One of the most absolutely downright awesome movie series ever to grace our cinemas is Indiana Jones. This is one series that has filled movie audiences with awe and spectacle that would last with them for their entire lives. I’m sure that we can all recall the wonder that we felt in our hearts our first time watching one of these spectacles of movie magic.
The whip-cracking fedora-wearing treasure hunter and his exploits through exotic locations have become legendary to many. Today we pay homage to this cornerstone of adventure films and marvel of Hollywood. For this special presentation, we raided through our ancient treasure troves to present the truth behind the legends to you, our fellow adventurers. So please join us as we take a behind the scenes look at the Indiana Jones series.
Kate Caphshaw and Spielberg
Here’s a good tidbit to begin with. Did you know that Steven Spielberg and Kate Capshaw (pictured here together) are actually married in real life? Not at the time that this picture was taken, mind you, but a few years after the movie was released.
You see, Capshaw had an acting career prior to this time, but it was only small bit parts. The part of Willie in The Temple of Doom was her first and really only big role. Spielberg, however, had made quite a name for himself by this time with Jaws and Close Encounters of the Third Kind.
He wasn’t yet married during the time that the movie was made, and the pair engaged in a friendly manner that bordered on romantic, getting along extremely well. The couple recalls that they were intent on just staying friends in the beginning, but after Spielberg’s failed marriage to Amy Irving, they got back in touch and something else blossomed. The two dated for over a year and decided to get married. They were wed in 1991 and had six children.
Spielberg and Capshaw are still married to this day, making one of the longest celebrity marriages in recent memory. To this day Spielberg says that Temple of Doom was one of his least favorite movies, but it was all worth it since he meet Kate working on it.
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Dan Aykroyd
One of the most out of place peculiarities in The Temple of Doom might seem like a difficult title for any one part to pull off, but I think it’s fitting for this fact. Dan Aykroyd of SNL and Ghostbusters fame actually appears in the movie for a brief and pointless cameo. It occurs when Indy, Willie, and Short Round have just driven to the airfield and are getting ready to board a plane to escape Lao Che. After they get out of the car and walk down the airstrip an attendant comes and tells the posse that everything is ready for their departure. That man was the one and only Dan Aykroyd.
It seems that the actor was a huge fan of the first film and asked Universal if he could be in its sequel in any way. The studio got in touch with Spielberg and he was in. They put him in one of the truly inconsequential parts because Aykroyd said he’d be fine with anything. So these strangely insignificant lines were created just for him.
Originally, the crew was just going to hop on the plane, but now there was some useless dialogue to be spouted and voila, the cameo was complete. Despite his lack of any sort of importance, Dan Aykroyd was still grateful for the chance to be a part of this cinematic landmark.
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Pyrotechnic Excellence
We all love to see a good explosion in our blockbuster action/adventures, but creating them for the big screen is certainly a challenge. With the copious amounts of equipment and personnel that are needed to pull off these pyrotechnic marvels, many production companies try their hardest to pull out all the stops so that they can be worth the trouble in the end. There are even entire effects companies that dedicate themselves to pyrotechnics for movies. That being said, utilizing this equipment is the same as using matches in that you shouldn’t use them unless you know how to properly handle them and have taken the appropriate safety precautions.
Much of the special effects for the Indiana Jones series was handled by Lucas’s famous effects company Industrial Lights and Magic. This is the same team that brought Star Wars to life on the big screen a few years prior. Because of the high demand for explosions for these films, the team read up on pyrotechnics and employed some staple techniques of the age.
This example from the photo is from The Last Crusade while the team films the tank exploding. A camera crane was employed to help film an aerial view of the fireworks. You can also see the safety precaution of only blowing up the side that the crew wouldn’t be on, so they wouldn’t be in the danger zone.
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Our Fellow Adventurers
Behind every great movie is a great cast and crew. This is a universal truth that all who appreciate a good film understand. And there were few teams that could compare with the one that made Indy a star. First off, with possibly the most successful director of all time in the form of Steven Spielberg, it’s clear that scenes are going to go off without a hitch. Add to that the creative vision of writer George Lucas to ensure the story and characters are unique and memorable. Finally, mix in a film and effects crew of seasoned veterans or beginners who would stay in the business for a long time afterward, and you’ve got a recipe for a blockbuster.
