As early as 1973, George Lucas dreamed of a man who would tour the world in search of unique and valuable artifacts, who transformed into Indiana Jones. In the initial stages, there were only the Adventures of Indiana Smith. This version had the general ideas that would later transform into Jones with the help of Steven Spielberg. From the beginning, Lucas dreamed of modernizing the adventure serials that had once been popular during the 30s and 40s. Still, the production of 1977’s Star Wars took precedence, thus the project remained on the shelf for years.
As Lucas escaped from the success of his space epic, he traveled to Maui, where he met Steven Spielberg. While Spielberg was considering creating a character like the suave British spy, James Bond, George Lucas felt that Indiana Smith was a far superior idea. As he outlined the general ideas for the Raiders of the Lost Ark, Spielberg fell in love with the character as well. So, a partnership was born.
As they began to develop the first film, one of the first things that changed was the character’s name. Smith was not the right last name for the character for Spielberg’s tastes. Where George Lucas was set on Indiana as the first name, for it was the same name as his dog, he agreed that Smith did not flow. Thus, the name became Indiana Jones. Meanwhile, the two continued to debate on the moral code for Jones well into the development of the third film.
While they did not agree on every aspect of the character, Lucas trusted Spielberg to direct every one of Indiana Jones’s adventures.
Join us on a retrospective look back on the history and inspirations for the Indiana Jones movies
How Harrison Ford went from a space smuggler to an adventuring archeologist
While Indiana Jones now feels like he was written specifically for the charisma of Harrison Ford, he was not the first actor considered for the role. While Lucas had already worked with Harrison Ford, where the man won over audiences as Han Solo, Lucas wanted an unknown actor for the role. So, he considered actors like Bill Murray, Jack Nicholson, Chevy Chase, and many others.
For a time, Tom Selleck was the top runner for the role; however, his commitment to Magnum P.I. kept him away from the project. Meanwhile, the casting director had favored Jeff Bridges for a time as well. As the Empire Strikes Back came out, Spielberg became convinced that Harrison Ford was the perfect fit for Jones. While George Lucas agreed, he originally hesitated since he did not want to rely on Ford for too many of his films.
With Spielberg’s insistence, they approached Harrison Ford for the starring role. While Lucas had originally doubted that the man would sign on for three movies, Ford fell in love with the character. Feeling that the project would be fun, he agreed to become Indiana Jones. After negotiating a seven-figure salary with the option to rewrite his dialogue, Ford officially joined the cast.
Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark
To introduce Indiana Jones to audiences, George Lucas settled on the hunt for the legendary lost ark of the covenant, an important part of Judeo-Christian mythology. This ark carried the tablets that contained the ten commandments from God. As the Jews sought a new home after they escaped from Egypt, they carried the ark with them. Now, the final resting spot of the ark remains unknown, lost to history. Thus, it made an attractive goal for both Jones.
In the years since World War II ended, Nazis became popular villains in fiction. Meanwhile, their hunts for important mythological relics, like the Holy Grail, became widely known over the years. Thus, they served as the perfect antagonists for Jones’s first outing. Siding with the Nazis was the counterpart to Indiana Jones, the French archeologist, René Emile Belloq. While the character was French, a British actor, Paul Freeman, took on the role.
Accompanying Indiana Jones was one of his earliest flings, Marion Ravenwood. While they considered many actresses for the part, Karen Allen eventually landed the role. As she prepared to play Marion, she dreamt up a backstory for the character, including an earlier affair when she was a teenager. While Spielberg felt that the history did not fit the film, Marion still briefly mentioned it in a quick line.
One of the most memorable moments of the film, a swordfight that quickly ends with one shot of Indy’s gun, originally had more action. As filming neared, Harrison Ford began suffering from dysentery. So, Terry Richards, the stuntman who played the swordsman, weeks of practicing went to the wayside as they shortened the fight to a single gunshot.
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
While George Lucas proposed a trilogy to Spielberg from the start, the pair did not plot out the trilogy in advance. By the time that they began working on the second film, both fell into darker modes due to personal drama. Thus, the film also took on a dark tone, as the adventure moved to the past in the Temple of Doom.
Wishing to avoid any references to the Nazis in the second film, Lucas desired to set the sequel years before the events of Raiders of the Lost Ark. As the Nazis were no longer around to antagonize Jones, the duo needed to dream of a new set of adversaries. After considering several settings, they settled on creating a demonic temple in the jungles of India. Thus, they filled the temple with a cult that relied on black magic practices.
As the screenwriter for Raiders, Lawrence Kasdan, learned of the film’s dark direction, he decided to break away from the project. So, Lucas found two writers with knowledge of Indian culture, Willard Huyck and Gloria Katz. Even though these two had familiarity with parts of Indian culture, which did not prevent their script from offending, even in the 1980s. Even the Indian government refused to permit them to film in India because of the offensive nature of the script.
