UPDATED! Go to the end for the update.
Peter at Slashfilm has gotten a scoop that Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull will be going back in front of the cameras this Friday in Pasadena, California for reshoots. His informer tells him that the shooting will be happening at a residential street address, and that the permit is just for the one day. Peter’s sort of worried about this boding ill for the film, but I don’t think he needs to be all that concerned. This sounds more like a pick up shot to me – when in the editing room Spielberg realized that he needed something that he hadn’t gotten during principal photography. It could be an exterior establishing shot, it could be a couple of lines of dialog to cover scenes that he cut out or it could be a reaction or insert needed to punch up a sequence. Woody Allen builds these sort of ‘reshoots’ into his film schedule, and I think more filmmakers should do the same, especially in the modern world where news of going back before the cameras causes lots of bad buzz.
If you’re in the Pasadena area, look out for Genre Pictures – that’s the name Indiana Jones IV has been shooting under.
UPDATE: I just got off the phone with Paramount. This is, as I thought, an establishing shot and no actors will be present. Apparently this shot was on the schedule from the beginning. Mystery: solved!