Renaldo

CHARACTER
Renaldo
Gender	Male
Death	August 18, 1969 Aboard La Sirena, Aegean Sea
Nationality	Spanish
Profession(s)	Sailor Diver Captain
Allegiance(s)	Indiana Jones La Sirena crew

"Spain's greatest frogman."

―Indiana Jones

Renaldo, nicknamed "Renny", was a Spanish sailor and diver based in Greece, as well as an old friend of the American archaeologist Indiana Jones.

Biography

Renaldo was a Spanish frogman and good friend of Professor Indiana Jones from the American archaeologist's high-adventure days. By August 18, 1969, Renaldo was based out of Greece, walking with a cane and had changed his vessel to La Sirena which was crewed by the Spaniard and three others.

That year on August 18, Renaldo was overjoyed to be reunited with Jones in Athens when the latter needed a boat to take him, his goddaughter Helena Shaw, and Teddy Kumar, out onto the Aegean Sea to recover the Grafikos from a Roman shipwreck. However, the trio were being pursued by the forces of Nazi scientist Jürgen Voller to claim the artifact which led the way to the other half of the Antikythera, an ancient mechanism which detected fissures in time.

While Renaldo and his crewmate Popeye were underwater assisting Jones and Shaw's dive, Voller and his men boarded La Sirena and killed the rest of the crew, leaving Renny to discover their fate when he resurfaced. The Spaniard was shot in the leg by Voller to encourage Jones to cooperate in translating the Grafikos but Renaldo was finished with another bullet when he tried to resist.

Personality and traits

Renaldo was a good Spanish fisherman and sailor who was courageous and a "little bit" crazy but not in a negative way, being above all a good and loyal friend. He was very close with American archaeologist Indiana Jones, welcoming him to his boat alongside his goddaughter Helena Shaw and her sidekick Teddy Kumar, being as protective over them as he was for his modest crew. Defiant to the end, Renaldo stood up for Jones and his associates against Jürgen Voller and his Neo-Nazi enforcers even after they killed his colleagues, not begging for mercy upon being shot after which he still tried to resist even though it cost him his life.

Behind the scenes

"My character is very little; it's almost a cameo. He's just a friend of Indiana's character, and he's looking for him because he needs something from his friend. But he just takes up very little time of the movie, but very happy to be part of a saga that is of the history of motion pictures, obviously"

―Antonio Banderas on Renaldo

Renaldo was portrayed by Antonio Banderas in Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny. His name was first confirmed through a Getty Images caption posted by Walt Disney Studios.

Banderas' casting was confirmed in July 2021. Director/writer James Mangold felt that Renaldo served as the type of character Indiana Jones meets when he goes to new places, being a staple of each of his adventures. Banderas saw his participation in the plot as veering more towards being a cameo appearance but was nonetheless grateful to be a part of the Indiana Jones franchise. The actor also disclosed that Renaldo wasn't a villain but someone who would "die" for Indiana Jones. He cited that it was a "pleasure" working with his The Mask of Zorro producer Steven Spielberg, Mangold and actor Harrison Ford. In regards to Renaldo's demise, Mangold intended it to be a shock to the audience while Banderas regarded his character's sacrifice as a "good death" for trying to protect the titular character.

Sallah Mohammed Faisel el-Kahir actor John Rhys-Davies criticized the character of Renaldo as a waste of Banderas' talents, whom he regards as the most exciting actor of his generation, for being given so little to do while hinting that his own character and George Harris' Simon Katanga of Raiders of the Lost Ark could have filled Renaldo's place within the plot of Dial of Destiny. While Renaldo and Sallah appear in the finished film, the two characters never appear together onscreen.

Although there's no character named as such in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, a character who shares Renaldo's name was used in Frank Darabont's Indiana Jones and the City of the Gods screenplay. That script's Renaldo was an assistant and biplane pilot of Marion Ravenwood who takes her and Indy to meet with Peruvian President Escalante so he grants them the authorization to seek for the legendary Los Dioses city to find the Crystal Skull of Destiny and then flies Indy and Marion over the Peruvian jungles before being shot dead by Yuri Makovsky.

In the Dial of Destiny production notes, Banderas commented that Renaldo was probably a partisan who fought for freedom during the Spanish Civil War or World War II. Renaldo's canonical backstory has not been publicly established by Lucasfilm Ltd.

Appearances

• Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (First appearance)

Sources

• Indiana Jones Adventure Series (Pack: Renaldo)
• The Making of Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny
• Timeless Heroes: Indiana Jones & Harrison Ford