The
real story of Indiana Jones
started in 1973 when director
George Lucas was looking for
ideas to be transferred into
celluloid. He had already done
American
Graffiti, which had turned
out as a worldwide hit earning
him an Academy Award nomination
for Best Director. An old movie
poster of a hero jumping from
a horse to a truck reminded
him of the Republic
serials - made in the 1930s
and 1940s - which he watched
when he was a kid. Serials like
Spy
Smasher, Zorro's
Fighting Legion and Don
Winslow of the Navy, a
cliffhanger about a two-fisted
serviceman who fought the Nazis.
"Why
don't they make this kind of
movies anymore?"
he wondered and imagined a movie
about an archaeologist in a
leather jacket, felt fedora
and a three-day beard who carries
a bullwhip and run around the
globe seeking ancient relics
and lost civilizations. At the
same time Lucas was interested
in making a movie adaptation
of the popular comic hero Flash
Gordon. When he failed
to obtain the rights he decided
to create a new space hero and
an entire new universe. In order
to create his universe he had
to put his archaeologist character
aside.
Truck chase sketch. |
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Two years later,
while Lucas was still trying
to complete the script of his
space adventure now called Star
Wars, he met with director
Philip Kaufman and the idea
of the adventurous archaeologist
emerged during a conversation.
The two men continued their
meetings for three weeks exchanging
story ideas. Kaufman, remembering
a story he had heard by his
dentist when he was a child,
introduced the Ark of the Covenant
as the story's plot device.
Lucas hoped that Kaufman would
write and direct the film, but
when the second was offered
to direct The
Right Stuff he
left from the project. Since
Lucas wasn't through with Star
Wars yet, he put the
project on the self once more.
On May 25, 1977,
Star
Wars was released at
cinemas across the country but
Lucas wasn't around. He was
on vacation at the Mauna Kea
hotel in Hawaii in order to
recover from his Star
Wars obligations and
because he didn't want to be
near Hollywood on the premiere
of his film. He was afraid the
film would be a tremendous disaster.
Together with him was another
director, Steven Spielberg,
who was also relaxing from the
making of his last movie Close
Encounters of the Third Kind.
One evening over
dinner Lucas received a phone
call. It was from Ashley Boone,
Twentieth
Century Fox's marketing
chief. Star
Wars was a success beyond
anyone's expectations and it
had almost begun to evolve to
a phenomenon. The next morning
Lucas relieved and in very good
mood started talking with Spielberg
about future projects while
building sandcastles. Spielberg
told him that after Sugarland
Express, his second film,
United
Artists asked him to
do a film for them. "I'd
like to do a James Bond film",
was Spielberg's enthusiastic
reply. But the studio refused
to do that since the adventures
of 007 are a British privilege
behind the cameras as much as
it is in front of it.
Lucas
and Spielberg. |
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I've
got a better film than that",
said Lucas. Have you ever heard
of the lost Ark?
"Noah's
Ark?" asked Spielberg.
"No,
no, no, not Noah's Ark",
said Lucas and he begun to explain,
and at the same time describe
the story of Raiders
of the Lost Ark as he
called. The Ark of the Covenant
was the chest the Hebrews used
to carry around the Ten Commandments
that Moses brought from mountain
Sinai. The Ark was believed
to obtain mystical powers and
according to legend an army
that carries the Army before
it is invincible. The Bible
actually mentions that during
the siege of Jericho the Hebrews
heard the voice of God advising
them to march three times around
the city with the Ark at the
head. With the completion of
the third round they blew their
horns all together and the walls
of the city collapsed giving
them the chance to assault.
Lucas' story begins in 1936
when the American Government
recruits famous archaeologist
Indiana Smith to find the long
lost Ark before the Nazis do.
Unseen since its disappearance
from the Temple of Solomon nearly
three thousand year ago, the
Ark - as prophesied in the Old
Testament - was to be recovered
at the time of the coming of
the new Messiah. The Fuhrer
Adolf Hitler wants to recover
the Ark, thus legitimizing himself
as the Messiah and his lust
for world domination. This would
be part of a series of Raiders
sagas following the exploits
of Indiana Smith, not unlike
the Tarzan
series not unlike the serials
of the 30s and 40s. The difference
would be that the leading character
would be involved in mortal
adventures and also in "otherworldly"
events. And all this in a period
when adventures could happen,
a romantic time without advanced
technology, when the cleverness
of the individual against the
enemy was what mattered.
Spielberg's enthusiasm
was more than present. Like
Lucas he had grown up with the
same old serials, and the chance
of resurrecting them for a new
generation of cinemagoers was
tempting beyond expectation.
"That's
a great story George, I'd love
to do that", he
said. Lucas then informed him
that the film was probably going
to be directed by Philip Kaufman
who had helped him with the
plot. But he promised him that
if Kaufman weren't interested
he would be his next choice.
Six months later Spielberg received
a phone call from Lucas: "Are
you still interested in that
movie I told you about in Hawaii
because Phil isn't going to
do it now?"
The two directors
started pre-production work
while they were involved in
other pictures. Lucas was working
with Francis Ford Coppola as
executive producer in Akira
Kurosawa's The
Shadow Warrior while
at the same time he was developing
The
Empire Strikes Back,
the much-awaited sequel to Star
Wars. On the other hand,
Spielberg was directing 1941
a comedy with John Belushi.
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