The setting was the San Diego Comic-Con in July 2007, when director Steven Spielberg, and actor Harrison Ford and company beamed into the event via satellite to talk about their long-awaited adventure "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull."
Of course, fans already had enough to buzz about since the film would be the Indy's adventure in 19 years, but the fever pitch intensified when Spielberg made an unexpected casting announcement: Bringing out a director's chair with the name "Marion Ravenwood" stenciled on it, Spielberg proudly introduced to the crowd Karen Allen -- Indy's beloved, no-nonsense heroine girlfriend from the 1981 classic "Raiders of the Lost Ark."
Needless to say, fans were deliriously happy that Allen was coming back. And Allen was happy because she could finally share her longtime secret.
"It was such a huge relief to me because they had been keeping it a secret that I was in the film," Allen said in a recent @ The Movies interview. "I had known that I was going to do the film for about six months at that point and Steven was just determined to keep it a secret. It was making my life, very, very, very difficult trying to keep it that way."
Thankfully for Allen, the secret was worth keeping. Getting a call from Spielberg to ask her to come to New York to see the script, Allen admits that she was nervous about what new was in store for Marion in "The Crystal Skull."
"There was that moment of gulping and wondering, 'What if I don't like it?'" Allen said, laughing. "I had a little bit of momentary anxiety, wondering, 'What if they did something with my character that I don't like?' My fear was completely unfounded."
New on DVD and Blu-ray (Paramount Home Entertainment) Tuesday, "The Crystal Skull" is set in 1957, where Indy (Ford) finds himself on the hunt to find -- and keep from a Russian psychic (Cate Blanchett) -- a mythical crystal skull said to possess otherworldly powers. Joining Indy for the ride is Mutt Williams (Shia LaBeouf), a motorcycle greaser with an attitude whose mother, Marion, is about to give both the elder and younger adventurers the shock of their lives.
The lovechild angle -- which was speculated before LaBeouf was officially cast and remained as the worst-kept secret prior to the film's opening -- was one of the many aspects of the story that thrilled Allen about the new film.
"I love that Marion and Indy had this child together and loved the way that they ended the film," Allen enthused. "I loved some of the great scenes that they had written for the two of us together -- where Indy and Marion were back in their bickering mode-- yet with a real sweetness."
Bickering, fighting off the bad guys or gazing lovingly into each others' eyes, there's no question that the romantic chemistry that Allen and Ford have in "The Crystal Skull" is just as strong as it was in "Raiders of the Ark" -- and that's a pretty amazing thing given that the two have rarely seen each other over past 26 years.
Allen said that the ability to pick things up where they left off years ago is all grounded in the strength of the characters on the page.
"As much as it might have to do with the two of us, it also has a lot to do with the characters," Allen observed. "I think we both click into these characters in a way that creates this relationship that Harrison and I really don't have. It's a funny, magical thing."
The end of "The Crystal Skull" swings the door wide open for a possibility for more adventures for Indiana Jones, and Marion and Mutt, for that matter. Allen said she'd be keen to playing Marion again if the conditions were right.
"I would thoroughly enjoy it, provided that Steven, Harrison, George (Lucas) and the team would be coming back together," Allen said. "I think what we're assured of with them is that if it happens, it will happen because they can come up with a script that they're really happy with."
"That, of course, is the iffy proposition since it took them 19 years last time around," Allen added with a laugh. "It will have to be something, at the very least, that Stephen, Harrison and George all love. It's a tough bill to fill."
In the meantime, Allen won't have trouble keeping herself busy. For the past six years, she's been operating
Karen Allen Fiber Arts -- her own knitwear studio in outstate Massachusetts. Turning her love of knitting as a child into a successful business while enjoying a dual career as an actress not only allows Allen to explore two of her passions -- but live a relatively normal life, to boot.
"I live in a small town in New England and have a studio that's in an old barn," said Allen, 57. "I get up everyday and work on the knitting machines myself, and take orders from stores, galleries and resorts all across the country. It's a lovely way to just pass the time."
And, of course, being her own boss does have its advantages.
"When I have a film or theater project that I want to do, I can just close up the studio and just head off," Allen said. "When I'm here, it's just another creative endeavor that I thoroughly enjoy."
Video: Teaser Trailer
