Whipping Boy Found

Early word hit the Net yesterday but official confirmation has now been given that Shawshank Redemption writer/director, Frank Darabont, will be putting pen to parchment for the fourth Indiana Jones adventure. It's been a hard slog to bring Indy back to our screens since Spielberg, George Lucas and Harrison Ford first mooted the idea almost ten years ago. But, after a string of other commitments and failed negotiations - M Night Shyamalan was originally in line to pen the script and, more recently, Tom Stoppard was approached for the job - it looks as though the fedora-sporting archaeologist is ready to crack his whip once more. Darabont should have no problem bringing Indy to life, having written numerous episodes of TV spinoff, The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles. The twice Oscar-nominated screenwriter will begin work on the script straight away and the studio has already pencilled in the 4 July weekend 2005 for Indy's US release. Long-in-the-tooth old Harrison may be, but Empire Online is confident that, once he's sporting that fetching khaki outfit once again, it will all come flooding back to him.