The first film’s love interest, Marion Ravenwood, would have not fit into the timeline with this film being a prequel. Thus, Indy required a new love interest for this adventure. Following the trend of naming characters after dogs, Spielberg named the new love Willie after his cocker spaniel. Kate Capshaw then took on the role of Willie Scott.
Too Disturbing for PG
While Indiana Jones fans often cite this film as the weakest entry in the trilogy, it holds a key role in film history. Thanks to the violence on display in the film, such as a man pulling out his victim’s heart, the film would not feel appropriate as a PG film. However, this film was still too light to be worthy of an R rating, which would restrict their audiences. Thus, Spielberg urged the Motion Picture Association of America to create a new rating category, PG-13.
While the MPAA released PG-13 two months before the Temple of Doom came out, the UK still had no middle ground in its rating systems. Thus, the UK version of the film received heavy edits to make it suitable for a PG rating.
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
Bringing an end to the original trilogy, Sean Connery joined the Indiana Jones cast as Indy’s father in the Last Crusade. However, it took several drafts before Spielberg even suggested introducing Henry Jones, Sr. into the story. Some of the earliest drafts of the third film circled around the Holy Grail and the Monkey King. However, as development on these drafts continued, they decided that the story would place Africans in a negative light.
As development continued, Spielberg decided that the film required a father-son dynamic, despite Lucas’s objects. With Indiana Jones now working with his father, the stakes would feel more impactful. Thus, they began drafting scripts that involved Indy meeting up with his father on his search for the holy grail.
After several rewrites, Spielberg brought in Jeffery Boam to rewrite the script, who would continue to perform rewrites until the script’s finalization. Where prior drafts had Indy meeting up with his father closer to the end of the story. However, Boam felt like the father-son dynamic should be the crux of the film, and that the two should lose the object and try to reobtain it.
Finally, they decided that a sequence should show a young Indiana Jones well before he became a globe-trotting archaeologist. As they developed the young version of Indiana Jones, Spielberg decided that he should be a boy scout. They also incorporated Harrison Ford’s chin scar, which originated from a car crash, into the character’s backstory. Thus, young Indiana Jones accidentally scarred himself with his whip.
This time, Jones’s love interest and opposition are one and the same. Alison Doody played Elsa Schneider, who seduced Indy as she had her eyes on the Holy Grail. In the end, she died due to her selfish desires.
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
For decades, Indiana Jones laid dormant since the conclusion of the trilogy. Even though George Lucas and Steven Spielberg agreed to a deal with five Indiana Jones movies in the 1970s, neither could think of an objective for the next installment in the series. Thus, they let the series fall to the wayside as a TV series instead began production. Meanwhile, Harrison Ford moved on to expand his career in films like The Fugitive.
However, by 1992, George Lucas realized that they could pick up the story with an older Indy. As he considered the 1950s, he began considering the alien movies of the time and felt that Indiana Jones’s next adventure should involve an otherworldly artifact. Likewise, the series would move forward, no longer featuring Nazis but instead featuring Russians interested in psychic warfare.
However, between Spielberg’s hesitance to create yet another extra-terrestrial film and the release of Independence Day, the project was set aside during the nineties. Finally, in 2000, Lucas, Spielberg, Ford, and others all agreed that they felt the itch to create a new entry in Indy’s adventures. Lucas then convinced Spielberg to include the aliens as they would not be extraterrestrial and instead be interdimensional creatures.
As Indiana Jones was older than he had been in the eighties, it was time to introduce a successor to the whip. Thus, they introduced Shia LaBeouf as Indy’s estranged son, Mutt Williams. Also, Karren Allen returned to reprise her role as Marion Ravenwood, this time also serving as Williams’s mother.
Always remembering the excitement of Indiana Jones
While the Indiana Jones franchise has had ups and downs since it first debuted in the eighties, fans still fondly remember the films. Few can think of fedora hats and bullwhips without picturing the rough-edged archeologist and his exploits.
Since Indiana Jones debuted on movie screens, he has also popped up in several comics, comic books, video games, and more. For instance, LEGO has used his likeness to create construction sets which Traveller’s Tales later used to create the video game. Kenner also created the first set of action figures back in 1982.
So, while fans are unlikely to see a fifth Indiana Jones film soon, the franchise will never remain dead.
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Made in collaboration with:
Chris Ingledue
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Bio: I am the founder and owner of Wheeljack’s Lab pop Culture and Toy Shop. My vision has always been to reunite customers with their favorite childhood toys and pop culture, triggering fond memories, and reigniting their imaginations. Every day, I work in the “lab” where it’s Christmas 365 days a year. I scour the internet, like when we had the Sears Catalog of yesteryear, for the next great treasure. Then, I await the arrival of the postman as if he were Santa Claus himself and helping collectors worldwide with their own versions of Christmas. Every day as a vintage toy buyer is an absolute joy!