The picture shows the rarely seen camera crew as they capture the epic beginning to the series that would make cinematic history. Among them we can also see the always important stunt double, Vic Armstrong as he gets ready for his role to come into play.
There was a great responsibility thrust on the shoulders of these men and women as they tried to allow visions to be brought into the physical realm. And indeed considering the massive popularity of their work, they were quite successful in their mission. In fact, a majority of the crew stayed the same between all three original movies, and many even returned for the fourth.
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Johnathan Ke Quan, the Unintended Hero
The fan base is rather mixed upon the inclusion of Short Round in the second film. However, at least he isn’t as disliked as Willie is by many. It is actually surprising to find out that Johnathan Ke Quan was kind of an accidental part of the movie. Allow me to elaborate. When Universal got the working script and found out they would need to cast a young actor of Chinese ancestry in order to play the intended comedic side kick, they set out to posting up bulletins at local schools.
Johnathan’s big brother discovered the opportunity to be in a real Hollywood movie and he got a script. After nights of rehearsing with Johnathan, the pair set out to the tryouts. Johnathan accompanied his brother in to provide moral support. After the casting team heard the young boy cheering his brother as he tried out, they asked Johnathan to try reading some lines.
After witnessing the boyish enthusiasm he brought to the scripts, they offered him the part instead of his brother, the one actually trying out for it. Some of the lines were reworked in order to capitalize on the fact that they got a younger actor to play the role, thus creating the Short Round we have today.
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Father Son Bonding
According to many people in the film industry, one of the sincerest pleasures of working with Sean Connery is his peculiar openness that causes him to talk with nearly anyone within earshot. Actors all the time recall offbeat jokes and pleasant conversations shared with the Scottish actor from when they worked with him, and there are many who say he is a joy to work with most of the time.
This is quite peculiar considering the fact that while he was playing his most famous role (as James Bond) most of the people he worked with claimed he was overly dramatic. Starting in the eighties, however, these reports changed to claim he was a truly kind man.
This particular image comes to us from a beautiful day in Germany during break time. Harrison Ford, Sean Connery, and producer Arthur Ropolla sit together and share some friendly conversation. Perhaps a nice joke had just been passed between the resting movie makers. Either way, the original scripting for Henry Jones Sr. had him playing a very stoic mentor-like character, which he still is in the final version, but revisions were added to give him more humor and light-hearted moments. After The Temple of Doom frightened so many audiences, they wanted to make sure this one went back to the tone of the original film.
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The Attack of the Director
Though he has become one of the most prolific directors in Hollywood history, not a lot is publicly known about how Spielberg goes about doing his work. This is for a good reason, he doesn’t like people to know his methods for directing. There has been a fair amount of testimony to the fact that he is very hands on with nearly all means of production to ensure that everyone is trying their best to make a blockbuster. It is reported that he pours hours over scripts and film for days trying to root out inconsistencies and taped errors.
There is also quite a bit of credence to the fact that his leadership is a spectacular reason for the success of his many works. It is reported by a great many of the people who have worked with him throughout his legendary career that he is always sure to demand everyone does their best, but he still acts with a good sense of humor.
Case in point, the picture you’re seeing was him reenacting the Mola Ram chant while hovering over the encaged Kate Capshaw. Antics like this were common for the man in his attempts to make sure everyone was enjoying themselves as they helped him make masterpieces.
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Ford and Davies
One of the most popular recurring characters in the Indiana Jones series has been his upbeat friend Sallah. In the original movie, Sallah acted as an aid and best friend to our titular main character and was instrumental to the recovery of the Ark of the Covenant. There was also a duty on his shoulders to act as comic relief during some of the movie’s more frightening scenes. This is what made Spielberg and Lucas consider bringing him back in this third installment. After the backlash that The Temple of Doom received because of its severe darkness in comparison with the original film, they wished for a return to form.
John Rhys-Davies, the actor who played the character, was a Welshman who was a fine patron of the performing arts throughout his illustrious career. The part of Sallah was one of his first real breakout roles and it opened up his way into some more substantial roles.
