Sydney Sweeney Is Reviving the 1960s Classic That Inspired Indiana Jones

Apple is dusting off a French adventure classic that basically taught Spielberg and Lucas how to have fun on screen. Sydney Sweeney is teaming with Justin Lin for a new take on Philippe de Broca's 'That Man from Rio.' No pressure or anything.

The remake: who is doing what

• Sydney Sweeney is attached to star and will also executive produce. Her next feature, 'Christy,' hits theaters next month (per Deadline).
• Justin Lin is directing and producing through his company Perfect Storm Entertainment.
• Kevin Walsh is producing too. He has been a longtime fan of the original and, like Spielberg, has been chasing the rights to this IP for ages.
• Chase Palmer wrote the script.
• This is an Apple reimagining of de Broca's film.

Quick refresher: what is 'That Man from Rio'?

Philippe de Broca's crowd-pleaser blends globe-trotting action, comedy, and a bit of swoony romance. It follows Jean-Paul Belmondo's Adrien Dufourquet, a soldier on leave who lands in Paris and immediately learns his fiancee, Agnes, has been kidnapped. The rescue chase blows up into an around-the-world caper (with a major Rio detour) tied to the theft of three Amazonian statuettes.

Part of the charm is Belmondo doing his own stunt work, and the tone riffs on those pulpy 1930s–40s adventure serials. The movie nabbed an Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay, and it helped popularize that breezy, anything-goes adventure vibe a lot of modern films still chase.

Stats for the curious: IMDb currently has it at 7.0; Rotten Tomatoes sits at 79% on both the Tomatometer and Audience score; runtime is 114 minutes.

Why filmmakers keep bringing it up

This film left dents on some very influential brains. Steven Spielberg and George Lucas have both said they're big fans, and you can see the fingerprints all over Indiana Jones: the banter, the athletic close calls, the playful tone in between the punches.

'The very pop, very funny side of Jean-Paul Belmondo and the very athletic side of the character who jumps everywhere and climbs things, he really took that from Philippe de Broca and Belmondo.'

— Clelia Cohen, co-director of the documentary 'Indiana Jones: The Search for the Lost Golden Age'

In other words, if you're rebooting this thing in 2025, you're stepping into a movie that helped shape Indy, not the other way around.

So what should we expect?

Between Lin's action chops and Sweeney's current heat (plus a producing credit that suggests real creative input), Apple is clearly swinging for a slick, modern chase movie with a sense of humor. With Walsh having chased the rights for years, this one feels like a passion project for the team. If they nail the tone — light on its feet, heavy on practical mayhem — it could be a blast. If not, the comparisons will be brutal. Big shoes to fill doesn't begin to cover it.

Where to watch the original

'That Man from Rio' is available to rent on Apple TV in the US. If you want to see the DNA Indy borrowed from, start there.