As telephone calls go, the one from the famous movie star wasn’t shabby. The phone rang and there was an oddly familiar voice on the line. “I get this call one day: ”˜Is this Anthony De Longis? This is Harrison Ford.’ I’m thinking, ”˜Oh, my God, it’s Indiana Jones!’ ” said De Longis, the bullwhip master who, in early 2007, didn’t know he was being requested for a top-secret gig.

Almost 20 years after the third film in probably the most beloved adventure series in movie history hit screens in 1989, director Steven Spielberg and producer George Lucas were rolling cameras again. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (opening worldwide on May 22) was a go, the man playing its heroic archaeologist needed a refresher course on that iconic weapon, and De Longis was the man to crack the whip.

Photos show De Longis to be horseshoe-moustached handsome in a movie-cowboy way. Video clips prove him decidedly dangerous. The man is not only a bullwhip master—he can wield one in each hand, both on and off horseback—but also a sword ace, an expert knife and tomahawk artist, and a thrower of a mean punch.

Yet despite being an actor/fight director/weapons specialist on innumerable films (including combatting Jet Li in Fearless) and television series (Alias, Highlander), plus training stars to wield the bullwhip (notably Michelle Pfeiffer as Catwoman in Batman Returns), De Longis had to hustle to work for Dr. Jones.

“It was The Genre Project when I was called about it. It was very secretive. I recognized the code, sent stuff to the producers, and I was a big pain in the ass,” De Longis recalled, laughing, on the line from his ranch outside Los Angeles in Canyon Country, “three miles up a dirt road”. “They forwarded my material to Harrison. He liked what he saw.” And that surprise phone call? “I composed myself and said, ”˜Hi, Mr. Ford. How can I help you?’ ”

Bullwhipping is like bicycle-riding if you’re Harrison Ford. It took four weeks training in California and one week on a New Mexico set to whip the now 65-year-old star back into cracking form. “He’s in tremendous shape, fighting trim. He’s a very apt pupil, extremely intelligent.”

The weapon Ford was wielding is a tad formidable, too. The bullwhip reaches velocities of 1,400 feet per second, De Longis said. It can slice flesh, break bones, and wrap around knees, ankles, and necks.

But this is the movies. Spielberg and Lucas were mum about Crystal Skull’s script and Indy’s bullwhipping plans. De Longis compensated. “I offered Harrison a vocabulary, something more effective, more visual. Most people generate the force from the shoulder, yanking the whip in and out of frame. My tip thrusts and stabs as opposed to slaps and flaps.”

De Longis says his methods give bigger bullwhip bang; plus, they let the camera catch its deadly motion. “People tell me they see my rolling style in what Harrison’s doing, which makes me happy.”

De Longis swears that this latest Indy adventure will make viewers want to pick up bullwhips. At his Rancho Indalo (www.delongis.com/ ), the master will turn you into Indiana Jones, “Zorro, Robin Hood, Catwoman—whoever you want to be”. Get cracking? Maybe a nap first.