He is best known for his work in Indiana Jones, as well as in The Lord of the Rings and The Living Daylights. He also has the distinction of voicing a recurring character in Spongebob Squarepants. Davies, unfortunately, didn’t want to reprise his role in the fourth installment because he felt that the series should’ve ended with the third movie and that making a fourth one was pushing it. Even more unfortunately, most fans have this same mindset after seeing Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.
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To Melt a Nazi
Raiders of the Lost Ark may have been a pretty light hearted movie overall, but it definitely still had its share of trauma inducing moments. From seeing fresh corpses impaled on spikes to endless pits of snakes and shadows, darkness tinged the adventure through and through in that classic Spielberg way.
The most absolutely grim moment, however is given to us in the end. As the Ark of legends is finally opened, out pours the wrath of God in the form of vengeful spirits, punishing those who dared to acquire divine knowledge. As retribution, they liquefy the villains who overstepped their human boundaries.
Terrifying is really the best way to describe this moment both in concept and execution. Industrial Lights and Magic certainly outdid themselves with the gruesome detail with which they depicted this morbid destruction. It all starts by filming a shot of the actors looking terrified. Then, you simply cut to a shot with one of the above dummies that appears to be within the decomposition period. Coat it with a face made of a gelatinous substance and film as it melts. Speed up the footage and you’ve got a melting Nazi.
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The Man Beneath the Headdress
He’s the man that will steal your heart away. Mola Ram was certainly a step up in terms of intimidating villains. With his large intimidating lair being an evil cult sacrifice chamber, his choice in head wear being an ox’s skull, and his hobby being sacrificing people in pits of lava, he certainly plays the role of a bad guy to the letter. With all of this stacked in his corner, it is quite surprising that the actor playing this role was truly just a normal person.
Amrish Puri was this gentleman’s name and he was once one of India’s favorite actors. While it took him quite a while in order to break out into the public eye, once he was there, he made sure he would stay. In his career, Puri appeared in a great deal of films, about 400 in all. Most of the time, he was cast as a villain in the genre of his specialty, Bollywood movies.
Once the opportunity came around for him to show his diabolical talents in Temple of Doom, he was being offered roles as main villain in all sorts of films imaginable. His maniacal depictions earned him several wins for some of India’s most prestigious film awards until his death in 2005.
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Diner Beware
This image is definitely a special one. This picture was taken the first time they rehearsed the scene where Willie would have a soup of eyeballs served to her. They had originally told Kate Capshaw that she would be served a bowl of regular soup, would deliver a one-liner, and that would be the end of it. When they first unveiled her concoction to her, this photo captured her reaction, a mix of terror and laughter. It is reported that Spielberg was behind this, and I don’t doubt it one bit given his track record.
There are still some versions of the film that contain this recorded moment briefly, but most use the actually intended and theatrical recording of this scene. Much of this feast is absolutely horrifying to a majority of our readers, I’d imagine, and that is for good reason.
A small think tank was put together briefly with Lucas, Spielberg, a few of the key members of the writing staff, as well as some of the locals helping with production. This group’s goal was to come up with foods that would send chills down the audience members’ spines while still being made from actual animals in the area. These cruel individuals brought us this banquet of batty and made us all slightly suspicious of foreign cuisines forever more.
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Job to Some, Vacation to Others
Considering the multiple exotic locales that the series has taken place in throughout the years, there is much of a reason for the vast cast and crew to actually enjoy where their work takes them. This photo shows the first film’s leads doing just that.
Here we see Harrison Ford and Karen Allen (Marion Ravenwood) still in costume, but off of their Tunisia set. Stories come back to us from the sets that tell of how the cast and crew would occasionally go out into their filming locales and spend their days off experiencing the life of the area.
These trips didn’t come without their fair share of benefits, however. One day in which Spielberg was strolling through a bazaar in Tunisia, he stumbled across a strange brown root that he thought was a living animal. This image would inspire him to write the story of E.T. in between shots. Unfortunately, there were some thoroughly dreadful problems that were brought on by this particular location. A large majority of the cast and crew got diseases from the water and food they partook in. It is told that the few who were able to stave off illness were ones who brought a cache of food from home with them.
