a problem.

"He's not running in any of the movies," Lucas says. "He's either on a horse or driving a car or a motorcycle. And he'll play his age in this movie with what's appropriate. The chases are more suspenseful than speedy. Like the rolling ball in the first film — it's not that he's running that fast, it's that there's a giant ball coming at him. And he will get beat up, which is a tradition for us."

Lucas, who also is in pre-production on a "bare-bones, action-heavy" Star Wars live-action TV series, says there'll still be plenty of action in "Indy 4," the official title of which he hopes to keep under wraps until the first trailer hits theaters around Thanksgiving.

Sean Connery has yet to sign on as Indiana's father, Dr. Henry Jones, but Lucas says, "We're still trying."

It wasn't his idea to cast Cate Blanchett as Ford's new leading lady, he says. "That's who my director wanted, and I always bow to the wishes of my director," Lucas says of Spielberg. "I approved it because she seemed like a good idea. When I met her at the Academy Awards, I told her, 'Hey, you work for me now!' "