A Night Out With Karen Allen!
The Times chose wisely this weekend, dedicating its often miserable "A Night Out With" feature to super-dreamy Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull star Karen Allen instead of some dicky little 12-year-old writer who some editor found attractive. "Ms. Allen said: 'People want to see a movie that casts a mature woman across from a mature man. They're not matching Harrison with a 30-year-old.'"
"At Gabriel's, an Italian restaurant on the Upper West Side, Ms. Allen joined family and friends, including her son, Nick, 17; ex-husband, Kale Browne; manager, Joan Hyler; the poet Michael Lally and his son, Flynn, and friends Christy Zea and Frosty Montgomery.
"There was talk of whether Mr. Spielberg and George Lucas would make yet another Indy movie. 'George had been saying no,' Ms. Allen said with a poker face, 'but lately in the press, he doesn't seem to be ruling it out.'
"In a lull between courses, she did her best to answer a barrage of questions about the movie: Where was it shot? (Los Angeles, mostly, she said.) Was the scene of a nuclear mushroom cloud made with government footage? (Hotly debated.) Was the motorcycle chase through the college library shot at Yale University? (Yes, Mr. Spielberg's son studies there.)
"After dessert, 10-year-old Flynn looked up from his chocolate cake and offered Ms. Allen an unsolicited review of the film. 'The funny thing about the movie is that you punch him and then you kiss him,' he said.