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To Find the Grail
The Holy Grail, the item that has been the center of countless legends and tales of adventure. It was really no surprise that this treasure hunting series would eventually see the quest for what is often considered the treasure of all treasures. From the very beginning, George Lucas wanted to make one of the films dedicated to the search for the cup of legends, but he and Spielberg decided that the Ark of the Covenant would make for a more interesting tale to launch the series on. After the huge success of that concept, they decided to experiment with making a darker movie for the following film, Temple of Doom.
There is a considerable amount of detail and care that went into the fabrication of this version of a hunt for the Grail. We can hear mention of many of the various legends that surrounded this mysterious item throughout the run time. With the references to the legend of the Arthurian Knights and the three brothers of the final crusade, it seem there was proper care taken to adapting their sources.
The city of Alexandretta was indeed located on disputed boundaries during the conflicts of multiple crusades and the legend of the three brothers bore mention to a conflict there. Most stories of the Grail also end with a single knight staying to guard it from intruders, as we see in the end of the film.
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The Fight of the Century
Who wouldn’t pay money to see director Steven Spielberg go toe to toe with famous British wrestler Pat Roach? The idea alone has the makings of next summer’s biggest blockbuster. With all joking aside, this image was taken in Tunisia, which was where the filming of Egyptian scenes took place. Spielberg is not actually challenging the fighter to a clearly one-sided fistfight, he is merely demonstrating a desired stance for his compatriot to take during filming. The actors who play the massive digging crew are seen watching as the cast goes on with this run through.
Pat Roach, as previously stated, was a wrestler that had quite a bit of reputability in England. He used this popularity to try and launch himself into the world of acting around the eighties and nineties. There was, in all honesty, debatable success with this attempt due not to the quantity of his roles, but rather the quality.
That is not to say that Roach did a poor job in his portrayals, far from it. It’s just that he was always cast as the nameless henchman who would show up, get beat by the hero and maybe come back for another fight later. He was in a James Bond film, a Robin Hood film, even samurai flicks. Each time, he was relegated to just playing a muscular, nameless goon. He does, however, bear the honorable distinction of being in all three original Indiana Jones movies as various characters.
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Partners in Adventure
While we have already taken a look into the peculiar circumstances that surrounded the casting of Johnathan Ke Quan as Short Round and the last minute additions to the script that followed, the actual surroundings of the character itself is interesting as well. Short Round was originally meant to be about eighteen years old and an actual taxi driver. The name came from a movie from all the way back in 1951 called The Steel Helmet. There was a young boy from Korea in the film who was referred to as Short Round.
The story behind how Short Round and Indy met was briefly explained in the movie, but it actually is deeper than expressed on the big screen. While in the movies it is revealed that Indy caught Short Round picking his pocket and employed his services as an assistant in Shanghai.
In some of the alternative sources, it is revealed that Short Round was orphaned at a young age and raised in a mission. He ran away, however and turned to thieving until he met Doctor Jones. After Temple of Doom, Indy brings Short Round to America and leaves him in the care of a boarding school as he returns to his adventures.
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Motorcycle Chases
One of the most interesting facets in action movies to write about, I have found, is the car chase sequence. Discovering the clever ways that film crews are able to pull off these exciting stunts and still record the various angles and shots necessary to produce the scenes in their entirety is a truly fascinating subject that impresses me time and again. This time, we look not at a car chase, but the thrilling motorcycle chase around the German countryside that was a part of The Last Crusade.
The decision to use a motorcycle with a side car was actually made quite intentionally and with a good reason. After experiencing some difficulties with trying to get the recording rig attached to a simple automobile of the time, they realized that they needed a new rig that would be more compact and still able to withstand the high velocities it would be forced to experience. They decided that with the smaller and more open vehicle, they could have a better view of the leading men.
This would allow for them to get more expressions and views for the audience to see some more character from the two mains. It didn’t take long for Ford to pick up driving the motorbike, and it unsurprisingly didn’t take Connery long to figure how to ride in the sidecar. The crew mostly relied on filming by utilizing cars to follow closely behind and capture the action that the film rig couldn’t pick up.
