Shaunette Renée Wilson Praises Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny Director on Script Change

Shaunette Renée Wilson (“The Resident,” “Black Panther”) landed the role of a lifetime when she was cast opposite Harrison Ford in his final “Indiana Jones” film.

Wilson was hand-picked by director James Mangold to play Agent Mason in the major summer release. After a Zoom meeting with Mangold, she was cast and didn’t even have to audition, but when she received the script, she wanted to implement some changes.

“I was so jazzed,” Wilson tells Variety recalling her first reaction to receiving the script. “I was quite impressed by a lot of things, but I also had thoughts and wanted to make input about my character in particular. And the brilliance and wonder of James Mangold is his ability to collaborate, and he heard me out and he was very honest about it and took what I said and it was implemented in rewrites. That has been a wonderful part of this process — to actually be able to feel like you are integral and you have a point of view when it comes to what’s being written.”

Wilson spoke to Variety in May at the Cannes Film Festival, where “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” had its world premiere, when she was honored at Variety‘s party with the Golden Globes as a breakthrough artist at the festival. (Due to the spoilery nature of her interview, Variety opted to publish this piece after the film was released in theaters.)

“Well, I don’t want to spoil too much, but my character had a particular way of exiting the film,” Wilson told Variety. “And initially I found it to be a little too offensive and a bit problematic, and I was like, ‘We probably don’t need to say these words or have it done this way, and this is something I’m uncomfortable with.’”

Praising Mangold’s collaboration, Wilson added, “He was like, ‘You know what, you’re completely right, I hear you. That’s something I flagged as well.’ And we were able to work on that.”