Raiders Of The Lost Ark
Tuesday, November 4th, 2008
It all started in the mid-70s, when a young George Lucas was coming up with ideas for films. The two main ones that he started working on were for a Flash Gordon type sci-fi movie, and another inspired by 1930s and 1940s adventure serials. The first became Star Wars and the latter Indiana Jones, or ‘Indiana Smith’, as he was in Lucas’ first treatment in 1973. In The Last Crusade it’s revealed that Indy took his name from his dog, which is sort of true, as Indiana was actually the name of one of Lucas’ dogs.
Elsewhere Steven Spielberg had just become big Hollywood property with the 1975 release of Jaws, which had become the highest grossing movie ever made. After following this with the exceptionally popular Close Encounters Of The Third Kind, it seemed Spielberg should have enough clout to make any movie he wanted to. However being the hottest director in the world wasn’t enough for the producers of the Bond movies. With Spielberg being a major fan of 007, he expressed an interest in directing a Bond flick. Roger Moore has recently said he himself took the idea to Bond producer Cubby Broccoli, who immediately dismissed it, feeling Spielberg would demand a slice of the profits – something he wasn’t prepared to give up for anyone.
As a result Spielberg went on the lookout for other projects, and found his dream to make a Bond style adventure fitted well with George Lucas’ ideas about an all-action archaeologist. Already friends, Spielberg agreed to direct Lucas’ Indiana Jones film (allegedly while building a sand castle in Hawaii). While many involved felt Harrison Ford would be perfect for the role, George Lucas was resistant, largely because he’d already used him in both American Graffiti and Star Wars. As a result they looked elsewhere, eventually settling on Tom Selleck, who’d recently found great success on the TV show ‘Magnum P.I.’. There was a bit of a problem though, as Selleck’s schedule for his TV series clashed with the movie shoot, and despite attempts to sort this out, Tom eventually had to step down from the role. Lucas then agreed that despite his reservations, Harrison Ford could indeed play Jones.
Filming started in France in June 1980 with scenes involving the Nazi submarine (which had been hired from the production of Das Boot). The production also moved to America, England and Tunisia, with the latter involving many of the same locations that had doubled for Tatooine in Star Wars.
While many wondered whether Lucas and Spielberg were committing a massive folly by making a movie inspired by serials that had been out of fashion since the 40s, the film received a rapturous reception when it was released in 1981, grossing $381 million worldwide. It was even nominated for nine Oscars, including Best Picture, and won four of them (Best Sound, Best Editing, Best Set Decoration and Best Visual Effects). And with success like that, it was certain it wasn’t the last we’d hear from Indiana Jones.
Page 2 of 5
PREVIOUS Introduction
NEXT Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Doom