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It’s All Mine
Speaking of film rigs on moving vehicles, this is a good look at a simple film rig that was quite popularly used by Industrial Lights and Magic to capture forward views on moving objects. We really do take for granted the vast amount of equipment that is necessary in order to recall all of the details that one would need to add the authentic rushing and blurring to engage audiences with these high speed scenes. They even had to put a poor cameraman inside the setup in order to make certain everything was working properly.
The mine cart rig certainly was a peculiar construct in and of itself. To bring about a track that would be long enough for the crews to gather enough film for the final cut, the mine was built as a continuous, looping oval built around the group’s sound stage. That is no small feat, building a functional cart track in such a large area, but it had to be done for the sake of the final product.
Unfortunately, because of the fact that it was a repeating track, special liberties had to be taken in post-production. Certain differences, including bends, lava, and stalactite placement all had to be modified using the team’s effects expertise after the fact.
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Men at Work
Back in a time when safety protocol was viewed as more of suggestion, people behaved in ways that most people nowadays would know better than try and replicate. Unfortunately, this image captures the stunt safety management crew as they supervise this dangerous stunt from Raiders. Makes you kind of wonder whether there should be a stunt safety management crew management crew, doesn’t it?
It seems all it would take would be a quick step on the brakes and there would be some job openings. According to the actual men who were a part of this crew, there were some precautions taken. For example, the cars moved at a very slow speed which was edited in post-production to make it appear to be moving quickly.
This entire stunt that you see being rehearsed before you was actually based off of a prior movie. In the film Stage Coach from 1939, there was a similar stunt where the main character was hanging off of a stage coach and kept on climbing around it while knocking villains off. The crew loved this idea and went about trying to figure out how they could replicate that for the era the film takes place in. They decided a high-riding army truck would suffice. They set about building extra handholds and safety protocols to protect Ford. In spite of all these safety measures, he still managed to bruise his ribs while getting drug. Another fun fact, the three soldiers he knocks off of the truck are all three of his stunt doubles.
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Recreating History
It comes as little shock that with the series’ large focus on its historical setting, there was a special crew that was set in charge of trying to correct and prevent historical inaccuracies. Lucas was the one who put together this makeshift committee and we can see as he (dressed in a THX t-shirt funnily enough, I might add) and Harrison Ford meet and speak with the prop master, one of the history fact checkers. It would appear that they are working to build miniatures for the planes that would be used in The Last Crusade’s dogfighting scene.
Miniatures were a big part of the movie business back around this time because of how they allowed film crews to pull of spectacular stunts and effects with no danger to their actors. Even though a majority of the scenes in The Temple of Doom’s mine cart chase were live action, there were some parts where miniatures were employed to help move it along.
The historical correctness team would do a pretty fine job with the original trilogy thanks to the aid of some professors who were asked to review some of the film’s material. However, Kingdom of the Crystal Skull would experience some considerable blunders. The most prominent of these is the fact that Indy blows up a vehicle with an R.P.G. even though they hadn’t been invented at that point.
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The Science of Booby Traps
One of the most absolutely iconic features that this beloved series has impressed audiences for ages with was the creatively primitive booby traps that always seem to get in the way of the good Doctor Jones. While various ancient civilizations were able to set up some very elementary mechanisms to take care of trespassers, I guarantee that none have come close to the convoluted security measures we see in Indiana Jones. From huge rolling boulders to whirring buzz saws, some of these just don’t make a lick of logical sense. Although a set of enormous, razor sharp disc saws that decapitate anyone who doesn’t kneel is a pretty awesome concept, how do they spin without any power? How did three crusaders think to install this system? It’s just mind-boggling.
While it is really just silly over-thinking to pick apart the illogical nature of these devices, how they were actually made in the modern day is still an interesting subject to tackle. Take the weighted idol plate from the original movie for example. The picture shows the crew as they are going through a test of it.
Spielberg awaits the all clear to push the buttons on the comically large remote to trigger the descent of the pedestal. This, in turn would start the shaking mechanisms that would make the room appear to be collapsing. Small bits of rubble would even be dropped from the ceiling to accomplish this goal. The dart shooting area that would come next was just some good old fashioned editing of film of actual non-lethal darts getting shot out of the wall to splice it together with the current film of Ford running across it.
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